Rat City Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league 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 ...

, Washington. Founded in 2004 as Rat City Rollergirls, LLC, the league has incorporated alternative cultural influences, and has inspired and mentored other leagues. Rat City 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), and has achieved success on the WFTDA stage, qualifying for WFTDA Playoffs every season, including a second-place finish in the 2007

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 ...

League history and structure

The league was founded as Rat City Rollergirls in 2004 by "Dixie Dragstrip", Lilly "Hurricane Lilly" Warner and Rahel "Rae's Hell" Cook. Nearly 2000 fans attended the first league home team championship in October 2005 at a former navy hangar in

Magnuson Park Magnuson Park is a park in the Sand Point neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. At it is the second-largest park in Seattle, after Discovery Park in Magnolia (which covers ). Magnuson Park is located at the site of the former N ...

, as the Derby Liberation Front defeated the Throttle Rockets 52-32. The Rat City Rollergirls hosted the 2006 Roller Derby "Bumberbout" Flat Track Invitational on Saturday, September 2, 2006, in the

KeyArena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was ori ...

Seattle Center Seattle Center is an arts, educational, tourism and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington, United States. Spanning an area of 74 acres (30 ha), it was originally built for the 1962 World's Fair. Its landmark feature is the tall Space Needle ...

. The Texas Rollergirls won the championship, retaining undefeated status. The Rat City Rollergirls finished second. Within the Rat City Rollergirl league, the Sockit Wenches won the season championship at Sand Point on October 21, 2006. They beat the formerly undefeated Derby Liberation Front, scoring the decisive points in the final seconds of the match, and of the season. In February 2008 Rat City first hosted the Rust Riot Pacific Northwest Tournament, predominantly featuring B-teams from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. Rat City's Rain of Terror defeated the Rose City Rollers' Axles of Annihilation to win the tournament. In 2009, the Rat City Rollergirls announced a change of

venue Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a concer ...

from the hangars at Magnuson Park to the

at Seattle Center and

ShoWare Center The accesso ShoWare Center is a multi-purpose arena in Kent, Washington, United States. About the venue The construction of the arena began September 2005, with the venue opening in January 2009. The principal tenants are the Seattle Thunderbi ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Ticket sales for the first bout of the season vastly exceeded expectations of KeyArena management, filling more than 4,000 of the 5,500 seat capacity in what is referred to as the 'lower bowl'. That season, Rat City averaged 4100 fans per event. On March 6, 2010, Rat City Rollergirls had a turnout of 5,185 in KeyArena. According to announcements that evening this was record attendance for both Rat City Rollergirls and the largest attendance to women's roller derby in history. On June 5, 2010, the Sockit Wenches defeated Grave Danger to win the season 6 championship. The lower bowl at KeyArena was sold out, with over 6000 fans in attendance and 6885 tickets sold. In late 2017, Rat City rebranded as Rat City Roller Derby.

Business structure and organization

As a business enterprise, the league is registered as a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

, Rat City Rollergirls, LLC, which is owned by the skaters. Although stakeholders in the enterprise, the skaters are not currently paid for their participation. The RCRG make extensive use of a

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

forum (phBB) to structure their organizational and social interactions.

Teams

Adult teams

The home teams for play within the Rat City league are: *Derby Liberation Front - 2005, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Season Champions. *Grave Danger - 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2019 Season Champions *Sockit Wenches - 2006, 2008 and 2010 Season Champions *Throttle Rockets *Rat Lab - Introduced in 2010, the training ground for new members of the Rat City Rollergirls, have not yet been placed on a home team. The travel teams are: *The Rain of Terror - Rat City's B travel team, which competed in the 2008 Rust Riot exhibition tournament with northwest roller derby leagues. *Rat City Rollergirl All-Stars - Rat City's all star travel team, which competes against other leagues in the

(WFTDA).

