Dear Ultimate Europe,
Wonderful Copenhagen Ultimate 2007 was completed this Sunday the 6th
of May.
And some things never change: WCU is the melting pot for the top Euro
Teams - second to none when it comes to the top teams from all over
Europe; the sun is up non stop - we have had a total of 3 hrs rain in
WCU from 2003-2007; UK wins the women division; and Skogs the open.
That's the tradition.
But WCU07 started out on a more serious side. After the Friday
evening main game, we took time to pay tribute and say farewell to
one of our best friends. The three time WCU All Star captain Thyl
Luycks, or better known as Kuki, suddenly passed away six months ago.
Kukis sister Misha travelled to WCU to get a first hand look at the
warm and generous ultimate community that was such an important part
of Kukis life. And in the warm Copenhagen evening Misha held a
beautiful memorial together with 600 friends and ultimate players.
Kuki, we miss you.
In honor of Kuki the theme for WCU07 was the spirit of the game. You
– as the player – has the full responsibility for the sport; "Know
Your Rights". There is often discussion about spirit of the game,
fairness and rule interpretation - especially in multi national
events like WCU. But unless you actually know the rules, you can't
uphold rule no1 - the spirit of the game. So the WCU07 mission was to
get every player to read the rules. Know the rules. Teach the rules.
Know their rights and responsibility. The WCU07 Player GIft was a
specially designed WFDF 2007 rule book (yes, including Callahan!) in
pocket format. Easy to carry, easy use. So no excuse not knowing the
rules anymore.
On the playing side, WCU07 had 28 open and 14 women teams of the
highest level fighting for glory. The women division had a new format
- 5 rounds of Swiss Draw - to determine semis. And what a drama!
After the 5 rounds, the Finnish rivals Espoo and Helsinki were equal
on points for the PreSemi. Total goal difference were to determine,
and last years finalists Espoo clinched the PreSemi with the margin
of 1 goal! Much can be said about the Swiss Draw format, and it has
clear benefits and drawbacks. Benefit: Tough games, in theory, for
all teams. Draw back: With only 5 round there is a fine line between
success and failure. Ask Primavera - losing the first round Saturday
morning to Leeds 13-0 proved to be very costly. Top semis in women
division were Leeds-DNT and Iceni-Sweden.
Luckily to the format, the top 2 after Swiss Draw, Leeds and 2006
double winners (Spirit and Championship) Iceni also made it to the
final. WCU07 had the embryos of 6 national teams going to Southampton
(France, Holland, Sweden, Italy, Germany and Denmark). In that
competition and perspective it's truly impressive that the top two
teams are ordinary club teams from UK. Leeds and Iceni put on a good
show and demonstrated the strength and talent that lives on the
isles. If two club teams are so dominant, only imagine what the UK
national team can do! Final result; Iceni 13, Leeds 8.
Congratulations to a good tournament, Leeds and to defending the
title, Iceni.
Open had it's drama too - but in a different form and as early on as
in the first games of pool play. The big surprise of 2006 - Fire Of
London - unexpectedly lost to Pintje from Belgium. Pintje made the
finals in Brugge the week before, and obviously managed to preserve
some of the form. It took them all the way to a quarter final against
Skogs and a final 6th place. Next upset: Two times runners up -
Clapham - lost the first game of the pool play to KFUM Örebro. This
meant that last years no 1, 2 and 3 were all on the same quarter
final side, and had to fight it within to make the final. First up
was the quarter final and London derby between Fire and Clapham
played Saturday evening. As expected; hard, intense and with a bucket
full of prestige. Neither of the sides willing to back down. Final
score; Clapham 10, Fire 6.
The other quarter final side was mainly a Scandinavian affair. The
three Finnish teams Sipoo, Helsinki and Karhukopia, together with
KFUM and Viksjöfors from Sweden and Ragnarok from Denmark made the
Nokia-IKEA-Volvo-Carlsberg domination total. Ragnarok struggled with
a small squad and lacked many dominant players. Five of the seven
games played were decided in extra time. It was a struggle from first
pull, but Ragnarok managed to move all the way to a semi vs young
guns Karhukopia from Finland. Karhukopia is the offspring to 1999
WUCC finalists Liquidisc, and maintain the Nordic tradition with hard
running, then some more running and finaly some hard running.
Karhukopias road to the semi included a pool win in the hard Clapham/
KFUM/SinCity-pool, and quarter final win over Viksjöfors.
