Metro area Berlin Founded 2008 Venue Arena Berlin | Country Germany Track type(s) Flat | |
Teams A-Team
B-Team
C-Team (Breaking Bears) | ||
Bear City Roller Derby (BCRD) is a flat track roller derby league based in Berlin and was founded in 2008.
Contents
History
The league was founded as the Berlin Bombshells, although it now reserves that name for its interleague bouting team. It was the second roller derby league in Germany, and was assisted in its early development by the first league, the Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz. In its early days, it was thrown out of its practice hall by Berlin's sports department; the team decided to take legal action to regain access to a public practice space. The league was given a boost when Diane Rott transferred from the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls.
It competed in the first roller derby bout between two German leagues, against the Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz in 2009. In the same year, it competed in "Roll Britannia", the first roller derby tournament in Europe, while in December it hosted the first European Roller Derby Organisational Conference (EROC).
Bear City hosted the first German Roller Derby Championship, held in December 2010, losing 124-128 to Stuttgart in the final.
In July 2016, the league announced it had officially changed the name of the organization to Bear City Roller Derby.
WFTDA competition
In October 2010, the league was accepted as an apprentice member of the WFTDA. By May 2011, it had more than 60 skaters.
In March 2012, Bear City Roller Derby became the WFTDA’s first full member league in continental Europe.
In 2014, Bear City competed at the WFTDA Division 2 Playoffs in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, where they placed second to Rideau Valley Roller Girls. This playoff appearance was the first in WFTDA history by a team from continental Europe. Later that year they made their debut at the 2014 WFTDA Championships, where they placed third in Division 2. In 2015, Bear City returned to Division 2 Playoffs in Detroit, entering as the tenth seed and finishing in sixth place. In 2016 bear City again qualified for Division 2 Playoffs as the eight seed in Lansing, Michigan, and finished in fifth place with a 177-153 victory over Tri-City Roller Derby.