Royal Windsor Roller Derby (RWRD) 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
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Founded in 2007 as Royal Windsor Roller Girls, RWRD was Berkshire's first roller derby league, and one of the first in the UK. The league trains in
Ascot and plays its home games at Windsor Leisure Centre.
RWRD is a member of the
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 UKR ...
(UKRDA) and 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).
League Structure
RWRD has two travel teams who compete with teams from other leagues:
* Who Dares Windsor (A)
* The B-Headers (B)
There are also two intra-league teams.
League History
Royal Windsor Rollergirls had only five skaters and one referee when it was founded in September 2007, but grew rapidly and had 40 members by April 2010. They played their first bout in 2009, at the
Wycombe Sports Centre in nearby
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, which was attended by more than 350 people.
The league was a founder member of the
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 UKR ...
in 2010.
In July 2011, Royal Windsor Rollergirls joined the
WFTDA Apprentice Program
The Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice is the program affiliate of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). In operation from 2009 until early 2019, the Apprentice Program served to onboard new member leagues into the WFTDA. ...
, and became a full member in June 2012.
The league has continued to be active both regionally and internationally, competing in the
British Roller Derby Championships
The Five Nations Roller Derby Championships is an annual competition for roller derby leagues in the United Kingdom.
History
The tournament originated as the End of the World Series, a 2012 league of six roller derby teams in central England. Th ...
in 2015-2018, and European tournaments such as "Slip It" 2018.
Windsor created the concept of Sur5al in 2012, which is a short-form version of roller derby.
The league won the Community Club of the Year award, voted for by the public, at the fifth annual Get Berkshire Active Awards in 2017.
In October 2018, Royal Windsor Rollergirls changed their name to Royal Windsor Roller Derby.
National Team Representation
The league's Head Coach, Rollin' StoneR, was Lineup Manager on the coaching team for
Team England Roller Derby for the
2011 Roller Derby World Cup
The 2011 Roller Derby World Cup was an international women's roller derby tournament organized by ''Blood & Thunder'' magazine. Teams of amateur skaters from around the world were fielded to compete for their respective nations.
The inaugural 20 ...
and the
2014 Roller Derby World Cup
The 2014 Roller Derby World Cup is an international women's roller derby tournament organized by ''Blood & Thunder'' magazine. Teams of amateur skaters from six continents compete for their respective nations.
The 2014 Roller Derby World Cup is ...
.
WFTDA rankings
*Please note that rankings were suspended in March 2020 in light of the
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 ...
.
Five Nations Roller Derby Championships
The league participated in the inaugural
British Roller Derby Championships
The Five Nations Roller Derby Championships is an annual competition for roller derby leagues in the United Kingdom.
History
The tournament originated as the End of the World Series, a 2012 league of six roller derby teams in central England. Th ...
in 2015, as part of the Women T2 South tier. They won all of their games, facing up against
Bristol Roller Derby
Bristol Roller Derby (BRD) is a roller derby league based in Bristol. Founded in 2010, the league consists of two women's roller derby teams, a men's team, a Co-Ed team and a fledgling juniors team.
History
The league was founded early in 2010 ...
,
London Rockin' Rollers
London Rockin' Rollers (LRR) is a flat-track roller derby league based in London, England. Founded in 2007, the league is a member of both the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA) and the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) ...
,
Brighton Rockers Roller Derby
Brighton Rockers Roller Derby (BRRD) is a flat track roller derby league based in Brighton in East Sussex, England. Founded in 2010, the league consists of three teams, which compete against teams from other leagues.
Brighton Rockers is a member ...
,
Seaside Siren Roller Girls
The Seaside Siren Roller Girls (SSRG) was a roller derby league based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in England. Founded in 2009, the league consists of two teams, which compete against teams from other leagues. Seaside is a member of the Women's Fl ...
and Portsmouth Roller Wenches. This performance saw them progress to the Women T2 Playoffs 2015, where they lost to
Nottingham Hellfire Harlots Roller Derby
Nottingham Hellfire Harlots Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league based in Nottingham, England. Founded in April 2010, the league has two travel teams who play against teams from other leagues. It is a member of the United Kingdom Ro ...
, 223-143, but won against
London Rockin' Rollers
London Rockin' Rollers (LRR) is a flat-track roller derby league based in London, England. Founded in 2007, the league is a member of both the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA) and the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) ...
, 231-141.
In 2016, they found themselves in the Women Tier 1 Premier of the competition. They lost all their games, beaten by
London Roller Derby
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 ...
's Brawl Saints (B),
Glasgow Roller Derby
Glasgow Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 2007, the league consists of two travel teams, three home teams and a skater training course for players and referees. Glasgow is a member of the United ...
,
Newcastle Roller Derby
Newcastle Roller Derby (UK) is a flat track roller derby league from Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, UK. The league is a member of both the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA) and the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA ...
and
Leeds 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 King ...
.
They moved down to the Womens T2 UKRDA National tier in the restructured tournament in 2017. They had a difficult start to the competition, losing two games in a row to
London Rockin' Rollers
London Rockin' Rollers (LRR) is a flat-track roller derby league based in London, England. Founded in 2007, the league is a member of both the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA) and the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) ...
and Swansea City Roller Derby, but won their remaining three games against SWAT Roller Derby, Big Bucks High Rollers and Kent Roller Derby.
Royal Windsor Roller Derby won the silver medal in the Womens T2 UKRDA National tier in 2018. To achieve this, they faced
London Roller Derby
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 ...
's Batter C Power (C) twice, Rebellion Roller Derby,
Bath Roller Derby
Bath Roller Derby is a roller derby league based in Bath, Somerset. Founded in 2012, the league plays to the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) ruleset. The league has been a member of the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKR ...
and SWAT Roller Derby.
In 2021, the British Championships rebranded as the
Five Nations Roller Derby Championships
The Five Nations Roller Derby Championships is an annual competition for roller derby leagues in the United Kingdom.
History
The tournament originated as the End of the World Series, a 2012 league of six roller derby teams in central England. Th ...
.
Sur5al
Windsor are credited with developing the concept and hosting the first roller derby Sur5al tournament in 2012.
Sur5al is a short-form, one-day roller derby challenge event in which up to fifteen teams of 5 skaters compete in two-minute jams, which can't be called off, with each team playing every other team just once through the day. The format has since been used around the world.
References
{{WFTDA Division 3
Roller derby in England
Roller derby leagues in the United Kingdom
Roller derby leagues established in 2007
Sport in Berkshire
Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 3
Women's sports teams in England
2007 establishments in England