The UQ Club and Global Octopus has announced details of this year's League.
What: Mixed UQ Social League
When: Wednesday nights all UNI semester, 6.00 PM for a 6:30 start - 8:30 PM.
Where: Oval 7, corner of Coleridge Street and Sir Fred Schonell Drive, St Lucia
Cost: $70 includes a disc.
Check out the UQ website.
Well, folks have been impatiently (but politely of course) for the return of Leagues. Last Tuesday of course saw the start of WUFL at Toowong, but problems with the lights and bookings at the ARC fields at Greenslopes has led to a few delays for BPL and BUML.
BUML is starting to move though, starting with this update from the new BUMLOC (BUML Organising Committee):
Well, there is some good news and some bad news ... and then some more good news.
Good News : Our new League Director has an even bigger Iron Fist than Notty and looks ready to take us to the next level over the next 12 months.
Bad News : Annerley will not let us use the fields on the 8th and we are not sure about the 15th yet. Jason has been working hard trying to negotiate something for us.
Good News : PICK UP IS ON THIS SUNDAY and every Sunday at Kalinga Park Clayfield 3pm. Bring a white shirt and a black shirt. ALL WELCOME, even beginners. Get your frisbee fix.
More Good News : Jason has just secured some field space at Griffith for Monday nights from the 22nd so keep your eye on the BUDA mail group for news of what will be happening. Nice work Jason !
League Committee
League Director : John Coorey (buml@aanet.com.au)
League Assistants : Chris Fox (remington_fox@yahoo.com) and Adilia Murabito 0411873743
League/Fields Advisor : Jason deRooy
Rough Plan for BUML 2010 Season 1
2 weeks of Pick-Up and Learn to Play
Once we have secured some fields there will be approximately 2 weeks of Pick-Up and Learn to Play - Date and Location to be advised. ALL WELCOME - Bring your friends First timers are encouraged to come and try it out. This will be a great night to meet people and recruit for your league team, or form a new team.
Field Space
- Field space at Annerley is an issue every year. Jason is working hard to secure some options for us. We will advise when location(s) for the league has been decided.
- The number of fields and locations available affects how many teams we can have and how we structure the league so stay tuned for more details.
- You can help by finding out about any fields you think we could use in the future (on any night).
League Format
- Start date to be confirmed
- 8 - 10 week season
- Div1/Div2 or other format and timeslots to be confirmed
Team Registration
- Given that we have not confirmed the location and format of the league, it is difficult to confirm teams but more information should be available next week. At this stage just use the current Div1/Div2 registration format and we will go from there.- All players must be registered on AFDA under their team. http://www.afda. com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitioni d=763. If you do not already have a free AFDA number, go to afda.com and press 'join'.
- If you do not have a team, please register under "I Need a Team"
- If you are playing in more than one division, register in BOTH divisions and put your alternate team name in the "Team name in other division" field. (The ability to play in two divisions may be subject to change depending on format/location of league.)
- Div 2 teams must have a minimum of 7 "Div 2 only" players (This could change as well)
- All teams must have a minimum of four people of each sex registered. Aim for at least 12 people in total.
Pick-Up Players
- Pick-Up will now be held on weekends thanks to Jangles.
- BUML is not a pick-up league.
- Players who are not registered under a team are considered pick-up players and will not be permitted to play for that team. All Pick-Up players are to report to League Director on the night and may be required to pay a fee.
Fees
- Fees will be team based. Total fee to be advised.
- A deposit will be required prior to draw being issued. Cut-off date will be advised.
- Remaining balance will be due by week 3 of the league.
Playing Rules
- Timeouts, points cap, half time, time cap, gender split etc to be advised,
depending on length of time-slots and number of women registered.
Communication
After the draw is issued, all communication regarding Monday night league/draw/ results will be via the YUFL_intermediate yahoo mail group.
Warmly
League Committee
Just in case you aren't on the right email lists (and you should be if you want to keep up to the minute), here's the February 2010 QUDA Newsletter, cut and pasted from email (apologies for lack of full formatting transition).
Yes, you know you can rely on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog to keep you up to date!
Hi everyone, happy new year,
Here's a whole heap of info about what's coming up. Sit back, relax and read all about it!
