Midland's Student Qualifier: GBH Decision

[rjdesai]

Hi All, As Captain of GBH - I'd like to get the first word in on the decision not to allow GBH to qualify for nationals. The decision was made just prior to the final (GBH v. Ow! 1) due to one (of nine) of my players being classified as not sufficiently 'full time' a student to be elligible to take part thus disqualifying the entire team from nationals. This we feel is a totally unfair decision for numerous reasons. Firstly, the player in question is a beginner of this academic term and played (in our key games) a maximum of a couple of points . He therefore made no difference what so ever to us qualifying. Secondly, this issue was raised only once we had displaced Bears 1 (Sunday morning), thereby preventing them from qualifying, and beaten Mwnci See 1, for a place in the final, if it had been raised earlier we would of course have removed our "part time" student (which would have made no difference to the result) immediately  and we would have been elligible to qualify. We felt the issue was raised not on grounds of fairness, as any team playing us would have seen the player in question was there more to watch then to play, but because we displaced a team which was expected to win.  We attended the tournament with the best of intentions and I can testify my players played with a lot of enthusiam and spirit. This decision goes no way to reciprocating this. I understand the need to have a fixed rule but I can see no justification, in a specific case as this, for a decision to go against what is clearly the right and fair thing to do.  This is GBH s first and probably last year of student Ultimate. We trained hard and that paid of in Loughborough but unreasonable decisions such as this are what demoralise new teams and in no way help the development of the sport.  I think further discussion of this issue is in order before a decision is made.  Also, in future when new teams such as our own enter clarification should be given on such points and should not have to be especially sought since as shown here; how were we supposed to know a part time student is not a student in the eyes of student ulitimate? - the onus should be on those in the game to help new sides not for them to disqualify them on an obscure technicality as here. I hope the decision will be reversed in light of this. Yours,   Raj GBH / GB Junior