A Brief History
The Rat City Rollergirls got rolling in April 2004 after a group of good friends with glasses of good wine sat around a lamb stir-fry and Minute Rice dinner swapping wild stories about a roller derby resurgence in Texas. Within weeks, that dinner party conversation led to the formation of the Rat City Rollergirls, the first flat-track derby league in the Northwest (true story).Within months Rat City Rollergirls – named, after a fashion, for the South Seattle neighborhood where the league got its start – had grown to four teams and 80-plus skater-members. Later, as derby momentum picked up nationwide, Rat City formed an all-star team made up of the best players from the four home teams who represent RCRG in regional and national play.
Since Rat City made its first tournament appearance at 2006’s Dust Devil in Tucson, Ariz., the league and its all-star team has shown fans what true northwest derby is all about.
With lightning-fast jammers and a swarm of precision blockers, the women of Rat City have taken the national derby scene by storm, placing well in WFTDA-sanctioned tournaments and maintaining a ranking among the nation’s top 10 best derby teams.
Rat City puts the same amount of dedication into furthering its local derby community, whether hosting training camps, coaching junior derby, informally scrimmaging with teams from nearby leagues, or hosting tournaments like the Bumberbout at Bumbershoot (2006), the Rust Riot (2008), and Northwest Knockdown, the 2008 WFTDA National Championship in Portland, Ore.
The skaters of Rat City believe that when one person skates better, we all skate better. Aside from furthering the skating community, the gals of RCRG are dedicated to providing community outreach through events, activities, and charity sponsorship.
RCRG has consistently graduated to larger and larger venues, finally finding a home at KeyArena, home of the Seattle Storm WNBA team and former home to the Seattle Sonics NBA team.
