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Date: Wed, 2 Apr 97 00:24 BST
From: mackay@mrao.cam.ac.uk (David J.C. MacKay)
To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk, kevin.lowe@curved-logic.com
Subject: Re: Rules Question 2
Cc: mackay@mrao.cam.ac.uk
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>> The rules state, "Receiving players may 
>> not go out-of-bounds to make a play on the disc".

Yes, I agree, the rules say this, and it seems ambiguous what it means.
However, let's look at the big picture. This means reading the 
next two sentences in the rules. Here they are.

Receiving Players: Receiving players may not go
           out-of-bounds to make a play on the disc. For a
           receiver to be considered in-bounds at the time of
           gaining possession of the disc, the player's first point of
           contact with the ground must be completely
           in-bounds. If any portion of the first point of contact
           is out-of-bounds, the player is considered
           out-of-bounds. 

Definition Player: A player is out-of-bounds
           whenever he is contacting an out-of-bounds area.
           When a player is in the air, whether he is in or
           out-of-bounds is determined by where he last
           contacted the ground. 

I think this makes it pretty clear. The first part of this paragraph, 
quoted by Kevin, says "receiver may not go out bounds to make a play".
You ask `but what does that mean?'
The second part says what the definition of "out of bounds" is.
Why is this definition given here? I think it is given in order 
to *explain* the first sentence `Receiving players may not go
out-of-bounds...'

So my interpretation of the sentence quoted by Kevin is this:
Imagine you are defining the rules of ultimate to someone. One of 
the basic rules you will tell them is	
	"The offence cannot go and run off the playing field".
I think that this is all that is being explained. It is a basic rule 
stating that you can't go touch the disc off the field. 
If there really *were* still a rule about being ineligible to 
receive the disc until the next pass, the rules would surely spell
this out?

As it is, I reckon the rules say "You can't receive out of bounds; the 
definition of out of bounds is that the current / previous ground contact
was out of bounds, and when you receive the disc your the next
ground contact must be in bounds too."

I found Patrick's old grey comments on this very helpful. 
In case anyone wants to be reminded of what he said, I'm logging 
this correspondence here: 
http://wol.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk/ultimate/eligible.txt

All the best,
	David