Metro area Boston, MA Founded 2005 | Country United States Track type(s) Flat | |
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Teams Boston Massacre (All-Stars)
Boston B Party (Interleague)
Train Wrecks (Interleague Rec)
Arkham Horrors
Cosmonaughties
Nutcrackers
Wicked Pissahs Venue Aleppo Shriners Auditorium, Simoni Ice Rink | ||
Boston Roller Derby, (BRD), is a flat-track roller derby league based in Boston, Massachusetts. The league was founded as Boston Derby Dames in May 2005, and is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The league's All-Stars, the "Boston Massacre", have been one of the top 25 WFTDA Division 1 teams in the world since the divisional ranking system was introduced in early 2013, and as of December 31, 2015 the Massacre is ranked at 21.
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Like most WFTDA leagues, the program is skater-owned and -operated, sporting more than 70 full-time skaters who both skate and work as part of their duties. BRD currently plays at Aleppo Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington for all home team games and Simoni Ice Rink in Cambridge for its all-star matchups against rival teams from around the world.
In late October 2015, Boston Roller Derby announced its new name as part of a rebrand "to better reflect the diversity of our community".
Early history
Boston Roller Derby was founded by Sarah Doom and Ivana Clobber in 2005 after Doom helped found Providence Roller Derby. The league was formally established as an LLC in the state of Massachusetts by the founding executive board members Andrea Lenco, Sarah Kingan, Alison McAlear, Carroll Cunningham, Eva McClosky, Lindsay Crudele & Rebecca Allen the same year. The league began with a travel team called The Boston Massacre (Boston's all-star travel team) and was followed by the addition of three home teams: The Cosmonaughties, Nutcrackers, and Wicked Pissahs. The Boston Massacre had its first game in December 2005, against the Sin City Rollergirls. The home teams began competing the following year (March 2006). In 2008 Boston added the Boston "B Party", to allow home team skaters to play against neighboring leagues without having to be at the all-star level; in 2012, the B Party became the Massacre's official farm team.
Boston Roller Derby's Training and Recreation program was also founded in 2012. The program offers newer skaters a place to learn and grow on the league, and allows transfer skaters from other leagues to become acclimated to Boston's skating style and requirements before being placed on a home team.
Teams
Boston Roller Derby is composed of four home teams, The Arkham Horrors, The Cosmonaughties, The Nutcrackers, and The Wicked Pissahs; an All-Star travel team, The Boston Massacre; an interleague B-team, The Boston B Party; and an interleague training team, the Train Wrecks.
In addition, Boston offers a Training and Recreation program called TRT, for new and transferring skaters who wish to learn how to play roller derby. It is divided up into two levels—non-contact and contact—each named after a line of Boston's MBTA service. Once skaters graduate from the TRT program, they're eligible to be drafted to a home team and to skate with the Train Wrecks. The TRT program accepts new trainees and transfers on a three-month cycle; the application period is approximately one month before the cycle begins.
Boston also provides a training program for those looking to become roller derby officials; current Boston officials have traveled the world representing BRD and the WFTDA.
Early years
In 2005, The Boston Massacre had its first sanctioned WFTDA bout against the Sin City Rollergirls. In 2006, as a newly formed team, The Boston Massacre played just 2 sanctioned WFTDA bouts and competed in their first unsanctioned round-robin tournament (Bumberbout) in Seattle, Washington. They ended the season ranked #13 Nationally by the WFTDA.
East Region era
In 2007, the Boston Massacre earned a berth to the first official WFTDA regional tournament. The tournament was divided into two regions, the East and the West. The tournament was a single-elimination tournament and The Boston Massacre was defeated by the Detroit Derby Girls by 5 points in an overtime jam. The tournament had no final ranking structure. They ended the season ranked #14 Nationally by the WFTDA
In 2008, the Boston Massacre earned their second trip to a WFTDA regional tournament. This time, the tournament was broken up into four regions: East, West, North Central, & South Central. The Boston Massacre finished the tournament winning 3 of their 4 bouts, losing the final Championship-qualifying bout by 2 points to the Carolina Rollergirls. The tournament had no final ranking structure. They ended the season ranked #3 in the East Region.
Boston Massacre began competing as a separate team at the start of 2009, rather than as collective members of players from each of the separate home teams. The Boston Massacre finished third in the 2009 WFTDA Eastern Regional Tournament, qualifying them to compete in the 2009 National Tournament, as of 2016 Boston's only Championships appearance. At the 2009 WFTDA National Championships, Boston defeated the Mad Rollin' Dolls (Madison) in their first-round bout, 104-98. In the second round, quarter finals, Boston was defeated by the Texas Rollergirls (Austin) 111-72, eliminating them from the tournament. Boston finished the season ranked #3 in the East and in the Top 12 of the WFTDA nationally.
In 2010, the team finished the season placing 4th at the WFTDA East Coast regional tournament.
In 2011, The Boston Massacre and The Boston "B Party" began to train together. In 2012, the league officially combined the two teams to create the Boston Travel Teams and the "B Party" became the official farm team to the Boston Massacre. The team finished the season in 7th place at the WFTDA East Region Playoffs in both 2011 and 2012.
Divisional era
In 2013, WFTDA abolished the regional ranking system and switched to an international rankings system. Tournaments were no longer divided into regions and instead based on international rankings. Boston finished the tournament season placing 7th in their first Division 1 tournament. At the end of 2013, Boston was ranked 16th in the WFTDA.
In 2014, Boston again qualified for Division 1 Playoffs, entering the Charleston tournament as the 6th seed, and finishing in 7th place. In 2015, Boston returned to Division 1 Playoffs, this time as the 6th seed in Omaha, where they finished in 5th place. At 2016 Division 1 Playoff in Montreal, Boston finished in the position in which they started, as the 6th place team.