Hammer City Roller Derby Explained

Hammer City Roller Derby
Founded:	2006
Metro Area:	Hamilton, Ontario
Country:	Canada
Teams:	Eh! Team (A team) Dundurn Hassle (B team) Pier Pressure (rookie)
Tracks:	Flat
Venue:	Dave Andreychuk Arena J. L. Grightmire Arena
Affiliations:	WFTDA

Hammer City Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Hamilton, Ontario. Founded in 2006, the league currently consists of three teams which compete against teams from other leagues, and is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).

History

The league was founded as Hammer City Roller Girls in January 2006, and played its first bout in July, attracting almost 1,000 fans to what was described as "the region's first roller derby in decades".^[1] In 2009, Hammer City became one of the first two Canadian leagues accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).^[2] In February 2017, the organization rebranded itself as Hammer City Roller Derby, to "more accurately reflect the diversity of (its) membership".^{[3] [4]}

League structure

When the league was first formed, there were three home teams: The Death Row Dames, The Hamilton Harlots and The Steeltown Tank Girls.^[5] In early 2011 Hammer City reorganized the league structure, keeping the Harlots as a secondary travel team to the charter Eh! Team, which competes in the WFTDA North Central Region.^[6] In 2007, the Harlots were the first winners of the Beast of The East invitational tournament hosted by Montreal Roller Derby.^[7] In 2014, Hammer City was placed in the WFTDA's Division 2, having finished at 85 overall the previous year.

As of February 2017, in conjunction with the league rebrand, Hammer City features three teams: the A-level WFTDA charter team remains the Eh! Team, the B-level Harlots become the Dundurn Hassle (named in honour of local landmark, Dundurn Castle), and the rookie-level team is Pier Pressure. Hammer City hosts home games at Dave Andreychuk Arena in Hamilton.

WFTDA rankings

Season	Final ranking^[8]	Playoffs	Championship
2009	17 NC^[9]	DNQ	DNQ
2010	18 NC^[10]	DNQ	DNQ
2011	25 NC^[11]	DNQ	DNQ
2012	29 NC^[12]	DNQ	DNQ
2013	85 WFTDA^[13]	DNQ	DNQ
2014	108 WFTDA^[14]	DNQ	DNQ
2015	144 WFTDA^[15]	DNQ	DNQ
2016	147 WFTDA^[16]	DNQ	DNQ

Notes and References

1. "Get the painkillers, roller derby's back", The Hamilton Spectator, 24 July 2006
2. "WFTDA Announces International Expansion", WFTDA, 6 November 2009
3. Web site: New Name. New Look. 100% Hammer City. – Hammer City Roller Derby. hammercityrollergirls.ca. Hammer City Roller Derby. 21 February 2017. en-CA. 21 February 2017.
4. News: Mahoney. Jeff. Typhoid Maggie and Co. have new way to roll. The Hamilton Spectator. 2 March 2017. 2 March 2017.
5. Web site: Leblanc. Denis. Women’s roller derby ready to rock the city. Hamilton Scores. 14 November 2011. 9 May 2008.
6. Web site: Hammer City Roller Girls. WFTDA. 14 November 2011.
7. Web site: Beast of the East. Montreal Roller Derby. 6 February 2012. https://archive.today/20130129101820/http://mtlrollerderby.com/?page_id=1435&lang=en. 29 January 2013. dead.
8. "Current Rankings", WFTDA
9. Web site: Current Rankings. WFTDA. 21 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20100430194525/http://wftda.com/rankings. 30 April 2010.
10. Web site: Current Rankings. WFTDA. 21 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20110302222136/http://wftda.com/rankings/. 2 March 2011.
11. Web site: Current Rankings. WFTDA. 21 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20120125085842/http://wftda.com/rankings. 25 January 2012.
12. Web site: Current Rankings. WFTDA. 21 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20130320122723/http://www.wftda.com/rankings. 20 March 2013.
13. Web site: Rankings: December 31, 2013 – WFTDA. wftda.com. WFTDA. 21 February 2017.
14. Web site: Rankings: December 31, 2014 – WFTDA. wftda.com. WFTDA. 21 February 2017.
15. Web site: Rankings: December 31, 2015 – WFTDA. wftda.com. WFTDA. 21 February 2017.
16. Web site: Rankings: December 31, 2016 – WFTDA. wftda.com. WFTDA. 21 February 2017.