1. Northern Regionals 2010 - 13-14 March, J.F. O'Grady Fields, Fairfield , Brisbane
QUDA is pleased to award hosting rights for Northern Regionals 2010 to the Black Betty team, who plan to host the tournament in Brisbane . The national association, AFDA, recently devolved responsibility for Regionals to the local state associations. QUDA has approved Black Betty using the event to raise funds to support its nationals campaign.
Northern Regionals has two divisions - Women's and Open - and is used by some teams to qualify to attend the corresponding National titles, which will be held in Adelaide at the end of April.
Northern Regionals has traditionally been a high participation event - everyone is welcome at whatever level of skill they choose to bring. For many mixed players, Northerns provides a great change of pace in just playing with the boys or the girls. We hope everyone can attend.
2. Brisbane Northside Pickup Starts this Sunday 7 February - Kalinga Park , Clayfield.
If in Brisbane and you're fangin' to play some Ultimate, Jangles has generously offered to take the lead in getting regular Sunday pickup games played. Pickup is a great way to bring new people down to have a go at Ultimate, while also stretching yourself and playing with different people. Its free, just bring a white shirt and a black shirt, a waterbottle and some sunscreen. Arrive about 3pm, and leave when people are to pooped to play on (or it gets dark).
Location: http://www.whereis.com/qld/clayfield/149-diggers-dr?id=2DC59F2FCC2873
3. $200 grants for under 18’s going to major tournaments this year
The Queensland State Government has a grant program that provides a $200 rebate to under 18’s who must travel more than 200km to compete in a State, National or International Championships. The grant can only be applied for after the event.
So if you are an under 18 who is travelling more than 200km to attend Northern Regionals, Nationals, Halibut, Mixed Nats, Youth Nats or World Juniors, please get in touch and we’ll help you out.
More info at: http://www.sportrec.qld.gov.au/Funding/Ourfundingprograms/YoungAthleteAssistanceProgram.aspx
4. Brisbane Canberra Invitational - 27-28 February, State Hockey Centre, Colmslie
Its Brisbane 's turn to host the Brisbane Canberra Invitational (aka the BCI) at the end of the month. Teams and players are already sorted, but this is probably the highest quality Ultimate you'll see in Brisbane this year. 16 of the best Open and Women's teams from Australia and New Zealand will be attending. The Firestorm team are leading the charge in running the event, but if you want to lend a hand, let them know. But otherwise, get your spectating gear on (including your Firestorm and Black Betty fan supporter's merchandise)and get along.
Full info is available at: http://firestorm.quda.org/?page_id=211
5. QUDA Gets a Trailer!
After many years of relying on the good nature and general roadworthiness of the McNaughton family trailer (thanks Bruce!), Ultimate in Queensland now has its own piece of registered on-road hardware - the QUDA Trailer - with which to cart its gear around in.
There's even a photo on line at: http://brisbaneultimatedisc.blogspot.com/2010/01/quda-gets-trailer.html
Did you know that QUDA also now stores most of its tournament gear (marquees, water containers, BBQ, etc) at JF O'Grady Field, in Fairfield ? If you need to borrow the gear, now including trailer, for your Ultimate event, get in touch. Oh yeah, and we need a volunteer Equipment Manager to handle this baby - see below.
6. Leagues Starting Up Around the State
For those in the know (and on the right emailing lists):
The Brisbane Women's League (WUFL), starts tonight, Tuesday 2 February, at Oakman Park , Toowong;
The Brisbane Mixed League (BUML), held on Monday nights has been delayed slightly while fields get finalised, but hoping to start in the next week or two - news soon on the BUDA and YUFL email lists;
The Brisbane Premier League (BPL) for A-Grade Open players, is programmed to start on 18 February, with some training nights beforehand, field availability pending;
The Townsville League for all comers, is getting going on Wednesday 24 February at the JCU AFL Oval - keep an eye on Townsville Ultimate at: http://townsvilleultimate.blogspot.com/
The Gold Coast League (GCL) is set to go on Wednesday 17 February at Pizzy Park . Email gcultimate@gmail.com or keep an eye on http://goldcoastultimate.blogspot.com/
7. North Queensland - Fee Free QUDA Events and Local Travel Grants
Two bits to this. First, QUDA has agreed that in 2010 and 2011, any players from North Queensland who travel to South-East Queensland to play the Northern Regionals or Halibut tournaments, will be able to play these QUDA-run tournaments for free. This is to support those players who must spend a lot on travel to get to these events, and folks in the south certainly benefit from having extra teams attend.
