Arizona Roller Derby

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Arizona Roller Derby
League logo
Metro area Phoenix, Arizona
Country United States
Founded 2003
Teams Bad News Beaters
Brawlarinas
Surly Gurlies
Gaudylupes
Track type(s) Flat
Venue Castle sport club
Affiliations WFTDA (West Region)
Org. type non-profit
Website AZRollerDerby.com

Arizona Roller Derby is Arizona's first all female roller derby league. It was founded in 2003 making it one of the oldest resurgence roller derby leagues in America. Arizona Roller Derby, abbreviated as AZRD, is one of the founding members of Women's Flat Track Derby Association and remains a member of WFTDA in the Western Region.[1]

AZRD is based out of Phoenix, Arizona and holds their bouts at the Castle Sports Club.

Evolution of the league

Tucson splits to form TRD

In the early days of AZRD, there was a separate "chapter" in Tucson called Tucson-Arizona Roller Derby. They had one team called the Furious Truckstop Waitresses. The logistics of being a two-city league became no longer cost-effective. The chapter would split from AZRD and create Tucson Roller Derby.[2] Upon its split from AZRD, Tucson Roller Derby became the first 501(c) roller derby league in the nation.[3]

Rules and league splits

The first AZRD games were "no rules/no holds barred".[4] As the overall sport was starting to evolve and establish rules, some skaters would split away from AZRD to form other leagues.

The AZRD team French Kiss Army would break away from AZRD to form Renegade Rollergirls, a league that continues to play the no-rules no-holds-barred style of roller derby.[citation needed]

In 2005, four skaters from AZRD including one who skated for the original TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls split off from AZRD to form Arizona Derby Dames (AZDD) with the ambition of becoming a banked track roller derby league. After skating 4 seasons on flat track, the AZDD would become banked track in 2010.

Arizona Bruisers, LLC

In 2007, a group of skaters who were a part of the Bruisers team felt that they should be able to raise funds specific to the team and have more opportunities to skate. A group led by Bruisers skaters formed a limited liability company (LLC) called Arizona Bruisers, LLC.[5]

Citing violations of the league's "non-compete" policies, AZRD threatened the skaters with expulsion from the league. In addition, issues were reported as a result of the registration of the name "Bruisers" with the Arizona Corporation Commission relating to an agreement that AZRD has with the Brewcity Bruisers, a WFTDA member league from Milwaukee.

In January, 2008, despite efforts to settle differences, the Arizona Bruisers announced that they are now independent of Arizona Roller Derby in an effort to position themselves as a high-level travel team.[6] AZRD would also continue to use the "Bruisers" name for one of their home team.

After two scrimmages between a squad from Duke City Derby and the Copper Queens from Tucson Roller Derby, the Arizona Bruisers would eventually be called the Phoenix City Rollers and then by March, 2008 would ultimately dissolve.[7]

Restructure as a 501(c) corporation

In 2010, AZRD held a league meeting where league management decided to restructure the league from a limited liability company to a non-profit corporation under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. This will allow the league to solicit funding from sponsors and it being tax deductible.[8]

Teams

AZRD currently has 5 "home" teams and one travel team.

Tent City Terrors

The Tent City Terrors, named after the Tent City jail created by Sheriff Joe Arpaio as a cost-effective way to address jail overcrowding [9] is AZRD's travel team that will play in bouts sanctioned by WFTDA. As of 2014, the Tent City Terrors are a Division 2 team.

Bruisers

The Bruisers were one time one of the four AZRD bouting teams. For the 2009–2010 season, amid a declining membership experienced in 2008 and 2009, AZRD reduced the number of home teams from 4 to 3. As a result, AZRD would use the name "Bruisers" to identify their secondary travel team (or B-Team). This reflects an ongoing trend in WFTDA to form B-teams to help develop skaters to eventually play on the sanctioned travel (A) team as well as to help train apprentice leagues. They were "reinstated" as a beginner home team squad in 2012, only to removed once again due to membership fluctuations.

Home teams

For 2015-2016 Season 12, AZRD has five home teams competing at two levels.

State Level Teams

  • The Skate Riot Project have a project mayhem theme. Their colors are neon green and pink.
  • The Bad News Beaters have a baseball theme. Their colors are blue and yellow.[10]
  • The Surly Gurlies have a pirate theme. Their colors are black and red.[11]

City Level Teams

  • The Gaudylupes have a pinata theme. Their colors are green and gold.[12][13]
  • The Brawlarinas have a brutal ballerina theme. Their color is purple.[14]

Standings

2008–2009 Season

Seed Team Bouts Win Lose PF PA (+/-)
Bruisers 2 2 0 196 118 +39.0
Brawlarinas 3 2 1 299 252 +15.6
Bad News Beaters 2 1 1 218 198 +10.0
Surly Gurlies 3 0 3 213 358 -48.3

The April 2009 bout between the Beaters and the Bruisers was cancelled as a result of flooding at the Castle Sports Club.[15] AZRD decided to do the Championship bout in the format of a round-robin tournament involving all 4 teams. In the tournament, the Surly Gurlies, a team who had an 0–3 regular season record would win all three of their games and be the 2008–2009 AZRD Champions.[16]

2007–2008 Season

Seed Team Bouts Win Lose PF PA (+/-)
1 Bad News Beaters 3 3 0 350 210 +46.7
Bruisers (see note) 3 1 2 207 212 -4.3
2 Surly Gurlies 3 1 2 212 258 -15.3
3 Brawlarinas 3 1 2 190 271 -27.0

During this season a group of skaters who were mainly on the Bruisers left AZRD to form their own independent team. The one win in the record was from the pre-split Bruiser team. A new Bruiser team was formed mid-season with Ivanna S. Pankin as team captain. At the end of the season, it was decided that the Surly Gurlies and the Brawlarinas would be moved up in the rankings and those three teams would go to the post season.

Playoff Game: (#2)Surly Gurlies 74 vs. (#3)Brawlarinas 60 - Surly Gurlies advance to the Championship Game.

Championship Game: (#1)Bad News Beaters 113 vs. Surly Gurlies 50 - Bad News Beaters win championship.

Rankings

Season Q4 ranking[17] Playoffs Championship
2006 4[18] — 3[19]
2007 12[20] R2[21] R1[22]
2008 N/A DNQ DNQ
2009 12 (W) DNQ DNQ
2010 13 (W) DNQ DNQ
2011 13 (W) DNQ DNQ
2012 13 (W) 10[23] DNQ
2013 DNQ DNQ

External links

References

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  2. ↑ [1][dead link]
  3. ↑ [2][dead link]
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Arizona Derby Report #3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj1z2YtxfCg
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  9. ↑ [3][dead link]
  10. ↑ [4][dead link]
  11. ↑ [5][dead link]
  12. ↑ [6][dead link]
  13. ↑ [7][dead link]
  14. ↑ [8][dead link]
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ "Current Rankings", WFTDA
  18. ↑ "12/8/2006 WFTDA National Rankings", WFTDA [version of 23 February 2007]
  19. ↑ "February 2006 Dust Devil Invitational Rankings", WFTDA [version of 23 February 2007]
  20. ↑ "Current WFTDA Rankings", Derby News Network, October 2007
  21. ↑ "Dust Devil 2007", Flat Track Stats
  22. ↑ "Texas Shootout 2007", Flat Track Stats
  23. ↑ "Bay of Reckoning", WFTDA
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