6 group games to watch at Tour 1

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Tour 1 2013: London Calling is the most highly anticipated Tour event that has ever happened. The club teams at the top are bringing their strongest squads, the Open Under 23‘s are in the mix for the first time, the international attendance is plentiful, new teams will be flexing their muscles, the fight for the top 4 in A Tour will be fierce, the qualification spots from B Tour will be harder fought than even before, and articles and predictions are flying around the social media sites like wildfire. Not to mention now is when the battle for WUCC 2014 qualification begins!

09:00, Pitch 17
Iceni Savage v Nice Bristols 1
Iceni have again entered 2 teams, one of them being incredibly small on numbers (7 or 8 in case of injury I think). They performed great last year, actually finishing above the regular Iceni team, but do they have it in them to upset the seedings in this match? Nice Bristols have gradually but consistently gone from strength to strength over the last few years, winning this game could cement their place at the very pinnacle of UK women’s ultimate in many people’s minds.
Prediction: 15-13 to Nice Bristols.

10:40, Pitch 4
EMO v CUSB
No game with Davide Morri playing can be boring, especially ones which are set to be close… With both teams having plenty of young athletic talent on board, expect both bids and words to be flying left and right in this battle. Neither team will be happy with finishing bottom of this group – EMO’s captain having recently been outraged at his team not receiving coverage in an article about the top teams by The Secret Frizzer, and CUSB having travelled to the UK with the intention to battle it out at the top. These teams finished 12th and 13th at EUCF 2012 (CUSB on top that time). EMO will be missing their captain Joe Wynder to GB U23 this Tour, which could be the difference…
Prediction: 15-12 to CUSB.

12:20, Pitch 1
Clapham v GB U23
This is the match the U23 squad must’ve been hoping for – the ultimate test against the best team in Europe. Predictions for how U23 will perform at Tour 1 have ranged from winning it to finishing outside the top 8 of the A Tour, and if anything will prove the unbelievers wrong then coming out with a victory here will be it. An U23 team competing in Tour has never been seen before, so nobody really knows what will happen! Keeping their heads on offence and putting in the goals no matter how long it takes will be key if they are to take the victory.
Prediction: 15-12 to Clapham.

12:20, Pitch 2
Chevron v Brighton City
A rematch of the 3v4 at Nationals last year, European runners-up Chevron have lost 9 of their young players to the GB U23 team, and some of their older players to Zimmer, whilst Brighton have only lost a couple to U23 and a couple to Brighton Echo, so are bringing a large team with 8 players not seen last season (a combination of youth coming through from Mohawks/Panthers, satellite players, and players returning from injury / time abroad) – after only 4 points separated them at the end of 2012, it will be interesting to see how the teams now match up at the start of 2013 with their much changed lines.
Prediction: Sudden death thriller.

12:20, Pitch 3
Bad Skid v Clapham Dogs
Bad Skid have performed consistently well at EUCF, giving Clapham trouble in the quarter final in 2011, and rising all the way up to 5th from the lower pools in 2012 (they were missing a couple of key players at their regionals, thus were under-seeded and knocked Brighton out of contention in the group stages). They are a young team, which means they are likely to be even stronger this year, especially after their experiences at recent EUCFs. Clapham are never to be underestimated, every one of their players bringing quality to the game, but will the D team have the patience and accuracy to put away their offence consistently?
Prediction: 15-13 to Clapham Dogs.

14:00, Pitch 2
Zimmer v Glasgow Ultimate
There has been plenty of chatter but little information about Zimmer – I can reveal they are a masters team, featuring countless names familiar to anyone who has been playing Tour for a few years – Dave Sealy, Dave Bixler, Dave Grayson, Dave Barnard (sure are a lot of Daves, reminds me of Glastonbury – speaking of which…), Rik Shipley, Si Hill, Si Weeks, Chris Berry… the list goes on. The amount of experience here is daunting.
On the other end of this game, Glasgow Ultimate – Shaun Webb and co have been doing plenty of work up in Glasgow to build a strong and self-sufficient ultimate community, and foster an environment of learning within a competitive atmosphere. This year sees the strong Glasgow-based players who have previously played for Fusion (also in their pool!) at Tour commit to the Glasgow Ultimate team, and combining this with the new talent which has been brewing beneath the surface for a while, it might just be enough to run circles around the experienced but “not quite as spritely as they used to be” Zimmer. The juxtaposition of youth vs experience here will be a sight to behold.
Prediction: 15-9 to Zimmer, who will throw a zone defence.

