VIDEO: Missing on roller derby?
South Africa currently has four leagues, in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town – with the only other African league situated in Cairo, Egypt.
IF you’ve never seen roller derby in real life, you’re missing out.
Back in the 70s, when roller rinks were still in fashion, an odd phenomenon reared its head: women would skate around banked, oval tracks, pummelling each other. It soon became a WWE-esque spectacle, with fake fights, overly-dramatic injuries and theatrical dialogue between players.
The scene soon faded, until a group of women in Texas decided to revive the game in the early 2000s – but without the histrionics this time.
These days, roller derby is the fastest-growing women’s sport in the world, with around 2 000 leagues in 53 countries (and counting). Men’s roller derby and junior roller derby is also developing at a rapid pace. South Africa currently has four leagues, in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town – with the only other African league situated in Cairo, Egypt.
Today the game is predominantly played on flat tracks and a rule book as thick as an arm prevents it from becoming a showman’s game again.
That doesn’t mean it’s gone soft. Players race around the track, delivering full-on body hits, blocking others from doing so, and smashing each other off the track in an effort to score points. It’s fast-paced, adrenalin-fuelled, and elicits frequent “oooohs” from the crowd as someone flies into the barricade after taking a body hit.
Leagues are run by the skaters for the skaters as non-profit organisations. As an amateur sport, anyone can take part and vets train new players to play the game even if they’ve never strapped on skates before.
WATCH:
https://www.facebook.com/SouthernCourierSA/videos/1907470639331166/
It’s become a symbol of women’s empowerment the world over. Short, delicate, muscular, curvy – the sport has evolved to a point where every body type has its advantage on track. The only thing players have in common are indomitable spirit and, perhaps, a need to take out life’s everyday frustrations through physical activity. As they say: if you can’t play nice, play derby.
Article by: Delia du Toit
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