Promotional card for the Gotham Girls Roller Derby All-Stars vs. the Boston All-Stars, March 28, 2009. The reverse is black with color images of roller derby girls and the dates and times of the tournament list in black and yellow print. Emily Langmade, as Fisticuffs, started her career with the Tucson Roller Derby and later joined the Gotham Girls who went on to become four time champions at Women's Flat Track Roller Derby. Langmade saw the sport change from a hard hitting free for all to a serious sport with worlds class athletes.
Modern roller derby began in 2001 after four teams were formed and founded under the Bad Girls Good Women Productions (BGGW) name. In 2002, the flat track derby, Texas Rollergirls was formed from 65 members of the first BGGW teams after a disagreement over management practices caused a permanent split. BGGW took the remaining 15 skaters and became the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls forming a banked track league. A truly grass roots movement, the flat track derby uses a not-for-profit organizational model with female identifying skaters running the leagues and using their own money to buy rink time, produce tournaments, and print programs, putting any money earned, back into the organization.