Like a 1970s version of gladiatorial games, the roller derby girls cruised into Red Deer Saturday.

Decked out in old-style roller skates, fishnet stockings and mini-skirts the women looked more like vixens than vicious competitors — at least until things got underway.

As the announcer called out their skate names — Anna Salt, Viv the Shiv, Honey Crueler, Ana Filactic and more — the crowd of around 200 people hooted, yelled and whistled.

The audience at the Collicutt Centre encircled the track — some on the stands, other on chairs, their own lawn chairs or sitting on the floor. Early on the announcer warned people at the front, they might wind have a couple girls crash into them.

The way the sport works, five girls from each team go head to head at a time, skating around the track.

One of the girls acts as the jammer (or point scorer) and four of them act as blockers. The goal is to block the other team’s jammer and help your jammer get past everyone to score points.

Tripping isn’t allowed. Neither is hitting from behind or using “the big elbow.”

But hip checks that level a girl flat on her face or her backside are perfectly acceptable, as are “booty blocks,” with someone pushing their butt out to block the other team.

And while the girls look feminine, their injuries are more like one might see on a rugby or hockey player.

Tracy Cuillerier — AKA Trailer Park Tracy — with the Calgary Roller Derby Association said she has had a bruise on her thigh that hasn’t disappeared since July 2007. “It won’t go away,” she said.

But the chance of getting injured doesn’t stop her from playing.

“I think I just have a lot of aggression,” she said, laughing. “Work is stressful and relationships are stressful and this gets everything out.”

Cuillerier is a blocker who plays with the Thrashin’ Lassies in Calgary. “I love that I have 52 sisters and if something goes wrong in my life I always have someone to back me up,” she said.

The youth worker, who helps homeless youth in Calgary, said some of her biggest fans are the kids she helps. They even came up with her roller derby name.

Pasted onto the back of her helmet was a phrase close to: “Mess with me and you mess with the whole trailer park.”

As the game proceeded at times the jammers manage to get through the crowd of blockers with a little fancy footwork. At other times girls went down like dominoes — one after another falling to the floor in a cluttered heap of arms and legs.

Sabrina Beresford — Sabanatrix — is with the Oil City Derby Girls.

She said winning is all about working together.

“The only thing I can say is you work hard and you work with your team. So you go out there and there are five of you against five other players. You can’t play this game alone. It really takes a lot of teamwork,” Beresford said.

The mother of five — four boys and one girl, between age three to nine — said the sport is a great chance for her to get out of the house and spend time with other women. She has been playing for a year.

Her husband and her children are her biggest cheerleaders.

The bout Saturday night wasn’t about competition as much as it was for a good cause. The Walk and Roll to End Domestic Violence event raised around $1,000 for the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.

It drew Jeremy Spenst, of Red Deer, and his friend Sarah Turl, visiting from Toronto.

Spenst was there to support the women’s shelters and said there are definitely worse ways to spend a Saturday night. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said.

Turl was also impressed. She said the game even inspired her to want to join a roller derby. “I’m loving it,” she said. The best part for her were “the sandwiches”, with girls wedged between each other fighting to get to the front. “There is nothing like watching two girls beat on each other,” she said.

The final score was pink 127 to blue 111.

Contact Stacy O’Brien at sobrien@reddeeradvocate.com