Manchester Roller Derby (MRD) is a flat track

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

league based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. Founded in 2010, as the first co-ed league in the UK, they became members of the

Men's Roller Derby Association The Men's Roller Derby Association (MRDA) is the international governing body of men's flat track roller derby. It was founded in 2007 under the name Men's Derby Coalition (renamed to Men's Roller Derby Association in 2011), and currently has 59 ...

in December 2012 and of

United Kingdom Roller Derby Association The United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA) is the National Association for roller derby in the UK. The association was formed in 2010 with 15 member leagues, and was recognized by the British Roller Sports Federation soon after. The U ...

in November 2013.

History

Initially formed in 2010, MRD attracted attention in early 2011 when the league's original women's team played

Hot Wheel Roller Derby Leeds Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Leeds, England. Founded in 2007, the league has two travel teams which play against teams from other leagues across Europe. Leeds Roller Derby is a member of the United Kin ...

at the

Manchester Academy The Manchester Academy, originally known as the University of Manchester Main Hall, is composed of four concert venues, located on the campus of the University of Manchester, in Manchester, England. The four venues are: Academy 1, 2 and 3 and ...

in a sell-out bout. In November 2012, MRD hosted a bout as part of the

New York Shock Exchange The New York Shock Exchange (NYSE) is a men's roller derby league, based in New York City. The league consists of four teams, two interleague teams and three intra-league teams. The league was founded by Gotham Girls Roller Derby coach Jonat ...

's 'Shock the UK' tour, which saw New Wheeled Order bout against the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

team. This was the first intercontinental men's flat track derby game. The league formed a co-ed team known as the MRD Allstars to participate in the UK's first co-ed roller derby tournament in January 2013. MRD Allstars won this tournament against competition from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

's Wheels of Mass Destruction,

Nottingham Roller Derby Nottingham Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league based in Nottingham, England. Founded in 2013, from a merger of two local leagues, it was the first league in the UK to host a co-ed roller derby competition. League Structure The ...

and Sheffield Roller Derby. As of March 2020, New Wheeled Order are ranked 7th in the MRDA. As of 2022, Manchester Valkyries are Manchester Roller Derby's WFTDA team. The team was formed in 2022 as part of the return to track effort, in the wake of the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Manchester Valkyries' first public game was the Five Nations Roller Derby (5NRD) “Back on Track Showcase” in August 2022. Since then, Manchester Valkyries have continued to compete and most notably were crowned the North West Quest tournament winners in October 2022. In 2023 Manchester Valkyries will be competing in tier 3 west of the Five Nations Roller Derby tournament.

League Structure

The league consists of four teams: * Valkyries (A, WFTDA-aligned, formed 2022) * CheckerBroads (A, WFTDA-aligned, formed October 2010 - Retired in 2019) * New Wheeled Order (A, MRDA-aligned, formed December 2011) * Furies (B, WFTDA-aligned, formed 2012) * Chaos Engine (B, MRDA-aligned, formed 2013) The league has a skater induction program, called Zero 2 Hero, to teach the skills needed for playing roller derby.

Affiliation

In December 2012, MRD was accepted as one of the first three non-American members of the

. The league became a member of the

in November 2013. MRD league members have expressed interest in being affiliated with the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

, but the league did not meet the WFTDA membership requirements due to it being a co-ed league consisting of both women and men until 2020. The Valkyries have been a WFTDA team since September 2020http://flattrackstats.com/teams/8958

External links

Manchester Roller Derby's official website

Manchester Roller Derby
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Manchester Roller Derby
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Manchester Roller Derby
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

References

{{Men's Roller Derby Association Roller derby in England Roller derby leagues in the United Kingdom Roller derby leagues established in 2010 Sport in Manchester Men's roller derby Women's sports leagues in England Men's sport in England 2010 establishments in England