Second, Townsville City Council provides occasional travel funding of $150-200 to people from Townsville heading to the SEQ or interstate for a State or National titles (so Regionals, Nationals, Halibut, Mixed Nats, or Youth Nats). Ideally, people would apply for this as a group. http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/services/departments/cip/grants/sport-rec
Also Cairns Regional Council also provides travel funding of $100-$300 for under 18’s travelling to State and National titles. http://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/content/grants/files/Young%20People%20In%20Sport%20Application%20Form.pdf
8. Halibut 2010 and Regionals 2011 - Invitations to Regions to Bid
To support and reflect the growth of Ultimate on the Gold Coast, QUDA has invited Gold Coast Ultimate to prepare a bid to host Halibut 2010. It is hoped to announce the success of this bid by the end of March at the latest. Halibut had previously been held on the Gold Coast in 2004 and 2005.
In April 2011, Brisbane is due to host the National titles, so QUDA has invited Townsville Ultimate to prepare a bid to host Regionals 2011, along with a two year plan to further develop Ultimate in Townsville. This will be a big step for this event. It is hoped to confirm this arrangement by October 2010 at the latest, to allow for SEQ-based players to get organised.
9. QUDA Annual General Meeting
The QUDA Annual General Meeting will be held over the weekend of and at Northern Regionals (13-14 March). The meeting involves reports from the President and Treasurer on the state of the Association, as well as elections for positions on the Executive. Members are also welcome to propose items of general business - please get in touch if you think there's anything you'd like to see discussed. More to come.
10. Play in Cairns
Do you know any Ultimate players in Cairns ? There seem to be plenty around, and we're trying to link them up so they can start playing more officially. Spread the word, and send us your contacts.
11. Other Weekend Disc Fun to Mark on Your Calendar
There are a few more announcements to come, but here's a few to salivate over:
Disc Golf - every Sunday from 3pm, at the Yeronga Disc Golf Course! Enjoy a round of relaxed or competitive disc golf (whatever suits you, really).
Beach Ultimate - The Beach Ultimate Series (BUS) is still running, with play planned for the weekends of 20-21 February and 20-21 March (will probably be one day events). Keep your eye on the blog at: http://adbuc.blogspot.com/
Bashionals - 17-18 April 2010 "The Nationals you have when you don't qualify for Nationals!" Bashionals is a new tournament we're hosting in Brisbane , open to all the many teams who don't qualify to attend Nationals (which will be in Adelaide the following weekend). We're hoping a few local Queensland teams will line up against the best B teams from around the country, so lock it in, Eddie.
Fight the Phat - 9 May 2010 - The hat for cool cats, returns. Jangles wants you for a day of Ultimate fun.
11. Volunteer of the Month
QUDA's Volunteer of the Month is Ms Notty Nott! If you haven't heard otherwise, you'll be saddened to know that the long-standing Director of Brisbane's biggest League, BUML, is leaving our fair State, as her employer is sending her off to steely Woolongong.
Notty has been a fantastic and dedicated League Director for Monday nights, as well as being one fo the first to put her hand up whenever there's any Ultimate-related work to be done around Brisbane .
Hope we'll see you back here a lot for tournaments and stuff, and moving back here permanently in 12 months!
12. Yes, and You too Can Help!
As you may guess, there are lots of volunteer jobs currently looking for someone to take on - maybe you can make 2010 your year to lend a hand and give something back to the sport?
BUDA (the Brisbane Ultimate Disc Association) is looking for committee members (particularly a Secretary). Elections will be held at the QUDA AGM. Want to help develop the strategic direction of Ultimate in Brisbane ? This is your chance.
QUDA is looking for a new Equipment Manager, when Jangles retires at the AGM. Like to buy stuff and keep records of what we've got and who's borrowing it? Go to lots of tournaments? Get in touch.
QUDA is also on the lookout for a new Universities Coordinator, with the upcoming retirement of Nathan. Perhaps you're into the Uni scene but don't think your particular club needs all your attention. Maybe we want to help spread Ultimate to new University campuses. Maybe you like to party, hard.
