We are very excited to announce a new Partnership with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Rugby League Club!
Read our press release here:
They have very similar names and both play very physical sports. Now Wakey Wheeled Cats and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats have got together to form a new partnership.
In what is believed to be a first for a UK-based roller derby league, the two clubs will work together on a number of initiatives including joint fundraising activities for the Wheeled Cats and the Wakefield Community Trust, and the Cats will carry the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats logo on their playing kits.
Both clubs will have a presence on each other’s respective websites and work on helping to promote fixtures and events through social media. The Wheeled Cats will also attend one of the Wildcats fixtures later this year to showcase the sport and their club in the Wildcats fanzone, helping to grow a sport in the local area that is one of the fastest developing in the entire country.
After gaining national exposure in The Sun newspaper earlier this week, the Wheeled Cats are part of a growing sport that has swept the nation over the last few years.
Roller derby involves two teams on a track, each with a jammer, who scores points by passing members of the opposing team. The opponents then do whatever they can to prevent them – while sticking to a strict ruleset that bans the use of elbows, tripping and pushing to the back among other things.
The high octane, full-contact sport is mainly played by women and has enjoyed a renaissance in the last decade. It is now played by teams in more than 40 countries, with more than 100 teams in the UK.
Wakey Wheeled Cats were among the first leagues in the country, founded in spring 2009, and the league is ran by the skaters, for the skaters. They train three times a week at Lightwaves Leisure Centre, Wakefield.
Wheeled Cats captain and co-founder Kirsty Quinn said: ” We are very proud to be in partnership with the Wildcats and hope that together we can promote our relative sports to Wakefield and help encourage our local community to get involved.
“The Wildcats have been extremely forward-thinking in joining up with an all-female team who play a relatively new, yet serious, sport to the UK – indeed this is quite possibly a first for the roller derby community, and is definitely a positive step forwards for our club.”
Wakefield Community Trust Fundraising Officer, James Stephenson, commented: “It’s great news that we can work with the Wheeled Cats and we’re delighted to be involved with a sport that is growing rapidly in popularity.
“With the recent Sport England report citing that Wakefield has the highest percentage of people in West Yorkshire not taking part in any 30 minute period of exercise each week, we hope a partnership like this can get more people involved in keeping active and healthy.
“We will act as ambassadors for the Wheeled Cats and similarly they will do the same for us with the aim of bring each other’s sports to a new audience as well. It’s the first of a number of similar partnerships and we’re really pleased that the Wheeled Cats are the first of those to be announced.”