It is evident that the northern European ultimate scene is as strong
as always. The open semis included four teams from four nations;
Clapham (UK), Ragnarok (DK), Karhukopia (FI) and four times WCU
Champs Skogs from Sweden. Clapham, obviously in a rebuilding phase
after Worlds in Perth, were determined to put on a struggle vs Skogs
in semi 1. And it started good with trading points to 5-5 and a half
time of 7-5. But in the second half "The Big Red Machine" pulled away
and proved superior on every part of the game. Clapham were only
allowed to score twice in second half, final score 13-7.
In semi 2 Ragnarok moved into another game of extra play vs
Karhukopia. The hard running from the young finns was not enought to
stop the danes. Ragnarok answer to all the running was with to key
components; experience and coolness. And it took Ragnarok to a second
final in WCU with a score of 11-9.
Skogs and Ragnarok in the final – a copy cat of the highly dramatical
first ever WCU final in 2003. A final with almost a perfect ending:
then, in 2003, at score 14-14 after a remarkable come back from
Ragnarok (8-1 down at half), Mads Bakkegaard had the chance to close
the game with an easy catch in the endzone of Henrik Thomasens
spectacular greatest. But no, and the fast break score after the
turnover made Skogs the winners with 15-14.
Now, in 2007, Mads is out for the season with a bad injury - instead
acting as Ragnarok coach. With the team suffering from injuries or
absence from many key players, the strain was extra hard on the
remaining key players who basically played non stop. The fatigue
showed. Skogs moved up to 5-0, going for an easy win. Super dane Roar
Meier had other things in mind. He pretty much on his own took
Ragnarok back in the game with some spectacular plays. 5-0 to 5-3 and
5-4 after a looong point. Ragnarok were back in the game, going into
half time with 8-5 to Skogs. But in the second half, Skogs did what
they had been doing during the whole tournamnet - just floored it and
accelerated. There was absolutely nothing stopping them in the way
to the final or in the final. 13-8 and five WCU championships in a
row to Skogs.
Skogs of 2007 is as strong as I have ever seen a team in Europe – and
I have seen a quite a few over the years. The fact that no opponents
were able to score double figures in any of the 7 games is an evident
sign of strength in defense and efficiency in offense. Skogs of 2007
is almost impossible to close down. It's a team of so much talent
that any player can be the star in any given game - not dependent on
a sole star to excel and bring them to victory. It's a team, a team
where every individual plays a clear and important role in every part
of the game.
I won't put my neck out to say that Skogs is a perfect team. No way.
But there is no opposition in Europe today. And it's the best Swedish
team I have ever seen. Scary enough when you think of the fact that
the team will continue to evolve, since there are evident details to
work on. There is a lack of coolness in the coaching and of the
players on the sideline - and that is of much help to the opponents.
The offense and defense setup is pretty basic, but since all players
are in tactical, physical and technical supreme condition, it's very
hard to use this as an advantage. The pressure is always on the
opponent, who will get only 1,2 or maybe 3 easy giveaways per game.
And if the opponent is to have any chance at all to go for the win,
these givaways are the only possible key to unlock the The Big Red
Machine.
That didn't happen in WCU07. Not even close. Skogs win is more
deserved and justified than any in the short history of WCU.
Congratulations, Skogs!
Final rankings:
Women Division
1. Iceni
2. Leeds Leeds Leeds
3. DNT
4. Swedish National Team
5. Espoo Ultimate Club
6. Nazionale Italiana
7. Helsinki Ultimate
8. Danish National Team
9. Primavera Olandese
10. Yaka
11. Nice Bristols
12. UFO
13. Turku Terror
14. Staff & Pick Up
Spirit: Danish National Team
Open division
1. Skogshyttan
2. Ragnarok
3. Karhukopla
4. Clapham Ultimate
5. Sipoo Odd Stars
6. Pintje!
7. Fire of London
8. Helsinki Ultimate
9. KFUM Örebro Frisbee
10. Viksjöfors
11. Cota Rica
12. CUSB Bologna
13. Chevron Action Flash
14. Freespeed
15. UFO FI
16. Sin City
17. Friselis
18. UFO NL
19. Searching Woodpeckers
20. Shanghai Hu Wa
21. Kielstock
22. WCU Staff Team
23. CamboCakes
24. EMO Ultimate
25. Gummibärchen
26. Discoholics
27. AArhus UFK
28. Stockholm Ultimate
Spirit: KFUM Örebro
Cheers!
/Mattias Ahlgren
===
Wonderful Copenhagen Ultimate 2007
4-6th of May 2007
www.wcu.dk
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