Two years after its wobbly beginning in the back of an Auburn St car park, membership of the Wollongong Illawarra Roller Derby league has quadrupled, with nostalgia, girl power and Hollywood's influence credited with fuelling the revival.

Now with 40 skaters, the league has been able to create two resident teams - the Vixens and the Vipers - and schedule a series of five home bouts for 2011.

The league has held several recruitment sessions for "fresh meat" since March last year, when 1000 people crowded into the University of Wollongong's Sports Hub to witness the first inter-city roller derby held on Illawarra soil in decades.

"Janis Job 'Em", who captains the Vixens, said the women took part for different reasons.

"Some people are in it just for the sport. Some are in it for getting dressed up and picking a derby name," she said.

"Some are in it to be able to hit into people - but that's not what it's about; they don't last long.

"We all take part in training them. It's like a tribe - the elders help to rear the young."

Would-be derby girls must progress through a four-tiered assessment process over several months before they get their "green star" and are allowed to choose a derby name.

The name has to be approved by the custodians of an international online master roster containing thousands of crude and creative monikers like - Akilles Wheel, $Trawberry Hellcake, Derby does Dallas and Leg of Slamb.

"If the name is already taken then you can't have it unless you get written permission from that person," Job 'Em said.

Wollongong will retain its travel team, the Steel City Derby Dolls, which will challenge some of more than 30 roller derby leagues now operating Australia-wide.

"Penny Nartsy" is proud to captain the Vipers.

"It's so exciting," she said. "We've been struggling as a league just trying to get a travel team together."

The league's media officer Jenna Thompson (Autolux), credits the derby film Whip It, starring Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page as derby girls, with piquing her interest in the sport.

"I wanted to do something just a bit more than a desk job. I wanted to achieve something," she said.