From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Fri May 28 20:42:19 1999 Received: by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA12239 for britdisc-outgoing; Fri, 28 May 1999 20:41:17 +0100 (BST) Received: from daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (daffodil [137.205.192.30]) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA12233 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Fri, 28 May 1999 20:41:15 +0100 (BST) Received: from spamgaac.compuserve.com (as-img-3.compuserve.com [149.174.217.146]) by daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA00745 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Fri, 28 May 1999 20:41:14 +0100 (BST) Received: (from mailgate@localhost) by spamgaac.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.0) id PAA19192 for britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk; Fri, 28 May 1999 15:40:43 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 15:40:12 -0400 From: Stuart Clark <Frisbee@compuserve.com> Subject: Do we care? To: Britdisc <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> Message-ID: <199905281540_MC2-7778-5D38@compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk id UAA12234 Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk I think Cads hit it right on the head.... >The question that I have is - do we care if Ultimate is seen as a major >sport in the UK? and I think the brutal truth is "No." The fact of the matter is this, Ultimate is nowhere near the profile it needs to be to start attracting sponsors. I'll illustrate my point. We're using things like Korfball as a comparison but when someone mentions Korfball you instantly have a mental image of what that game is, and what it's about. The same is true of Lacrosse, and Water Polo. We all know or have a vague idea of what these sports involve and yet have any of us played them? How come we know? Ultimate on the other hand...... Well what's that then? "Well it's a game with a Frisbee".....So what do you do, see how far you can throw it? No-one has the faintest clue what we all do with our weekends. At best you might get "Oh yeah, I saw an article on that once." but that's rare. Now look at it from a sponsors point of view. You come to me wanting me to sponsor your team. It's not a lot of money, maybe 300 quid to cover your strip and a few extras, but the first thing I'm going to say is, "Well what the hell is this Ultimate thing? I've never heard of it. (Hence neither have 99.99 of the general populace). Who's going to see my motto on your strip?" "Er.......about 250 other players at a tournament (who don't need convincing to play 'cos they're already there), and that is of course providing I don't lay out and cover my shirt in mud in which case it won't be seen by anyone. Sorry, but unless I'm a really charitable fellow which a local pub landlord might be, for me it's a bum deal. Zero advertising, 300 quid down the drain. So then it comes down to raising the profile of the game, and the onus has to be on us as players. We can't rely on the BUF to do this for all of us, and that's not to say that the BUF is ineffective, it's just saying that as governing bodies go, it's tiny, and if it's going to have any clout it needs every one of us behind it and doing our bit to raise the profile of our sport. In the last ten years there's been a relative handful of people get involved in the day to day running of the BUF. Some have been doing it for ages and are still there or influential, but that's just it - if they don't do it, no-one will. Add to this the other handful of individuals who have hosted and run tournaments and you've got about the sum total of all the people in the UK who've been procreative about Ultimate. The problem is that in general, Ultimate in this country has a pretty apathetic player base. If the sport grows then great, if it doesn't, so what - my favourite tournament will probably still be on the same weekend next year, I just wanna turn up and play. Ultimate in schools. Brilliant!!! It's something that's talked about at nearly every BUF meeting (or used to be). Why isn't it happening faster than it is? Because the schools co-ordinator is one guy who can't teach Ultimate in schools nationwide. We need enthusiastic people on the ground who are prepared to give up some of their time if this sport is going to go anywhere. Ask yourself what you've done to promote Ultimate (and telling someone down the pub doesn't really count). BUF AGM? Naaaaa, I'd rather go to the party. Mmmmmm. I'll go before I bore you all to death. Stu. BAF #77