The 2009 film Whip It, starring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore, marked one of the first mainstream depictions of roller derby to reach Irish shores. The sport’s emphasis on fun and individualism was at the forefront of the film, in which the protagonist, unable to conform to the beauty-pageant focused atmosphere of her home, finds that roller derby gives her, as it does many, the opportunity to express herself in a unique way suited to her own character. While the film wasn’t exactly a knockout at the box office, it helped to bring the idea of rollerderby, a sport better known in America, into the … Continue reading Skating Onto The Scene: The Women of Irish Roller Derby