A Tour prediction:
1. Clapham
2. Bad Skid
3. GB U23
4. Clapham Dogs 		B Tour prediction:
1. Zimmer
2. Ireland U23 Open
3. Manchester Ultimate
4. Glasgow Ultimate 		C Tour prediction:
1. Guildford Ultimate
2. Portsmouth Ultimate
3. Lemmings
4. Limited Release

Full info and schedule for the event is available here.

UKU introduces refereeing at the highest level

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The UKU has just released a document which outlines the procedures they can now go through to punish teams for being poorly spirited.

After a “triggering spirit score” (tournament spirit average below 8 / two averages below 9 / two scores at a tournament of 6 or below), the team is contacted with breakdowns of the scores, offered support/discussion, and reminded of the importance of SOTG. If the team receives another triggering spirit score, and the UKU do not consider that appropriate steps have been taken internally to improve their spirit, they may be sanctioned with any of the following:

  • Loss of UKU membership for captain/all players on the team for up to 6 months – no refunds to be given
  • Elimination of that team from all future UKU ultimate events
  • Charge for a UKU appointed person to monitor and report on their SOTG – £100-£200 per event
  • Disqualification of team from previous events including loss of titles and any ranking points
  • Deselection of any or all players on that team from current or future GB programmes
  • Non selection of that team for future representative events (eg EUCF, World Clubs)

Playing outside of the rules of spirit of the game is now a punishable offence – unlike any other rule. We have all been asked by beginners questions like “What happens if you mack your own pull further down the field?” – the answer being simply that you are not allowed to do it; there is no punishment. The teams work out for themselves the most fair way to resume the game. This aspect of SOTG is probably the most striking for new players – every aspect of the game does actually come down to the players. The UKU are breaking this striking aspect at the very highest level – there is now an answer to the ultimate SOTG question; “What happens if your team consistently cheats to win?”

Previously the answer would be something along the lines of “Well, the entire game would cease to work, and other teams will think you are complete dicks” – are we being too idealistic to think this is an adequate deterrent? Apparently not – it has been working just fine so far.

Since the UKU’s recent publication, the consequences for poor spirit are now defined, which opens the door to weighing those consequences against poorly spirited actions, much like a footballer weighs up a red card against stopping a goal with their hand.

By specifying what an unacceptable level of spirit is, the UKU have inadvertently defined what an acceptable level of spirit is – the power has been taken from the players in the area which is most unique to our game. Now that the line has been drawn, will players and teams see how close they can get to that line without risking stepping over it?

Over the years, various teams have drifted through seasons of poor spirit, but their consciences have always held them accountable and have, sooner or later, spurred them on to address any spirit issues. Clapham had their troubles many years ago, but instigated rules such as ‘no contested calls / sending the disc back at training, either uphold or retract the call’ – and went on to not only win Spirit at European Clubs 2005, but also took home the gold medals.



Clapham’s EUC 2005 team – 1st place & Spirit to boot

Uni teams have been through bad patches, but have always come out the other side – either from getting to know their opponents better and thus being more susceptible to peer pressure (or just not being jerks to their friends), or because no freshers want to stay with a team that it’s clear everyone dislikes, or more often, their conscience struggles when cheating to win a game when nobody is there stop you. Our consciences are no longer the only thing keeping us in check – the UKU’s document has now removed the need for a conscience to keep this game working.

Judging other teams spirit is also now mandatory, with repeated lapses punishable by £100 fines and results being revoked. When you’re writing that spirit score, you have real power to impact your opponents performance retrospectively, depending on the UKU. Is it too idealistic to think that a better system would be to encourage teams to share their spirit scores with each other after the game, and discuss there and then if there are any shortcomings or misunderstandings? Whatever score you give an opponent, you should be willing and able to justify it to their face, and when you receive a poor score, you should be eager to learn the reasons why so that you might rectify it for the very next game.

Spirit in the UK really was not so bad in the first place, there were no awfully spirited teams consistently and blatantly cheating to win games, and no National titles have ever been in dispute due to contentious calls, so why have the UKU taken this step of refereeing our spirit now? Are these the actions of a well-meaning committee who have no discernible purpose in times of peace?

Spirit is now mandatory, how far you can push it has been defined, and your conscience is not the ultimate safety net anymore. This cuts deep and has the potential to be the most detrimental thing ever seen for SOTG.

Original UKU SOTG Policy document here.