The Rose City Rollers is a women's 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

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, operating as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and is a founding member of 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 ...

(WFTDA). Established in 2004, the Rose City Rollers consists of a recreational program, four adult local home teams, and two all-star travel teams that represent the league in competition with others as well as junior skaters on six home teams with a travel team for Rose Petals (7–12) and a travel team for Rosebuds (12–17). Rose City's all-star travel team "Wheels of Justice" won the

WFTDA Championships The International Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championships ("WFTDA Championships" or "Champs" for short) are the leading competition for roller derby leagues. The Championships are organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association ( ...

in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

History and league structure

Founded in 2004 by Kim "Rocket Mean" Stegeman, along with Evette Reyes (among others), Rose City Rollers became a founding member of the

(WFTDA) in 2005. In November 2008, Rose City and

Rat City Rollergirls Rat City Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2004 as Rat City Rollergirls, LLC, the league has incorporated alternative cultural influences, and has inspired and mentored other leagues. Rat ...

(Seattle) co-hosted the Northwest Knockdown national championships at the

Portland Expo Center The Portland Expo Center, officially the Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center, is a convention center located in the Kenton neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in the early 1920s as a livestock exhibition and auction facil ...

. Rose City hosted the 2011

WFTDA Western Regional Tournament The WFTDA Western Regional Tournament or WFTDA West Region Playoffs was one of four roller derby qualifying tournaments for the WFTDA Championships. The Tournament was organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Full WFTDA memb ...

, the "Bridgetown Brawl", at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, in which they placed third overall.

Rose City Rollers is one of the largest modern roller derby leagues in the United States, if not the world. Rose City comprises a multitude of teams at various levels of competition, and hosts games at The Hangar at

Oaks Amusement Park Oaks Park is a small amusement park located south of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The park opened in May 1905 and is one of the oldest continually operating amusement parks in the country. The park includes midway games, about tw ...

, where they draw up to 22,000 fans a year for games. Rose City has two travel teams, the WFTDA-level Wheels of Justice A team, and the Axles of Annihilation B team, plus four home teams, the BreakNeck Betties, Guns N Rollers, Heartless Heathers and High Rollers.

Other programs

*Rockets – The Rockets (formerly Fresh Meat) training program prepares skaters for derby play at the competitive level by providing the skills and conditioning necessary to play for RCR teams. All incoming skaters are required to take part in the Rockets program to be eligible for a league draft. Skaters who survive the Rockets program are drafted to become the newest Rose City Rollers home team players. *Wreckers – A recreational (non-competitive) program designed to further the sport of flat track roller derby, this program is open to women 18 and over who are interested in playing derby at any competitive or non-competitive level and is often the first step into the league. *Rosebuds – Portland's

junior roller derby Junior roller derby is the sport of roller derby, modified for children and adolescents up to 18 years of age. The sport is played in both modified-contact, known as "positional blocking," and full-contact approaches, to facilitate safety across ...

program provides opportunities for personal growth and development for skaters aged 12–17. *Rose Petals – In 2014, the junior roller derby program expanded to include skaters aged 7–12 years old.

WFTDA competition

Rose City took part in the first

in February 2006, the "Dust Devil" invitational tournament, in which they placed 16th out of 20 teams.February 2006 Dust Devil Invitational Rankings
, WFTDA ersion of 23 February 2007/ref> At the first

(also named the Dust Devil) Rose City lost in the opening round 95–92 to

Sin City Rollergirls Fabulous Sin City Roller Derby or Sin City Roller Derby (SCRD), is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada. Founded in 2004, Sin City is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association ( ...

of Las Vegas and were eliminated.Dust Devil 2007
, Flat Track Stats Rose City and Rat City Rollergirls co-hosted the Northwest Knockdown 2008 national championships at the Portland Expo Center. Rose City did not compete at Championships however, after losing to B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls at the Western Regional tournament. At the 2009 Western Regional Tournament, Rose City finished in seventh place with a 241–42 victory over Angel City Derby Girls. In 2010, Rose City came up just short of qualifying for Championships, losing the third place game at Western Regionals 133–102 to Bay Area. 2011 was Rose City's most successful year to that point, finishing the season with their highest ranking position to date (third in the

West Region Western Region or West Region may refer to: Places *Al Gharbia, Abu Dhabi, the Western Region *Western Region, Bahrain *Western Region, Eastern Cape, South Africa *Western Region, Ghana *Western Region (Iceland) *Western Region, Nepal *Western Regi ...