Junior league

In July, 2007 a

junior league The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

was established, the Seattle Derby Brats. The Seattle Derby Brats are an independent organization that rents practice space from Rat City. They were the second junior league to start and the first to have a public bout. The first inter-league junior bout was the Tuscan Derby Brats vs The Seattle Derby Brats at the 2007 WFTDA Nationals. They were the fourth team to be part of the JRDA, the Junior Roller Derby Association but are no longer affiliated. At the 2007 National Tournament, the Seattle Derby Brats skated against Tucson's junior team between the tournament games.Texas Shootout – 2007 Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championship Tournament
The Seattle Derby Brats were founded and coached by Krista Lafontaine Williams ("Betty Ford Galaxy") formerly of Rat City and currently skating with the Rainier Roller Girls. Betty Ford Galaxy retired from coaching junior derby at the end of the 2014 season. Many other local skaters have helped coach and hold board positions.Seattle Junior Derby brats relish hard knocks - The Enterprise Newspapers; August 22, 2008
/ref> The Seattle Derby Brats has teams for multiple levels of play. The youngest group of skaters (ages 8 to 11), known as the Tootsy Rollers, play a positional-blocking version of roller derby with little contact. The Tootsy Rollers are split into four teams: Lemon Drops, Acid Pops, Orange Crush and Turquoise Terrors. Division I (ages 11 to 17) is made up of four teams:Poison Skid'les, Evil Angels, Battle Axles, and Stunflowers. Division I plays positional roller derby with more in-depth strategy. Division II (ages 11 to 17) features full-contact play. The teams in Division II are in three tiers, listed in order of skill: the Toxic AvengHers/Mighty Rollers, the Ultra Violets, and the all star travel team, the Galaxy Girls.

PFM Roller Derby

PFM Roller Derby was formed as a practice group for skaters wishing to try out for Rat City, and for many years rented track space from Rat City, however the organization, a registered non-profit, has always been independent from Rat City. Composed of skaters in training, as well as recreational derby players who do not wish to commit at the level of league play, PFM alumnae go on to league play with the Rat City Rollergirls, the Rainier Roller Girls, the Dockyard Derby Dames, the Jet City Rollergirls, and the Tilted Thunder Rail Birds. Since 2018, PFM has held practices and scrimmages at Magnuson Community Center.

In popular culture

The 2007 documentary, '' Blood On The Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls'', was directed by Lainy Bagwell and Lacey Leavitt. It played at 14 film festivals around the world, including screenings in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and Sydney, Australia, as well as Aarhus,

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. It was released on DVD in Canada in October 2009 and in the United States in February 2010. Several of the members of the Rat City Rollergirls were profiled in an article on MSNBC. In 2008, the Rat City Rollergirls were a featured league in a video game developed by Frozen Codebase and the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

Trademark Dispute with Starbucks

In May 2008, Starbucks initiated an inquiry as to

trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may ...

between the Starbucks logo and the Rat City Rollergirls "skater portrait in a circle" logo. After casual observers noted the absence of similarity, the matter was dropped in September 2008 without further legal action. The Rat City Rollergirls logo artwork was designed by local Seattle artist, Ego.

WFTDA competition

The Rat City All-Stars competed in the 2007 WFTDA National Championships in Austin, Texas. They placed second, to the 2007 national champions the Kansas City Roller Warriors. In the qualifying round, they beat the 2006 and 2005 national champions, the Texas Rollergirls, who placed third. Eight teams went to Austin to compete in the 2007 Texas Shootout National Championships, four from the eastern regional division and four from the western regional division, these notable teams included: the Carolina Rollergirls (fourth place), the

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 ...

, the

Tucson Roller Derby Tucson Roller Derby (TRD) is a women's flat track roller derby league located in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in late 2003, Tucson Roller Derby is a skater-run non-profit organization and hosts monthly roller derby competitions showcasing bouts invo ...

, the

Detroit Derby Girls Detroit Roller Derby (DRD) is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Detroit, Michigan. The league was formed as Detroit Derby Girls in January 2005 and held their first bouts in February 2006. In November 2016, the league announced ...

, and the Windy City Rollers. Sweeping the

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 Tucson Dust Devil, in an upset of the formerly top ranked Texas Texecutioners, the Rat City All-Stars rose to first in the national roller derby rankings, up from third, and rose to the first seed for the championships.Arizona Daily Star reporter Kevin Smith live-blogs the action, February 18, 2007
In November 2008, Rat City Rollergirls and the Rose City Rollers co-hosted the Northwest Knockdown national championships at the Portland Expo Center. Entering the competition ranked third in the nation, the Rat City Rollergirls were defeated in the first round of competition by the Windy City Rollers.

Rankings

* ''CR'' = consolation round

References

External links

"Roller Derby Revival in Seattle,"
radio news feature, 88.5 FM, KPLU, Seattle, May 25, 2007.
PFM Practice Squad Alumnae

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sports, Friday, August 17, 2007.

Prost Amerika, Sports.
"Rat City Rollergirls,"
Lead Jammer {{Authority control Sports in Seattle Culture of Seattle Roller derby leagues established in 2004 Women's sports in the United States Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 1 Roller derby leagues in Washington (state) 2004 establishments in Washington (state) Women's sports in Washington (state)