Hammer City Roller Derby

The league was founded as Hammer City Roller Girls in January 2006,[1] and played its first bout in July, attracting almost 1,000 fans to what was described as "the region's first roller derby in decades".[2] In 2009, Hammer City became one of the first two Canadian leagues accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).[3] In February 2017, the organization rebranded itself as Hammer City Roller Derby, to "more accurately reflect the diversity of (its) membership".[4][5]

When the league was first formed, there were three home teams: The Death Row Dames, The Hamilton Harlots and The Steeltown Tank Girls.[1] In early 2011 Hammer City reorganized the league structure, keeping the Harlots as a secondary travel team to the charter Eh! Team, which competes in the WFTDA North Central Region.[6] In 2007, the Harlots were the very first winners of the Beast of The East invitational tournament hosted by Montreal Roller Derby.[7] In 2014, Hammer City was placed in the WFTDA's Division 2, having finished at 85 overall the previous year.

As of February 2017, in conjunction with the league rebrand, Hammer City features three teams: the A-level WFTDA charter team remains the Eh! Team, the B-level Harlots become the Dundurn Hassle (named in honour of local landmark, Dundurn Castle), and the rookie-level team is Pier Pressure.[4][5] Hammer City hosts home games at Dave Andreychuk Arena in Hamilton.[5]