Akron Roller Derby

Akron Roller Derby

Metro area	Akron, Ohio
Country	United States
Founded	2016
Teams	All Stars (A team) AK Rowdy Rollers (B team)
Track type(s)	Flat
Venue	Summit County Fairgrounds Arena Complex
Affiliations	WFTDA
Website	www.akronrollerderby.net

Akron Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Akron, Ohio. Two separate Akron-based leagues, NEO Roller Derby and Rubber City Rollergirls, merged in November 2016 to become Akron Roller Derby. The league consists of two teams which compete against teams from other leagues, and is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).^[1]

History

Former NEO Roller Derby logo

Akron's original roller derby league was founded in June 2006 by Mary Elliott. The Rubber City Demolition Dolls were featured in the Akron Beacon Journal on May 27, 2007.^[2] Shortly after, Elliott bowed out but the original league stayed intact. Elliott kept rights to the Rubber City name for derby use. NEO Roller Derby was founded as the Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls a group of eleven women from RCDD.^[3] The Rock 'n' Roller Girls name was later reserved for the league's A team.^[4] The league attracted attention for raising money for charities including Stewart's Caring Place^[5] and the American Red Cross.^[6]

Former Rubber City Rollergirls logo

Meanwhile, Rubber City Rollergirls was founded in Akron in 2008 after receiving permission from Elliott to use the reformed name, and played its first bout, at the John S. Knight Center, in April 2009.^[7] The league was accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice Program in January 2010,^[8] and instituted its B team later in the year.^[9] By 2011, it had forty skaters, and was claiming crowds of 1,000 fans.^[10] Its A team was known as the Tire Iron Maidens, and its B team was the Hot Rod Dollies. Rubber City at some point left the Apprentice program, and was not listed as such in February 2013.^[11] In October 2014, Rubber City re-entered the Apprentice Program.^[12]

In November 2016, NEO Roller Derby and Rubber City Rollergirls announced on their social media pages, in a statement confirmed by a new, mutual website, that the leagues had merged to become Akron Roller Derby.^[13][14]

WFTDA

NEO was accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice Program in September 2009,^[15] and became a full member of the WFTDA in September 2010.^[16] By 2011, the league had almost forty skaters, and was attracting crowds averaging 600 people.^[4]

In 2013, NEO qualified for the WFTDA Division 2 International Playoffs for the first time, competing at the tournament held in Kalamazoo, Michigan that August.^[17] NEO finished the tournament in 4th place, losing the 3rd place game to host team, the Kalamazoo Derby Darlins, 250-219.^[18]

WFTDA rankings

As Neo Roller Derby

Season	Final ranking[19]	Playoffs	Championship
2011	23 NC	DNQ	DNQ
2012	19 NC[20]	DNQ	DNQ
2013	51 WFTDA[21]	4 D2[18]	DNQ
2014	87 WFTDA[22]	DNQ	DNQ
2015	126 WFTDA[23]	DNQ	DNQ

As Akron Roller Derby

Season	Final ranking[24]	Playoffs	Championship
2016	164 WFTDA[25]	DNQ	DNQ
2017	135 WFTDA[26]	DNQ	DNQ
2018	169 WFTDA[27]	DNQ	DNQ

References

1. "Akron Roller Derby – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
2. Hone-McMahan, Kim (May 27, 2007). "Rubber City Demolition Dolls bring roller derby to Akron and Canton". Akron Beacon Journal. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
3. Mike D'Agruma, "New women’s roller derby team rocking out in Akron area", West Side Leader, July 5, 2007
4. Sean Patrick, "NEO Roller Derby League now part of Women’s Flat Track Derby Association", West Side Leader, June 23, 2011
5. Jeremy Nobile, "Roller Derby skates for awareness Archived 2012-09-13 at archive.today", Tallmadge Express, September 11, 2011
6. Amanda Harnocz, "Roller derby rolls out good works Archived 2012-09-13 at archive.today", Tallmadge Express, July 26, 2009
7. Bill Lilley, "New era to begin at Knight Center Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine", Akron Beacon-Journal, November 3, 2008
8. "Apprentice Leagues", WFTDA [version of 23 March 2010]
9. Sean Patrick, "Rubber City Rollergirls growing in numbers", West Side Leader, June 24, 2010
10. Kim Hone-McMahan, "Voices champion roller derby feats", Akron Beacon-Journal, April 7, 2011
11. "Apprentice Leagues Archived November 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine", WFTDA [retrieved 27 February 2013]
12. "WFTDA Welcomes New Member, Apprentice Leagues". WFTDA. 2 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-11-06. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
13. "Joining Forces". Akron Roller Derby. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
14. Bona, Marc (6 February 2017). "Akron Roller Derby kicks off 6-game home season in February". cleveland.com. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
15. "Apprentice Leagues", WFTDA [version of 16 November 2009]
16. "9 Leagues Join WFTDA for Full Membership Archived 2012-10-30 at the Wayback Machine", WFTDA, 1 September 2010
17. "Tough Girls, Skates and Bruises: Top Roller Derby Teams to Battle in Kalamazoo". Discover Kalamazoo. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
18. Shankya, Shelly (25 August 2013). "Game 16: (5) NEO Roller Derby v (3) Killamazoo Derby Darlins". WFTDA. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
19. "Current Rankings Archived 2009-02-02 at the Wayback Machine", WFTDA
20. "Rankings: February 28, 2013". WFTDA. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
21. "Rankings: December 31, 2013". WFTDA. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
22. "Rankings: December 31, 2014". WFTDA. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
23. "Rankings: December 31, 2015". WFTDA. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
24. "Current Rankings Archived 2009-02-02 at the Wayback Machine", WFTDA
25. "Rankings: December 31, 2016 – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
26. "Rankings: December 31, 2017 – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
27. "Rankings: December 31, 2018". WFTDA. 7 January 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.