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Adelaide Roller Derby

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Adelaide Roller Derby
League logo
Metro areaAdelaide, South Australia
CountryAustralia
Founded2007
TeamsAds (combined team)
Rads (combined team)
Mile Die Club
Road Train Rollers
The Good Ship Salty (formerly known as The Salty Dolls)
Wild Hearses
Team Zebra (Officiating Crew)
Track type(s)Flat
VenueAdelaide Showgrounds
Org. typeNot for Profit
Websitehttp://adelaiderollerderby.com.au/

Adelaide Roller Derby (ADRD) is a roller derby league based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 2007, the league has four competitive home teams; The Mile Die Club, The Good Ship Salty (formerly The Salty Dolls), The Road Train Rollers and The Wild Hearses, and an officiating 'Team Zebra'. There are also two combined representative teams, the "Ads" and the “Rads” that compete against other leagues and are currently ranked 4th and 18th respectively in the Oceania region. Adelaide Roller Derby's home season is held at the Adelaide Showgrounds, and the league is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).[1]

Adelaide Roller Derby also host The Great Southern Slam bienially.

History

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The Salty Dolls skate out at the Salty Dolls vs Wild Hearses match, 26 March 2011

Adelaide Roller Derby was founded in 2007, with their inaugural season launching in July 2008.[2][3] Between the club's formation and the start of their first season, the club hosted the first interstate roller derby competition in Australia, Skate of Origin, against the Victorian Roller Derby League.[4][5] Their first local competition started in 2008 and featured two teams, the Mile Die Club and the Salty Dolls, with the Salty Dolls winning the three-match series.[3]

The second year of competition in the league saw the introduction of a new team, the Road Train Rollers, but it was the Mile Die Club who took out the series, winning undefeated. The same year also saw the second interstate bout between Adelaide and Melbourne. Skate of Origin 2 was hosted in Melbourne, but the Adelaidies were able to come out on top in a close match. This was followed by a three-state competition hosted in Adelaide between two Adelaide teams created for the event, the Phantoms and the Tornado, and teams from Brisbane and Sydney – the Brawl Stars and the Assassins. Once again, the two Adelaide teams were successful.[3]

2010, the third year of competition for the Adelaide Roller Derby league, saw the introduction of a fourth team in the form of Wild Hearses. This brought the registrations for the league up to 120 per year, and 2010 saw over 100 people trying out for positions at the annual "Fresh Meat" program.[6] The season started with an appearance leading the Adelaide Fringe parade,[7] and ended in a double-header with a win to the Road Train Rollers.[3] The same year saw Adelaide Roller Derby hosting the first Great Southern Slam – the largest roller derby tournament to be held outside of the United States, with 500 competitors from Australia and New Zealand.[8]

In 2011 four teams competed over six bouts, with a double-header grand final won by the Salty Dolls.[9][10] In addition to the local season, three interstate/international competitions were played. The first was with Bunbury and Perth teams at Arena Joondalup,[5] followed by travelling to Newcastle to compete with the local league there, and finally a trip to New Zealand to compete against the Pirate City Rollers in Auckland.[11]

Adelaide Roller Derby was featured in the documentary film This Is Roller Derby.[12]

The league was accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice program on 24 January 2014.[13] In March 2015, Adelaide was made a full member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association .[14]

Team Name Change

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At the first double header of the 2022 season, The Salty Dolls were officially renamed "The Salties", the name change comes after several Non-Binary identifying players joined the league, in attempts to promote inclusion.

WFTDA competition

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In 2017, Adelaide was ranked at 23rd overall in the WFTDA, but was ineligible for Division 1 Playoffs for not meeting sanctioned game minimum requirements.[15]

In 2019, Adelaide formally qualified for the WFTDA post-season for the first time, as the tenth seed for the North American West Continental Cup held in Orem, Utah in the United States. The Continental Cups model groups teams regionally by geography, and without sufficient numbers to hold a standalone tournament in the Asia Pacific region, Adelaide was sent to Utah.[16] There they upset seventh-seeded Jet City Roller Derby in the opening round, before losing to Sun State Roller Derby in the quarterfinals, and ended the weekend with a consolation bracket win against Rocky Mountain Rollergirls.[17]

WFTDA rankings

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Season Final ranking[18] Playoffs Championship
2015 139 WFTDA[19] DNQ DNQ
2016 165 WFTDA[20] DNQ DNQ
2017 48 WFTDA[21] DNQ DNQ
2018 68 WFTDA[22] DNQ DNQ
2019 58 WFTDA[23] DNQ DNQ

Death of Sarah Strong-Law

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On February 21, 2022, the league founder Sarah Strong-Law (aka Barrelhouse Bessy) was killed in a car accident involving a truck on Kangaroo Island. The funeral was broadcast via Facebook Live and Zoom for people in Adelaide who couldn't travel or who were stuck in isolation due to COVID-19.[24]

References

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  1. ^ "Adelaide Roller Derby – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. Archived from the original on 17 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  2. ^ "Derby ready to roll". Sunday Mail. Adelaide, South Australia. 20 October 2007. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d "History of ADRD". Adelaide Roller Derby. 7 February 2011. Archived from the original on 8 April 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Roller derby fires rivalry". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. 22 February 2008. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  5. ^ a b Crabbe, Ashlee (18 August 2011). "The Good, The Bad and The Derby". WAToday. Perth, Western Australia. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  6. ^ "Adelaide Roller Derby League". Hit & Miss (3): 18. 2010.
  7. ^ McDonald, Patrick (14 February 2010). "Raunchy roller derby girls to lead Adelaide Fringe festival parade sections". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Adelaide hosts massive roller derby". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. 12 June 2010. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Bouts". Adelaide Roller Derby. Archived from the original on 14 November 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  10. ^ "What a Day!". Adelaide Roller Derby. 18 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  11. ^ "Adelaides Taking the World By Story". Adelaide Roller Derby. 18 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  12. ^ "This Is Roller Derby". This is Roller Derby. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  13. ^ "WFTDA Accepts 22 Additional Apprentice Leagues Archived 7 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine", WFTDA, 24 January 2014
  14. ^ "WFTDA Welcomes 7 New Member Leagues - LatestNews - Women's Flat Track Derby Association". wftda.org. WFTDA. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  15. ^ Deadwards, Lisa (14 July 2017). "2017 WFTDA June Rankings and Tournament Seeding". Derby Central. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  16. ^ "WFTDA Continental Cups". WFTDA. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  17. ^ "Calgary Roller Derby Wins 2019 WFTDA Continental Cup - North America West". WFTDA. 22 August 2019. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  18. ^ "Current Rankings Archived 17 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine", WFTDA
  19. ^ "Rankings: December 31, 2015 – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. January 2016. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  20. ^ "Rankings: December 31, 2016 – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. 6 January 2017. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  21. ^ "Rankings: December 31, 2017". WFTDA. 5 January 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  22. ^ "Rankings: December 31, 2018". WFTDA. 7 January 2019. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  23. ^ Watson, Michael. "Adelaide Roller Derby". WFTDA Stats Home. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  24. ^ Sutton, Malcolm (28 February 2022). "Tributes paid for Australian roller derby pioneer Sarah Strong-Law". ABC News. Archived from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

Further reading

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