Belfast Roller Derby


Belfast Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Belfast in Northern Ireland. Founded in January 2010, the league consists of two teams that play teams from other leagues, and is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

History

Belfast Roller Derby was founded in 2010. With increasing interest in the sport throughout the UK, helped by the release of the film Whip It in 2009, the league was able to arrange training with skaters from Dublin and Glasgow. BRD was the first roller derby league in Northern Ireland, founded six months after Dublin Roller Derby, the first league in Ireland.
BRD played its first home bout in November 2011 as an intra-league competition with the Titanic Titans and the Hellfast City Hit-Girls.

Affiliations

In May 2012, BRD was accepted as a member of the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association.
The league has been sponsored by Laverys Bar Belfast since January 2014. In May 2014, the league was accepted as an Apprentice League of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association and became a full member league in December 2014.
Six members of BRD were members of the 2014 Team Ireland training squad. In September 2014, four of them were chosen to be part of Team Ireland at the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup.

Teams

From the outset of the league, the 'A' team has been known as the Belfast Banshees. They played their first bout against Dublin in February 2012. In 2013, the Norn Iron Maidens were formed as the BRD 'B' team and competed in their first major bout against the Limerick Roller Girls 'B' Team on 28 September 2013.

WFTDA rankings