Griffith Nathan O-Day - QUDA is putting on a stall at the Griffith Nathan O-Day on Wednesday 24 February. We're trying to encourage a club to form. Let us know if you can come and give us a hand!
Really, any time you feel like putting your hand up, there'll be something for you to do. Or we can work out what you might want to do, so that you can put your hand up! There's so much going on building our sport larger and better, and we rely on your help so get in touch with someone who's doing something, and offer them your time, hands and brains.
Well that's it - a big year coming for Ultimate in Queensland ! See you on the field.
Ok everyone - there was some recent action in the stately mansion, which has resulted in the Brisbane Ultimate Blog's own JdR deciding to take on the challenge of the Clem7 Tunnel Charity Run.
What's likely to be the biggest tournament in Queensland this year (although there are rumours circulating about some ambitious Halibut action coming), the Brisbane-Canberra Invitational (great how Brisbane is first in that name there, like its an old fashioned sexist thing with Brisbane as the boy and Canberra is the girl or something) is on soon.
Tournament Director John McNaughton recently stepped out from the dodgy timber Firestorm share-house to face the assembled Ultimate media and read the following statement*.
So there you have it folks. John McNaughton's State of the BCI address. Expect more news to come. Now back to you in the studio.Ladies and gents of the press, and curious observers,
Thank you for joining me for this media conference. May I first acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Moreton Bay Buggers. I will beat you at BPL yet, you scurvy dogs.
I'm afraid I am pushed for time and there will be no questions, I shall instead read a short statement. George, the statement please. Thank you.
"The Golden City Classic has been run and won, which means that the 2010 BC
Invitational is less than 4 weeks away!
TOURNAMENT INFO
So here's the basics.
The BC Invitational is the Brisbane/Canberra Invitational, alternately hosted by Firestorm and Fyshwick United. It is an elite invitational tournament for the best teams in the country, and created with the goal of making it the premier Open/Women's tournament on the Australian Ultimate calendar, outside of
Nationals itself.
2010 will be the second time the tournament has been run, and Firestorm's
first year hosting.
It will be held at the Queensland State Hockey Centre in Brisbane on 27-28
February.
Let's talk Teams.
We've had a great response from invited teams this year, which will make for an intense and competitive tournament with the best clubs from around the country:
In the Open Division, we have of course Firestorm (from Brisbane, and the best and most good looking team), Fyshwick United (Canberra), Chilly (Melbourne), Heads of State (Melbourne), I-Beam (Newcastle), Karma (Adelaide), Sydney Men (I like that name - simple and to the point), and Auckland Open (ditto).
In the Women's Division, we have of course Black Betty (from Brisbane, and the most charming and well groomed team), FACTory Girls (Canberra), Sporting Team Box Athletico United (Melbourne), Honey (Melbourne), Indies (Perth), Sydney Women and Black Betty 2: Electric Boogaloo (Brisbane of course).
Instead of asking me silly questions, why not check out the website which has all the key information: http://firestorm.quda.org/?page_id=211
Or you could try meeting us privately to ask questions or do other things that consenting adults do together in private - use the Contact Us page if you have any questions, or email me directly. Note that I'm afraid our rubber-wear expert has left the country.
We will be aiming to keep the website up to date with everything over the coming weeks, as much as possible, and posting score/game updates throughout the tournament. Yes, you can follow along at home with your mates, and bet matches or something on the games. We also intend to provide frequent score/game updates at the tournament on the Firestorm Ultimate Twitter feed:http://twitter.com/firestormulti
We hope to share some footage and hopefully overwhelm the media, so it doesn't look too hard for dodgy party photos. We are hoping to capture a reasonable amount of footage from the tournament, and possibly even make some form of lightly-edited DVD available for sale afterwards. No guarantees on this though - it's a bonus that we'll organise if everything else is well covered.
Finally, let me personally invite anyone in Brisbane to come down and see the best teams in Australia going at it. Please wear your Firestorm and Black Betty fan gear of course. The tournament draw will be posted on the website, including timeslots, so you can pick your match-ups if desired.
Looking forward to it. Thank you for your time media scrum. Please get out of the way now Simmo so that I may return to my regularly scheduled program."
