IN Derby

They’re fast, sexy and hell on wheels. Meet the women of the Perth Roller Derby League.

The women of the Perth Roller Derby League like to skate fast and make every lap count. But it seems that what they like to do even more is have fun.

While popular in the 1940’s roller derby began a modern revival in the early 2000’s as a women’s amateur event. There are now more than 1200 amateur leagues around the world and the roller sport is now under consideration for the 2020 Olympics.

Roller derby gals race on quad roller skates and Perth’s two home teams are The Bloody Sundaes and Mistresses of Mayhem. In keeping with the aesthetic of the sport, skaters choose names and outfits which are an eclectic and colourful mix of punk, rockabilly, third-wave feminism and usually take their skater names from word play, sexual puns or allusions to pop culture. They can range from Princess Lay-Ya Flat to Drag’n SlayHer, Night of the Rolling Dead and Perth’s own Bronte Sore Ass.

Flat track women’s roller derby is run on an oval track with two teams of 14, five of whom are on the track at any one time. Four are blockers and one is a jammer. It’s the jammer’s job to score the points by lapping the other team, while the blockers keep the other team away from her while continuously moving around the track. This means you’re playing offense and defence at the same time while trying to support your jammer to score a point and preventing the opposing jammer from scoring.

The women of Perth Roller Derby (PRD) range in age from 18 to 45 and are everything from teachers, scientists and tattoo artists to journalists, tertiary students and mums. PRD is a not-for-profit organisation which runs the derby bouts and co-ordinates travelling teams to play in other states.

They started in 2008 after a group of local women saw the documentary Hell on Wheels about the evolution of roller derby and wanted to start their own local league.

Lisel “Babeonic Plague” Avey is a lawyer and has been involved in Perth Roller Derby for the last three years. Never having been involved in organised group sport before, she couldn’t even skate when she started.

“It was a unique sport and looked like so much fun,” says Lisel, 26. “It took me about six months to become a confident skater and then I started adding in more of the contact stuff.”

Roller Derby isn’t a free for all when it comes to pushing and shoving. There are numerous rules about how you can connect to another skater but equally enough ways – like a hip or shoulder check – to get them out of the way.

The game is very fast-paced with a lot of stuff happening at one time. A lot of the game is about being able to take a hit, pick yourself up and push through when it gets tough. That determination is a really big thing, plus it’s meant to be fun as well.

Lisel says one of the attractions of the sport is playing something which is fast, highly athletic, allows for physical contact as well as the high fun quotient. The strategic and mental aspect of the game also appeals to her as the play is always changing and you have to think fast on your feet, at speed.

“You have to strategise and the team work is important. You play against your friends on the other team but you come up against them in a fun atmosphere.”

If you prefer your athletes on wheels than on a footy field, Perth’s two teams face off for the 2012 Grand Final on September 29 at the Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Chesterfield Road in Mirrabooka from 7pm.

For more information and ticketing, go to  www.perthrollerderby.com.au