From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Thu Mar 2 02:14:34 2000
Received: (from daemon@localhost)
by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) id CAA12971
for britdisc-outgoing; Thu, 2 Mar 2000 02:12:43 GMT
Received: from snowdrop.csv.warwick.ac.uk (snowdrop [137.205.192.31])
by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA12959
for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Thu, 2 Mar 2000 02:12:40 GMT
Received: from finch-post-11.mail.demon.net (finch-post-11.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.39])
by snowdrop.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA04032
for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Thu, 2 Mar 2000 02:12:40 GMT
Received: from ultimatum.demon.co.uk ([158.152.203.174])
by finch-post-11.mail.demon.net with smtp (Exim 2.12 #1)
id 12QL6T-000Eeo-0B; Thu, 2 Mar 2000 02:12:38 +0000
Subject: RE: London League 2000
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 00 02:14:57 +0000
x-sender: ultimatum@pop3.demon.co.uk
x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0, March 15, 1997
From: Paul Hurt <paul@ultimatum.demon.co.uk>
To: "Roger Thomson" <roger.thomson@oyster.co.uk>,
"'Ziants, Wayne'" <WZiants@spencerstuart.com>,
"'Wayne Retter' " <wayne@phidelta.demon.co.uk>,
"BritDisc" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
cc: "London League" <londonleague@onelist.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Message-Id: <E12QL6T-000Eeo-0B@finch-post-11.mail.demon.net>
Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk
Precedence: bulk
>One of the problems is that a regular league involves alot of travel and
>time.
One evening every other week or so you get on a tube train, play Ultimate
against some people you may or may not already know, and then you all go
down the pub. Doesn't sound so tough :-)
>The teams in London are of wildly varying ability and this means alot
>of the league games would involve a mis-match - and for both the stronger
>and weaker teams are perceived as a waste by many of the players.
Yes, if a Dough or UTI team entered, it probably would be a bit
pointless.
OTOH, lots of people play Ultimate because they enjoy it. I enjoy meeting
new teams and players, regardless of whether we flatten them or they
flatten us, or anything inbetween. The point for me isn't necessarily the
result, it's how much fun I had.
>The summer
>leagues in Canada and the US are an entirely different proposition - a large
>proportion of them are hat teams, and those that aren't tend to be better
>matchups because of the kind of team that enters or because structurally
>that is more likely in a larger pool of teams.
>
>Events like the Regent's Park one-day tournies appeal far more because
>playing one or two weaker teams is part of the whole day and all teams get a
>good workout, some close and some not-so-close games and a social gathering.
The RP one-dayers are fine and worthwhile, but don't do much to promote
the formation of new teams or expand the sport - and I know that's not
the point of these events. But I get the impression that there's a vast
number of Londoners who'd love to play Ultimate regularly and
competitively, but can't (or don't want to) leave London every other
weekend to do so. Hence the league.
>
>
>I can see Doughboy, for example, playing in that kind of event, but can't
>necessarily see us committing to play in a League with regular fixtures and
>travel if 75% of the games we would win 15-1. That might be different if the
>format were different and offered more competitive games through peer pools
>and promotion and demotion.
We had a league containing only six teams last year, so obviously this
isn't going to happen just yet! But you have to start somewhere. All
those huge North American leagues started this small. If Doughboy are
still playing in ten years time, maybe then it'll be worth their while
putting in a team! :-)
To be honest, those individuals that want to play in the London League
do, and those that don't, don't. If uniformly high-level games is what
you're after, then you're not going to find them here. But for some
Londoners, if it wasn't for the league, they'd never play *any*
competitive games, just Thursday night pickup where no-one can remember
the score, and no-one cares anyway.
If any of the "elite" players want to form or join a team, then please go
right ahead. It's just a bit of fun after all.
Paul
P.S. Wayne's right, unless anyone has any particular objections, it'll be
co-ed this year. Rule will be that each 7-a-side team must have at least
two players of each sex on the pitch. i.e. 5/2, 4/3, 3/4 or 2/5. Thanks
for the suggestion Patch.
---------------------------------
Paul Hurt
paul@ultimatum.demon.co.uk
http://www.ultimatum.demon.co.uk