Sunday Pickup is starting this weekend (Sunday 7 February) at Kalinga Park on the Northside of Brisbane.
For those unfamiliar with "pickup" - Ultimate around the world is characterised by semi-organised games made up of random individuals. Pickup is a great way to make new people, have a no-pressure run around, and bring new people down to have a go at Ultimate without their having to commit to a team, pay a league fee, etc etc.
Just remember to bring a white (or light) shirts and a black (or dark) shirt, as with pickup you never know which team you'll be on or needs you the most!
Starts: Sunday 7th February and running weekly after that.
Time: Arrive about 3pm and play through to whenever we want to pack up.
Cost: Free
Bring: Light and Dark Shirts, waterbottle, sunscreen and a frisbee.
Where: Kalinga Park, Clayfield - http://www.whereis.com/qld/clayfield/149-diggers-dr?id=2DC59F2FCC2873
Get onto the Brisbane Ultimate yahoogroup to get updates (see the right hand side of this blog). Subscribe by sending an email to: BUDA-Ultimate-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Thanks to Jangles for taking the initiative to get things going. I reckon many Brisbane Ultimate players have some kinks that have developed over the lazy Summer that they'll need to get out, so why not head on down?
So last week there was a lot of excitement amongst technical geek types (many of whom of course are or should be Ultimate players) about the new Apple iPad.
We imagine the conversation going something like this:
Technogeek: "Wow - the new iPad looks AWESOME! What do you think it will mean for Ultimate?"
Ultimate Player: "I dunno mate - it doesn't look like it'll fly real well."
All is quiet on the Brisbane Premier League (BPL – aka Men’s Thursdays) and Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League (BUML – aka Monday Mixed) while we wait hopefully for good news about the lights from our field providers at Annerley. They’ve booked the repair work to be done on Tuesday, so hopefully we’ll have some news later this week and there’ll be announcements of play starting next week …. but we’ll have to see I guess. BUML also has a new League Director in John C, and there may be some format changes to BUML due to field availability issues, but there's a bit of a wait in solving that.
But meanwhile, tomorrow (Tuesday) night sees the first night of the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee League (WUFL) over at Oakman Park, Toowong (corner of Moggill Road and Union St). Weather permitting (it’s looking rainy this week in Brisbane, but Oakman Park drains remarkably well), play will run from 7-9pm. The full season will run for 8 weeks until 23 March (just before Easter) and cost a bargain $30!
Register now at: http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=784
(remember – registering helps organisers heaps! Do them a favour and take a few minutes to do it)
And if you aren't already signed up to the WUFL yahoo group, send an email to WUFL-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to keep up to date with the Women's League.
Forgive the rough photo - the usual camera is overseas at the moment.
But yes, after many years of borrowing the McNaughton family trailer, Ultimate TD's can now borrow this here tricked out QUDA Trailer, which will be kept with our gear at our JFOG storage facility.
While we here at the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion are big believers in 'doing what works' and 'sticking with the tried and tested', we're routinely disappointed with tournament food. Fair enough if you're running Nationals and you've got 32 teams of highly motivated whingers coming to town ... we mean, you've got other things to do. But aside from Badman's gourmet pub burgers, and the occasional standout Halibut's of the past, there's not a lot going on at the food level at most Australian tournaments (we also partly blame Pat and Stick for not being flown out to more events).
There are a few simple options of course. Throw a variety of bread rolls into the basket. Some unusual lollies, or dips. Spend any spare cash on iceblocks. Throw some bacon and pineapple on that BBQ. Add some seasonal fruits to the usual apples and bananas - lychees, mangos, and all that.
All these thoughts came to us as we stepped from the mansion's vast kitchens into the library, and paused to examine Cooking for Crowds for Dummies by Dawn and Curt Simmons, and got a few new ideas to share. At the every least, remember, there are books out there that can help you estimate quantities ... often the hardest piece of guesswork any TD has to engage in.
Food dudes you see are markets are also worth approaching. Like the Churros guy in Brisbane. Now, don't ask them to set up shop and sell. Its too risky for them. But give them $x to come and provide 200 or so serves, and your players will be pretty impressed.
