Last weekend Roller Derby was back in Philly and once again we went CP’s own Andrew Amundson to capture the matches live. For a refresher on the rules, the where, and the how of RD click HERE.

The usual suspects clamor outside the Armory smoking in their too-packed clusters and inside the place feels more crowded than other nights, odd because all the bouts including this one have been sold out at the same capacity. Families with beach towels burrow in by the pink tape, dudes from the bleachers with obstructed views yell at little recycled punk-kids in front to ‘Sit down, sit the fuck down!’ and wives deadeye their husbands for gawking at the Britches’ pretty young thing mascot, all leg and red ruffled hotpant. The crowd seems a bit more drunk than they typically are at the beginning of matches – it was the Warrior Cup though, so maybe they had gotten here early, had been around for a while nursing their Cricket Hill Brewery hops. Strolling around everywhere with cups of beer are Broad Street Butcher girls such as Leggs Benedict, and they’re covered in sweat, covered in bruises.  And where are the Queens of Pain?

BUTCHERS KILL QUEENS

photo credit: Akira Takahashi

132-82

“Take that, New York.” – Black Eye Susan of the Broad Street Butchers

I missed the Broad Street Butchers/ Queens of Pain bout, thinking Saturday’s proceedings were scheduled for later when clearly they were not. My apologies to the Butchers, who proved again to be the fightenist team in the Philadelphia Roller Girls League when they took out New York’s three-time champions the Queens of Pain.

It sounds like I missed an epic match. Afterwards I caught up with the Butcher Girls, match announcers, photographers and game statisticians to get the details.

The Butchers over the Queens of Pain wasn’t quite wasn’t David and Goliath, but it was an upset in its own right. The Queens feature a national derby star in Suzy Hotrod, major talents Ana Bollocks and Donna Matrix and the prestige of being a part of the country’s no. 1 WFTDA- ranked team.  The Broad Street Butchers, conversely, were just 3^rd in the PRG, the product of several all-too-close heartbreakers.

The bout kept even for the first half with the Butchers holding their own - Persephone gave a crackerjack performance and Elle Viento stepped up – and ended with Butchers up 53-47 at the half. In the second half the Queens’ time in the sin bin, so often the determining factor in derby, left things open for ceaseless Butcher jams and a hometown victory. Congratulations girls.

Akira Takahashi

The Broad Street Butchers Celebrate their win

Britches vs. Hookers:  The Warrior Cup

Click For More »

Last weekend Roller Derby was back in Philly and once again we went CP’s own Andrew Amundson to capture the matches live. For a refresher on the rules, the where, and the how of RD click HERE.

Another Saturday night another roller girl doubleheader. The Armory sold out again with the boho/gentrified cross-section of fevered fandom accustomed to derby – their eclecticism tempered by mugs of locavore-approved Cricket Hill Brewery’s Hopnotic IPA and East Coast Lager and the thrash of T. Rex to Lil’ Wayne playing loud. The national anthem rawked by a metal-lumberjack crooner, the bouts were set to commence. The first pitted the undefeated Philthy Britches against the Texas Roller Girl Hustlers; the second matching the Broad Street Butchers and Heavy Metal Hookers.

Click For More »

Last week CP’s own Andrew Amundson began to explore the wide world on Philadelphia Roller Derby, explaining a bit about the rules, the players, and the ambiance of the scene. Then, last weekend, he caught the event live at the 23^rd street armory, here is his takeaway and recollections:

Click For More »

Until recently some of us here at CP didn’t even know Roller Derby existed, so it came as a bit of a shock when I found out that not only is it an actual sport, but there are three full teams playing in front out sold out audiences right here in Philly.

City Paper’s own Andrew Amundson recently caught up with some of the teams and will be in the house this weekend as the Butchers, Hookers, and Britches face off at the Armory (no joke about any of that). In a Sports Complex exclusive, he gets inside the world of Roller Derby and previews the evening’s activities.

The Belles wind around the track at the 2008 Nationals in Portland.

Brendon McMullen

Egalitarian with brute physicality, tight action with sexual undertones, Roller Derby is the perfect sport for a town like Philly.

It’s not your fault you haven’t heard of the Philly Roller Girls. For most, the only cultural reference the words ‘Roller Derby’ conjures up are campy 70s girls wearing hotpants and pulling each other’s hair. Well, there are still hotpants, but thanks to a recent renaissance in Texas RD has re-imagined itself as far closer to legitimized sport than the just-kitschy theater it is commonly associated with.

Roller derby, which has existed since the 1930’s in various forms, has seen its popularity wax and wane over the decades. But in Austin, Texas in 2004 a new idea emerged – a skater owned, skater operated women-only amateur league, and this model took off as the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (W.F.T.D.A) with the motto “By the Skaters, for the Skaters.” At the W.F.T.D.A Nationals last year in Portland, where Philadelphia’s Liberty Belles placed 3^rd in the country, the sports desk at The Oregonian failed to cover the event, so again – it’s not your fault you haven’t heard of the Philly Roller Girls.

W.F.T.D.A has four divisions nationally: East, West, North Central and South Central.  There are 67 cities, 68 teams and thousands of registered skaters. Each city has three or four intraleague teams made up of 14 girls. The best players from these teams are plucked to be on a city’s all-star travel squad. If that travel team performs well enough at Regionals, they can represent their city at the W.F.T.D.A Nationals in November.

This year, those Nationals are being held right here in Philly.

After the jump we’ll break down how the games work, who is plays locally, and tell you where and how you can see the girls play.

Click For More »