Hey everyone!
I just read the eligibility rules for Div 1 today. I was seriously
disappointed to read that players from neighboring institutions would
no longer be eligible to compete in the now BUSA affiliated
tournaments. Correct me if I?m wrong, but I never heard the slightest
mention of the exclusion of players during the discussions about
joining BUSA. Will the same rules apply to regionals next year? How
about outdoors? Why haven?t we been told?
In the previous rules, players were eligible from the nearest
institutions provided they could demonstrate suitable links and
submitted an application to the uni/regional co-ordinator. These rules
are great and necessary for new teams, especially the smaller
institutions that they relate to, in order for them to get their feet
off the ground. Even established university clubs can have bad years
and I know many London clubs that have temporarily joined together in
hard times. Within the last 2 years UCL and LSE had to join together
temporarily and now separately they?re doing fantastically. I?ve never
heard of a whole team not entering a tournament to play under the
umbrella of another team and do well. And with more and more
institutions having their own teams, I cant see it happening.
This is probably something that doesn?t affect most of the bigger,
campus universities, but is this something that we really want for the
sport? So many of us spend so much of our time promoting the sport to
just about everyone, from our university unions to a wave of recent TV
appearances, particularly by open teams. Preventing university students
from playing university tournaments restricts the sport at a grass
roots level, where many many players enter the sport. Can the exclusion
of student players really be a step forward? There are so many
institutions, especially in London, with its lack of affordable
facilities, that are too small to be able to field their own ultimate
team now, and probably for the foreseeable future with many keen
players that are going to seriously lose out, which can only be bad for
the sport.
I?m obviously against the move and would hate to see it continue if the
majority of others feel the same. No-ones voiced their opinion as yet.
Id be interested to see what others think.
At the very least could someone answer my questions in the 1st paragraph.
Sam
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Samuel Hird
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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