Monday, April 20, 2009

Face the Facts

The Roller Rebels have got a saucy new skater on their side who has agreed to take time out of her busy schedule and also join the team of Rebel Yellers here on the blog. Muscles Marinara will be serving you up with a derby fact each month. Where did it all start? What's it all about? Roller derby is a sport with some history behind it and she's here to tell you all about it! Read on and learn how and where it all began!

Marinara dishes out some derby history......
Back in 1935 is when it all began....Derby's debut took place in Chicago, IL but was considered a "Marathon Race" with both male and female players. The staff and skaters worked FULL time on these races....and one competition would last several months! What's most interesting is that this "Marathon Race" did not involve two packs or a jammer...rather the goal was to race against time and endurance. Later that year, derby took to the road and began the transformation into the sport we know today (now it involved two packs and a jammer). By the early 1940's it was a live spectator sport - it was then aired on TV starting in the 40s and through the 50s.
Derby was an overnight sensation!!

Stay tuned...I'll be refilling your bowls with more history next month...
Muscles Marinara

2 comments:

Captain Morgan said...

to add to this blog...What happened was the skaters in the marathon race started bumping into each other and falling and the fans were really excited by this....Leo Seltzer..the owner of the race, decided to put some rules to this and make it a sport!

The Long Island Roller Rebels said...

Thanks for the info Captain!