BD, Firstly, apologies. This is going to be a long one. I'd really appreciate it if you'd take the time to read it as I feel that every point I make is significant to all people who play Ultimate in the UK. I was Tournament Director of this weekend's Club Open Indoor Nationals (I will post the results later) and, as such, have had a greater involvement in the events of the weekend than almost anyone else. These are my views and not necessarily those of my team or anyone else at the tournament. This event has simultaneously reminded me of the things I love most about this sport and brought to my attention some truly worrying trends which I feel need to be addressed soon so that we can go on enjoying the sport fairly and in a well spirited manner. I'm going to start with the bad so that I can end on the very, very good. 1. Calendar This is my major gripe with the UKUA. This was the UK's Premier Indoor event, the dates were fixed 7 months ago, regionals were over-subscribed yet. Surely, high-standard Ultimate players (and there are plenty who play Indoors) should have been free to play this weekend, as should students who play for teams who qualify. For there to be GB trials, a Student Outdoor regional event and U17 Nationals on the same weekend is, in my opinion, totally unacceptable. I am unsure as to who's decision/fault these clashes were but it seems like, fundamentally, an error at the level of the UKUA board and coordinators. Please don't think that I don't appreciate all the work the UKUA put into the game. I just feel let down on this occasion. 2. Payment for events. It is my opinion (and I feel that any TD and most non-TDs will agree with me on this) that, if you send in a cheque, it is a sign of commitment to the tournament. For Nationals, we had one team drop out on the Wednesday before asking for a refund (their excuse was "we thought it was next weekend"). We decided, as FlyghtClub, that this refund would not be given as we had insufficient time to find a replacement team and the excuse was not really acceptable. This decision was supported by the Indoors DOC. We also had a team drop out on Friday night, leaving myself and Tom Styles in a position where we had to completely re-write the schedule. Therefore changing everybody's start times and leaving myself and my Co-TD to contact them at around 11pm with this information. This team had not paid for the event yet. We, as a club, feel that they should still pay the entry fee for the tournament. If they do not, then FlyghtClub will impose our own sanctions regarding this team's entry to future tournements in Nottingham. I, however, feel that this should be followed up by the UKUA. A third team had the nerve to ask for half of the tournament fee to be refunded after they decided to go home on Saturday night because they had been disqualified from the tournament (please see my next point). Needless to say, no refund was given. My point is that, if you make a commitment to a tournament then really, truly, don't expect to get your money back unless you've got a spectacularly good excuse or can give a considerable amount of notice. 3. Disqualifications. 2 teams were disqualified from the tournament this weekend for fielding ineligible players. This, in itself, upset me greatly but there was further, more unacceptable behaviour that I feel needs to be addressed. (At this point I must add that the decisions to disqualify the teams were made by the Indoors DOC. I agreed with him fully, but did not make the call. Also, I am not personally going to name and shame here. Equally, when I post the tournament results, the disqualified teams' names will be omitted. Any further sanctions taken will be taken by the UKUA and I am happy to provide any information they require, but not on a public forum.). The first disqualification involved a team fielding 2 players that had played for another team at Regionals. I have no doubt in my mind that this information is correct. Despite this, the team proceeded to lie, to my face, twice, as well as making me ask the Club Captain of the team who the ineligible players played for at regionals, apparently expecting her to lie to me too. This is, as far as I am concerned, completely reprehensible behaviour. It led to considerable upset for myself and the Club Captain I had to ask, and I feel that sanctions beyond the disqualification of the team should be taken. The second team that was disqualified had one ineligible player (a player who is known to me). They had made the semi-finals before I found out and were then disqualified. The player owned up when confronted but I was personally hurt that the deception was attempted in the first place. My feelings here are as follows: if you break the rules, expect to be found out. UK Ultimate is a very small community. You are not going to go to a tournament where nobody knows you and more than 95% of people who play the sport are very honest. They will inform the relevant people as it is the spirited thing to do. Spirit of the Game is the overriding principle which holds the sport together and it is of fundamental importance to the vast majority of Ultimate players. To the individuals who broke the rules, you let yourselves down, you let your team down. In my eyes, you let the sport down. It hurts me to say this because some of these players are people that I have played against before and who I considered, at least within the sport, to be friends.
That's the bad. I told you it was going to be a long one. The good: 1. The quality. Despite lacking a few teams who finished highly in Regionals and only finishing the tournament with 12 eligible teams, the standard of the Ultimate was exceptional. the final, 3v4 and plate final were all decided by a point. To give an example that springs immediately to mind, the team who finished 9th beat the team who finished 3rd during the Saturday pools. The Ultimate was a pleasure to watch and play and the spirit on pitch was as good as any tournament I can remember. 2. The support. I want to put in a personal thank you here. The support I got from Benji (Indoors DOC), my Co-TD Grant, the remaining 12 teams including, in particular, FlyghtClub (both people playing at the tournament and those Indoors-haters who still helped out), over the weekend reminded me why I love this sport so much. Particular thanks go out regarding the schedule hassle that occurred both mornings and for every supportive comment that was given over the weekend. This was the first tournament I TD'd and I had expected it to be easy (being National Finals, I thought everyone would want to play, play hard and play fair). Despite the fact that it wasn't, it was, in the end, an entirely rewarding experience and I sincerely thank, from the bottom of my heart, everybody who made it that way. As I said at the start, I feel that this weekend has emphasised both sides of the sport as it exists at the moment. I look forward to reading what people have to say in reply and thanks for reading all the way through. See you all at Tour 0. Oscar Club Open Indoor Nationals TD (once, and only once). -- The e.mail of the species is more deadly than the mail. __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed
