Players from Northern Brisbane Rollers team, The Brawls Stars, cheer on their fellow skaters during a casual Sunday scrim – a practice bout – at Ipswich Showground, QLD.

Nardine ‘Narsty’ Smith, from Brisbane City Rollers (BCR), practised ballet for years, but her favourite way to keep fit now is to skate. Here she shows off some impressive moves at a parking lot in Ipswich.

Skate Salvage, Brisbane, is Australia’s only specialised roller derby store. The shop’s owner, Miranda ‘XL’ Frare, right, and her partner Carly Lucas, left, are dedicated BCR skaters who love the idea that roller derby could some day make the Olympics.

Skaters from Gold Coast team Corporal Punishers talk winning tactics before a jam at the Open Season Round 4 bout in Ipswich, QLD.

Each game or ‘jam’ of roller derby requires at least four referees and most leagues are in serious need of refs. This volunteer position requires a fair amount of commitment and the game couldn’t be played without the referees’ hard work.

With more than 300 rules to the game, skaters will often find themselves sin-binned if they put a skate out of line.

Many skaters are drawn to roller derby for the dramatics – the outrageous team names, fierce characters and the chance to play a contact women’s sport while dressing up and wearing makeup.

A referee checks that skaters from the Rogues, a BCR team, are kitted out correctly before a jam. The safety of skaters is paramount, and they are all required to wear helmets and knee, elbow and wrist pads.

As the pivot (point scorer) in this jam, Narsty (wearing the star car) attempts to make her way past the opposing team’s pack. After passing the pack once, every subsequent time she passes an opposing skater she scores a point.

Falls and injuries are a common occurence in roller derby, but the skaters rightly argue that this isn’t unusual for a contact sport – you see just as many, if not more, injuries in a game like rugby league.

Skates are the most important bit of gear, besides the protective pads. New skaters should be fitted with a pair and they have the option to customise their skates with different types of boots and wheels.

The friendships and team solidarity are big drawcards for roller derby. Skaters train, jam and often socialise together, resulting in a family feel to the leagues.

Roller derby also attracts strong characters. Bloody Fiasco, left, captain of the Crash Test Honeyz, a Coastal Assains team, says she didn’t have many female friends before joining the league. Now she is surrounded by other like-minded, strong women.

The Australian roller derby community is a tight-knit, accepting group – on the track rival skaters may be opponents, but off the track the tussles of the jam are quickly forgotten.

With up to three training sessions a week and jams on the weekend, roller derby calls for skaters to be fit and highly skilled. Often they are unable to skate in a real jam for over a year from when they sign-up – such is the intensity of the training program.