Rose City Rollers

History and league structure

Founded in 2004 by Kim "Rocket Mean" Stegeman, along with Evette Reyes (among others), Rose City Rollers became a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) in 2005. In November 2008, Rose City and Rat City Rollergirls (Seattle) co-hosted the Northwest Knockdown national championships at the Portland Expo Center. Rose City hosted the 2011 WFTDA Western Regional Tournament, the "Bridgetown Brawl", at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, in which they placed third overall.

Rose City Rollers is one of the largest modern roller derby leagues in the United States, if not the world. Rose City comprises a multitude of teams at various levels of competition, and hosts games at the The Hangar at Oaks Amusement Park, where they draw up to 22,000 fans a year for games. Rose City has two travel teams, the WFTDA-level Wheels of Justice A team, and the Axles of Annihilation B team, plus four home teams, the BreakNeck Betties, Guns N Rollers, Heartless Heathers and High Rollers.

Other Programs

WFTDA competition

Rose City took part in the first WFTDA Championships in February 2006, the "Dust Devil" invitational tournament, in which they placed 16th out of 20 teams. At the first WFTDA Western Regional Tournament (also named the Dust Devil) Rose City lost in the opening round 95-92 to Sin City Rollergirls of Las Vegas and were eliminated. Rose City and Rat City Rollergirls co-hosted the Northwest Knockdown 2008 national championships at the Portland Expo Center. Rose City did not compete at Championships however, after losing to B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls at the Western Regional tournament. At the 2009 Western Regional Tournament, Rose City finished in seventh place with a 241-42 victory over Angel City Derby Girls. In 2010, Rose City came up just short of qualifying for Championships, losing the third place game at Western Regionals 133-102 to Bay Area.

2011 was Rose City's most successful year to that point, finishing the season with their highest ranking position to date (third in the West Region), and qualifying for Championships for the first time since 2006, by defeating Rat City Rollergirls 186-134 to finish the Western Regional Tournament in third place. At Championships, Rose City was knocked out in the opening round by the Kansas City Roller Warriors 143-135. Rose City finished fourth at the 2012 West Region tournament, losing 135-123 to Bay Area in the third-place game. At the first Division 1 Playoff in 2013 at Fort Wayne, Rose City was upset in the opening round by London Rollergirls 193-190, but won their remaining games to finish the weekend in 5th place.

Starting in 2014, Rose City has made final game at the WFTDA Championships every year. After taking first place at the 2014 Division 1 tournament in Charleston, West Virginia, Rose City advanced all the way to the final game of the Championships in Nashville, narrowly falling to Gotham Girls Roller Derby, 147-144.

In 2015, the Wheels of Justice again won their Division 1 Playoff, this time in Dallas where they beat Texas Rollergirls 257-223 in the final. At the Championships in Saint Paul in November, Rose City upset top-seeded Gotham 206-195 to take the 2015 WFTDA Championships and win the Hydra Trophy, dethroning Gotham after their four-year championship run. Rose City won their third straight Division 1 tournament in September 2016, taking the final game 250-137 over Denver Roller Derby. In November, Rose City retained its Championships title, coming from behind to again defeat Gotham in the final.

Rankings

The Wheels of Justice are Rose City's WFTDA charter team and compete against other WFTDA teams in sanctioned play, and qualify for rankings.