Our history

Glasgow Roller Girls were the first flat track roller derby league to be established in Scotland and the fourth in the UK. Founding members Teri Toxic and Mistress Malicious drummed up interest through MySpace and the first training session took place on Sunday 29th April 2007. GRG rebranded in 2012 as Glasgow Roller Derby.

Fifteen years on from that first GRG training session, Glasgow Roller Derby continues to move from strength to strength while remaining true to its roots as a DIY club. Everyone involved in the club is a volunteer, and everything – training, recruitment, fundraising, merchandising, paperwork, and all of the other aspects of keeping a large and diverse organisation running smoothly  - is entirely in the hands of the skaters, referees, and non-skating officials of GRD.

A GRD timeline

2007 - Glasgow Roller Girls Established.

2008 - Glasgow Roller Girls find a home at GCU’s ARC Sports Centre, and in March the Irn Bruisers play their first bout against London Roller Girls. GRG also host the first intercontinental derby bout in the UK, taking on Team Canada in Glasgow.

2009 - Gaining experience, the Bruisers move from strength to strength placing third in the inaugural European tournament, Roll Britannia. With membership growing, GRG establish a second team, the Maiden Grrders, who won their debut bout against Auld Reekie Roller Girls’ B team in September ‘09.

2010 - The Bruisers and Maidens both compete in the first Scottish tournament, Highland Fling. The quality of both teams shone through as they finished in first and third place respectively. The league grew tremendously during this year, and so at the end of 2010, it was decided to set up home teams for intraleague play.

2011 - GRG became an Apprentice League of the US-based Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Association (WFTDA), and continued to play to packed venues both home and away.

2012 - the Bruisers became a full member league of the WFTDA and GRD held their first tournament, Chaos on the Clyde, with teams participating from Stuttgart, Sheffield, London, Edinburgh and Leeds; the Irn Bruisers took the gold. The club was also rebranded as Glasgow Roller Derby to reflect the athletic direction and ambitions of the club.  

2015 - Glasgow Roller Derby’s growing success moved them up the world rankings, securing them a place at D1 Playoffs in Jacksonville, Florida.

2017 - GRD celebrated its 10 year anniversary, hosting a big day of roller derby scrimmages with participants from other leagues all over Scotland!

2021 - GRD training resumes at the end of 2021 after nearly 2 years of being on pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic.