Supporting Red Nose Day in 2013

Roller derby is both physically demanding and highly tactical and yet there is a place for everyone, no matter their background.

Since we began in late May 2010, we have always aimed high. Initially we set out to be the first team to bring live roller derby to Nottingham. We achieved this on June 4 2011 with our first highly successful home bout against Yorkshire’s Hotwheel Roller Derby, where we emerged victorious.

2011 also saw us become members of the UK Roller Derby Association (UKRDA).

In 2012 we started working towards becoming part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). We had apprentice status until 2013, after which we became fully affiliated, allowing us to compete internationally.

Since then, the team has grown from strength to strength. 60 members strong, our league now sees both our A and B team regularly playing in competitive games.

2017 saw the league host our very first international roller derby tournament Track Attack! Teams from Leeds, Brussels and Dundee joined Nottingham Hellfire Harlots A team in Clifton for two brilliant days of roller derby excitement.

2018 was a monumental year for Nottingham Hellfire Harlots. We won our first international tournament West Track Story VI, beating Antwerp, Nantes, Tampere and Amsterdam to take home the trophy. A string of well-played games then saw us break the top 100 of the WFTDA rankings in November, climbing to 96th.

A Team celebrating West Track Story VI win

2019 continues to be a exceptional year for our league, with our B team competing in Tier 2 East of the British Championships and some exciting challenges lined up for A team.

B team after their first Brit Champs win

Watch this space for more inspiring roller derby!

By the skaters for the skaters

Our league is committee led, with an ethos of ‘by the skaters for the skaters’. There are currently ten committee members charged with the task of overseeing the operation of the team, which is run on a par with a small business.

We currently have a league of sixty members and every April and October we recruit for new members, including men, who can get involved as referees or NSOs.

Our team is comprised of all kinds of different women, of different ages, shapes and backgrounds.

Amongst our members we count photographers, business women, mothers, musicians, jewellers, magazine editors, teachers, graphic designers and many more. We all share the goal of pursuing our sport as far as we can and expanding it globally.

The average demographic is 25 – 45 year old women, but we have members as young as 18 and as old as 52.

In recognition of all our hard work, Nottingham Hellfire Harlots were awarded the 2012 Nottingham Sport Club of Year.

Some other cool things our team has achieved:

  • Becoming WFTDA affiliated.
  • Facing London Roller Girls in September 2012 (the UK’s most established league).
  • Teaching Daley Thompson, Sharron Davies and John Inverdale to skate when they visited for the 2012 Join In weekend.
  • Playing our first international bout in April 2012 against Sweden’s Crime City Rollers.
  • Becoming a member of the UK Roller Derby Association (UK RDA).
  • Winning Broxtowe Borough’s Sports Club of the Year 2011.
  • Actively working with charities such as Nottingham Women’s Centre and CP Sports to help raise funds for good causes.
  • Winning our first tournament in Nantes in 2018.