Roller derby was devised in 1935 during the Great Depression by Leo Seltzer, a Chicago promoter. Originally, the derby was a roller skating race where participants circled a track thousands of times to simulate the distance between LA and New York. Inevitably, collisions and crashes occurred as skaters tried to pass those ahead of them. Seltzer realised this was the most exciting part and turned the sport into a full-contact affair with elbows, body-checks and fights galore. In its revived version, the unisex teams of the past have been abandoned for a game played by women only wearing old-school quad skates. The London Rollergirls have established the sport in the capital and this is their first ever inter-league match. A bar, half-time entertainment, DJs and an afterparty will make this all rather different from the average Saturday afternoon sports fixture. Andrew Shields
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