), and qualifying for Championships for the first time since 2006, by defeating Rat City Rollergirls 186–134 to finish the Western Regional Tournament in third place. At Championships, Rose City was knocked out in the opening round by the

Kansas City Roller Warriors The Kansas City Roller Warriors (KCRW) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Kansas City, Kansas that was founded in 2004. The members of the league are split into four home teams that play within the league and two travel teams th ...

143–135. Rose City finished fourth at the 2012 West Region tournament, losing 135–123 to Bay Area in the third-place game. At the first Division 1 Playoff in 2013 at Fort Wayne, Rose City was upset in the opening round by

London Rollergirls London Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league and a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The league were founding members of the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA). The league has four travel teams ...

193–190, but won their remaining games to finish the weekend in 5th place. Since 2014, Rose City has made the final game at the WFTDA Championships every year. After taking first place at the 2014 Division 1 tournament in Charleston, West Virginia, Rose City advanced all the way to the final game of the Championships in Nashville, narrowly falling to

Gotham Girls Roller Derby Gotham Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league based in New York City, New York (state), New York. Founded in late 2003, Gotham is the first flat track roller derby league in the metropolitan New York area and a founding member league of ...

, 147–144. In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, the Wheels of Justice again won their Division 1 Playoff, this time in Dallas, where they beat

Texas Rollergirls Texas Rollergirls is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Austin, Texas. Founded in early 2003 and widely credited as the league that started the modern roller derby movement, the Texas Rollergirls were the first flat-track league in ...

257–223 in the final. At the Championships in Saint Paul in November, Rose City upset top-seeded Gotham 206–195 to take the 2015 WFTDA Championships and win the

Hydra Trophy The Hydra Trophy is the trophy awarded to the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) team that wins the WFTDA Championship Tournament at the conclusion of every WFTDA roller derby season. Named in honor of Hydra, founding member of the WF ...

, dethroning Gotham after their four-year championship run. Rose City won their third straight Division 1 tournament in September 2016, taking the final game 250–137 over

Denver Roller Derby Denver Roller Derby (DRD) is a flat-track roller derby league based in Denver, Colorado. The league was founded in December 2005. Denver Roller Derby is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), joining in December 2007 as D ...

. In November, Rose City retained its Championships title, coming from behind to again defeat Gotham in the final. Ahead of the 2017 season, Rose City was on both ends of significant skater transfers, as sisters Scald Eagle and Brawn Swanson moved to Denver and joined Denver Roller Derby, while

Bonnie Thunders Nicole Williams (born 1983), known as Bonnie Thunders, is a roller derby skater. Widely considered to be one of the greatest players of modern roller derby, Bonnie Thunders has been referred to by multiple writers as "the LeBron James of roller de ...

moved from New York to Portland and joined Rose City. Rose City claimed first place at the 2017 Division 1 Playoff in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

with a 227–120 victory over Angel City. At Championships, Rose City played in the final for the fourth straight year but came up short, losing to

Victorian Roller Derby League The 'Victorian Roller Derby League'' (VRDL or Victoria) is a flat track roller derby league based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2007, VRDL provides opportunities for all ages and at all levels to participate and compete in Roller Derby. VR ...

180–101. In 2018, Rose City received a bye directly to WFTDA Championships, by placing within the top four teams overall, as the second seed, in the June 30 rankings. At Championships in New Orleans in November, Rose City claimed their third title in four years in a rematch from 2017's final against Victoria, 144–121. Rose City skater Rochelle "Gal of Fray" Jubert was named tournament MVP. RCR took first place at the 2019 International Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, making it their fourth world championship. They have since started playing games again since the pandemic.

Rankings

The Wheels of Justice are Rose City's WFTDA charter team and compete against other WFTDA teams in sanctioned play, and qualify for

rankings A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

. * ''bye = received bye directly to WFTDA Championships''

References

External links

Rose City Rollers
(official website)
Women's Flat Track Derby AssociationFlat Track Derby Stats
{{Authority control Sports in Portland, Oregon Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 1 Roller derby leagues in Oregon Roller derby leagues established in 2004 2004 establishments in Oregon