In 2002, I had the privilege of being asked to skate for Gallaz and Carhartt. It was an absolutely amazing time riding for those teams, as it was the era of the first explosion of female riders to appear on the scene. And although lots of opportunities opened up for us through the association, the one thing I felt was lacking was the coverage given to female skateboarders. It wasn’t reflective of our ability but instead focused predominantly on the health and fitness side of things. The best article I ever read about myself (and a word of which I hadn’t said!) was in ES Magazine where I was quoted as saying you can burn 35 calories doing an ollie and 250 calories in a “skate session” – I mean who ever figured that out? Needless to say, I felt that us women should be getting coverage that focused on our riding in the way that our male counterparts received and not on how a kickflip could tone your thighs…
Words by Jenna Selby
That same year, I’d started up the annual Girl Skate Jam – a competition and jam for women and girls. Although I’ve always loved skating with guys, I could fully appreciate how daunting it could sometimes be going in to a park being the only female. When I first started, I remember how it seemed that everyone would turn around and just stare (and then ask you if you could kickflip). So I wanted to create an event where everyone could feel comfortable and they could compete if they wanted to or just skate around. It was also a chance for us all to get together as a lot of the other female riders lived around different parts of the country and before social media really took off, it was one way of keeping in touch.
Every year I’d meet some absolutely amazing people at the Girl Skate Jam. I’d also bump into different riders at comps I was entering and had started photographing girl skaters for mags. After a time, I realised there was so much underground talent out there that I’d like to start a company of my own. So in 2005 Rogue Skateboards came about. The team actually didn’t have a name for the first three months, as it’s surprisingly difficult to come up with something of meaning. It wasn’t until we’d done an interview for a magazine and the day before it went to print, we came up with Rogue – named after the brilliant female X-Men character.
The theory behind the team was to take some of the best riders in the UK and promote female skaters in the right way. My main thought was that you were more likely to get noticed and get coverage as a group rather than as an individual. If we went to comps and travelled to parks together it helped raise awareness and had much more of an impact. We’d also be able to choose our own coverage and as a knock on effect it would help create role models for the future generations – at that time there was quite a high drop out once girls hit puberty.
The original team consisted of Lucy Adams, Maria Falbo, Sadie Hollins, myself and Laura Goh (Crane). Other riders who joined over the years included Helena Long, Georgie Winter, Dora Horvath, Emma Richardson, Fran Stroud, Zoe Kings, Helen Lovelee, Emily Russell and Claire Thompson.
Rogue ran for 12 years as a skateboard company. Whilst working hard to promote the team, we also produced 10 different deck graphics; working alongside the artists on the team (Helen Lovelee and Helena Long) to produce them. Rogue also created the first UK and European female signature board for Helena Long followed a few years later by Dora Horvath (one of the best and funniest motivational riders out there!!).
As a team we undertook three nationwide skate tours that were covered by Sidewalk Magazine (thanks Ben!). We invited other riders to join us along the way and usually lost a few to the hospital. As the years went by the interest grew and the BBC came out and joined on one of our tours to interview us about what we were doing – ok they made us all drop in all at once – but we forgive them for that. (I’m not sure we forgive ourselves though!)
In 2008, I decided it was time to make a film. I’d broken my ankle quite badly, had been made redundant from my job and so had time and money on my hands. Over the space of a year we created the first European female skateboard film – ‘As If, And What?’ The film included all of the team plus other influential UK female riders. The trailer alone had over 130,000 hits on the first day. In December 2009, 200 people came out to watch the premier.
‘Days Like These’ followed this up in 2015, which again included the team riders and this time around European riders who had seen the first film and had asked to be part of the second. The last film to be made before the team disbanded in 2017 was Scratch the Surface; a short documentary focused on the stories behind the ladies involved in the skate scene in the UK. Its aim was to introduce an outside audience to the fairly unknown world of female skateboarding. Shown at the She Extreme film festival in the same year it won the ‘People’s Choice’ award. These films now serve as essential historic documentation of top female skateboarders from the UK
Rogue’s Future:
Rogue’s original concept of promoting women in the same capacity as their male counterparts still stands true. Whilst Rogue lay dormant for some years the new outlook for it is to create a media platform not only to carry on promoting female and LGBTQ+ skaters but also to showcase the talents of those who work behind the scenes as women are majorly underrepresented in the media in so many sports.
There is already a diverse amount of absolutely brilliant platforms promoting female skaters. The aim of Rogue is to produce original content made by women and LGBTQ+ about women and LGBTQ+.
The best way to be heard is by working together.
