The Victorian Roller Derby League is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria. Founded in 2007, the VRDL contains two home teams, the Dead Ringer Rosies and the Toxic Avengers, and also three travel teams, the VRDL All Stars, the Bees, Notorious V.I.Cs and Demons, who compete in interleague competitions within Australia and internationally. VDRL is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, having gained membership in December 2011. In November 2017, VRDL became the first non-American team to win the WFTDA Championships. Since April 2017, VRDL is the top-ranked team in the WFTDA, following Gotham's run at the top since January 2013.
History
Founded in March 2007, the Victorian Roller Derby League was started by Cherry Rockette, Betty Bamalam, Toxic Judy, Denim Destructor and Hidden Magenta. By the end of the year the VRDL had 40 members, playing their first invite-only bout for friends and family at the Dandenong Showgrounds, and by 2009 the three teams were competing at 'Puckhandlers' in the suburb of Reservoir. In 2008, the first interleague bout in Australia, "Skate of Origin", was held. The VRDL travelled to Adelaide to compete against the Adelaide Roller Derby league. The Victorians won at the end of a close bout. Other interleague bouts over the years have included "Skate of Origin 2" in Melbourne, where the Adelaide team defeated the Victorians; the Great Southern Slam in 2010, in which the VRDL won the largest roller derby competition that had been held outside of the United States; and the Canberra Roller Derby League at the AIS Arena in Canberra in 2011. In 2010 bouts were moved to the Melbourne Showgrounds, and in 2011 the VRDL was both accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice program and gained a new training ground in Preston. The VRDL was the first league in Australia to be accepted into the WFTDA Apprentice program, and in December 2011, they graduated from the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice program and became full members of the WFTDA - the first Australian member, as well as the first member league in the Southern Hemisphere at the time. This has created opportunities to compete in Europe and the United States. In 2011 the VRDL played their first international match against the Hotrod Honeys from the Texas Rollergirls, losing out to the more experienced side. In November 2011 the VRDL played their second international match against the Rat City All Stars from the Rat City Rollergirls, again losing to the more experienced team, but gaining a lot of skills in the process. In 2012 the league expanded to four home teams and two levels of skater development within their recreational league. In April the travel team competed in their first international tournament in Tucson, Arizona. The Dust Devil Tournament is an invite only event, which was then in its fifth year. The VRDL went into the tournament seeded ten0th and came out with fifth place.
In the community
The VRDL won the Women's Health Magazine inaugural Women in Sport Award for best 'A' team of the year in August 2011, citing the general groundswell of support from the Australia-wide roller derby community for this people's choice award. They contribute to the wider roller derby community in Australia by holding Master Classes and bootcamps on a regular basis, their coaches visit fledgling leagues all over Australia and are actively involved in the Australia Roller Derby Coalition.
WFTDA competition
The VDRL All-Stars represent the Victorian Roller Derby League in WFTDA competition. In July 2013, VDRL was ranked at 31, earning them their first appearance in a WFTDA Division 1 playoff tournament, held in Salem, OregonSeptember 27 through 29, 2013. VDRL entered the tournament as the eighth seed out of ten teams. This marked the first appearance in the WFTDA playoffs by an Australian and southern hemisphere-based league. With victories over the Chicago Outfit, Sacred City Derby Girls and Toronto Roller Derby, VDRL finished the tournament in fifth place. At the 2017 Division 1 Playoff in Dallas, VRDL defeated Philly Roller Derby, Minnesota RollerGirls and Texas Rollergirls to finish in first place. The league continued to strengthen, and in 2017 won the WFTDA Championships, beating previous champions Rose City Rollers 180 to 101 in the final. VRDL jammer Samara "Lady Trample" Pepperell was named the tournament MVP. In 2018, VRDL received a bye directly to WFTDA Championships, by placing within the top four teams overall, as the first seed, in the 30 June rankings. At Championships in New Orleans in November, VRDL finished in second place, losing the final to Rose City in a rematch of the 2017 title game, 144-121.
Rankings
With the March 2017 WFTDA rankings release, VRDL was the top-ranked team in the WFTDA for the first time.
