League History
Since LRG began in April 2006, the league has grown to include over 60 members plus referees and support crew. The London Rollergirls held the first public women's flat track roller derby bout held in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2007, to a sold out crowd of over 500 people. The London Rollergirls held their first British inter-league bout in March 2008 against the Glasgow Rollergirls' travel team, The Irn Bruisers, and their first international bout in June 2008 against Team Canada, a Canadian team made up of members from Toronto Roller Derby, Oil City Derby Girls (Edmonton), Terminal City Roller Girls (Vancouver), Calgary Roller Derby Association, and Saskatoon Roller Derby.
In July 2009 the London Rollergirls hosted Europe's first roller derby tournament, Roll Britannia, featuring 12 teams from the UK and Germany. The tournament was held at the historic Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, England. London Rollergirls won the tournament and became the first champions of European roller derby.
On 4 November 2009 London Rollergirls joined the Women's Flat Track Derby Association under their Apprentice Program, and graduated to full membership status in June 2010. London Rollergirls was the first league outside North America to become a member of the WFTDA.
The London Rollergirls won the British Airways Great Britons competition in Winter 2009 - providing them free tickets on BA to fly to the East coast of the US in April 2010 to train with and play some of the top leagues in the US.
London Rollergirls became the first non-USA team to break the Derby News Network top 20 power rankings in May 2010, after a successful North American tour where they beat Providence Roller Derby, the CT RollerGirls, and lost by one point to the home team Philthy Britches from Philly Rollergirls.
In April 2011 London Rollergirls hosted the first WFTDA tournament outside of North America and played host to Charm City Rollergirls (Baltimore), Montreal Roller Derby and Steel City Derby Demons at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London.
In September 2011 London Rollergirls participated in the WFTDA East Region Playoffs, "Nightmare on 95". They entered the competition as the 10th place seed, and left at 5th place - the largest jump by a bottom-ranked team in WFTDA playoff history.
Eleven members of the London Rollergirls were selected to represent Team England at the inaugural Roller Derby World Cup, which was held in Toronto in December 2011. LRG skaters also represented Team Sweden and Team Ireland.
In September 2012 London Rollergirls again qualified for the WFTDA East Region Playoffs, entering the tournament at #6 and finishing in 4th place, again bettering their seeding and establishing themselves as the top non-US team worldwide.
The first European Roller Derby Championships were held in Berlin in November 2012. London Rollergirls entered the tournament seeded #1 and finished as victors, defeating hosts Bear City Roller Derby in the final.
A second North American tour in June 2013 saw London head to the West Coast to take on five US and Canadian teams. Wins over Terminal City Rollergirls, Jet City Rollergirls and Rat City Rollergirls, and narrow losses to Rose City Rollers and Oly Rollers set London in position to comfortably qualify for the 2013 WFTDA Playoffs.
Read more about this topic: London Rollergirls
Famous quotes containing the words league and/or history:
“I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best—it’s all they’ll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money—provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don’t need it.”
—Peter De Vries (b. 1910)
“In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.”
—Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)