Roller soccer
Roller soccer, roller foot or roller football is a version of association football (soccer) played on roller skates.
 A practice session between London Fire Rollersoccer players | |
| Highest governing body | Rollersoccer International Federation |
|---|---|
| First played | Late 19th century |
| Registered players | 200 |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Yes |
| Team members | 5 per side |
| Type | Team sport, ball sport, roller sport |
| Equipment | Football (or soccer ball), roller skates, pads |
| Venue | Roller rink, 5 a side football court, Outside sports court |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | UK, U.S. France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Belarus, Slovenia |
| Olympic | No |
| Paralympic | No |
History
The sport was created in the English Midlands [1] in 1882 and the first documented match was a game between local rivals Derby and Burton on 30 January of that year. A 1934 game at London's Forest Gate Roller Rink, between two teams of female players, was filmed for an item on Pathé News.[2] Over a decade later Billboard reported in 1949 that it had been revived in Detroit, having disappeared for more than thirty years.[3]
The game re-emerged for inlines in San Francisco in 1995, when a group of friends on inline skates began playing soccer with a pine cone. They soon switched to using a football.[4] By 1998, it was described as "well established in some areas".[5]
The first Rollersoccer World Cup was held in London in 2003 and again in 2004 whereafter the tournament was rotated around the world with European and National events also emerging.
The country with most active players and the highest number of teams is France, with Marseille currently the holders of the most world titles. The sport is also played in Australia,[6] Belarus, Belgium,[7] Brazil, England, Germany, India, Russia, Scotland and Senegal.
World championships
References
- "The Derby Daily Telegraph". 31 January 1882.
- "Soccer On Skates! (1934)". British Pathé. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- "Roller soccer at Imlay City", Billboard, 26 February 1949
- "Skating sports roll on", The Vindicator, 9 June 2001, section E, p.1
- Liz Miller, Get Rolling: The Beginner's Guide to In-Line Skating, p.31
- Eleri Harris, "Clanberra: The Roller-Socceroos", 666 ABC Canberra, 20 December 2011
- "Grâce à des jeunes, le roller soccer est une affaire qui roule en Belgique", RTBF, 19 April 2010 (in French)
External links