One thing we'd love to see more of at tournaments, and again are surprised it doesn't happen - home made desserts. Get four or five people to do some baking a few days before the tournament - you'd be surprised how easy it is to get baking volunteers!
48 Brownies (3-4 teams of ravenous frisbee players)
1. preheat oven to 180c
2. Combine 8 squares cooking chocolate and 375gm butter. Microwave for 2 minutes and blend it together well.
3. Stir in 1kg sugar (mmm, sugar) and blend it nicely
4. Mix in 8 eggs and stir in 500gm flour
5. Line all the pans you have with baking paper (leave the ends of the paper out, so you can remove the brownies).
6. Fill the pan with the mix to about 2-3cm deep.
7. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until its firm to the touch.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan.
9. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and remove the succulent brownies.
10. Carve up and store in airtight container.
11. Pick up large stick.
12. Give brownies to frisbee players.
13. Use stick to beat back frisbee players, while retreating to safety.
Bruce: "This here's the frisbee - the emblem of our land. You can stick it in a bottle or you can hold it in your hand."
The Townsville Ultimate blog may have cornered the market on Ulti-porn, but we here at the Brisbane Ultimate blog can direct you so something that's so bad its almost good (go and look - we'd love to keep this guy's traffic high).
So, somehow or other we missed the villains from Townsville driving their old FJ falcon up and down the street outside the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion. Perhaps it was our regular distractions in the Dojo garden? I'm not sure. But here's the six month old Townsville Ultimate blog.
http://townsvilleultimate.blogspot.com/
With the addition of the Gold Coast based Slamtown Ultimate Club (and rumours of a possible seventh team now starting to circulate) to the Brisbane Premier League, there’s likely to be some added impetus to the movement of a few players between teams, as well as the usual recruiting of new talent to the League.
Some teams are prepared for this, and have a few spare shirts in the Captain’s car, and good on them for their foresight. (Remember our mantra kids – chipping in a few extra dollars to ensure there are a few extra shirts adds value to your own shirt, as you’ll be able to use it for longer).
But one question that always comes up to us who think too much about the wrong things, is to wonder why there seems to be no second hand Ultimate shirt market (leaving aside the souvenir market – see Camby’s current ebay efforts).
Which is the answer? Why is there no second hand shirt market, particularly in the BPL?
1. Ultimate shirts are great and well designed and people want to keep them forever, even if they never use them. So they don’t sell them.
2. Ultimate shirts are cheap and players are wealthy, so nobody is interested in getting a second-hand one cheaply. At $50 new or say $20 second hand, there's not much price difference. So they won’t buy second hand.
3. Its generally not important enough that you have the right shirt. You just chug around in something of roughly the same colour until the team decides that everyone needs new shirts. So they don’t care.
Your thoughts welcome, readers!
ps if you are a cheap-arse and joining a new team this season, why not post a comment asking around to see if anyone will sell you a shirt?
pps we have an XL Plastic Scourgery shirt we'd be happy to sell to anyone, player or fan.
Here's the goss:
Hello to all the lovely ladies of Brisbane Ultimate,
The next season of the Brisbane Women's Ultimate Frisbee League (aka WUFL)
starts Tuesday the 2nd of February.This season will be an 8 week league, so plenty of play time.
The format is the same as last season, so sign up for the team you played with last year or if you're new sign up under the "I need a team" bracket and we'll sort you out.
Who: Ladies, ladies, ladies!
When: Tuesday nights 2 February - 23 March
Time: 7 - 9pmWhere: Oakman Park, Toowoong
Cost: $30 - including BBQ, lights, AFDA, and QUDA fees
REGISTER NOW!!http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=784
Thanks.
Laura and Colette
WUFL Directors
We've been asked to put a summary of that big Open/Women's season tournament list again, as some folks are considering just how many out of the 10 they'll try to get to, and want an easy checklist. So here it is.
1. 30-31 January - Golden City Classic, Ballarat
2. 14 February - Share the Love, Sydney
3. 21-22 February - NZ South Island Championships, Christchurch
4. 27-28 February - Brisbane/Canberra Invitational, Brisbane
5. 6-7 March - NZ North Island Championships, Hamilton
6. 13-14 March - North/South/ East/West Regionals
7. 27-28 March - NZ Nationals, Christchurch
8. 3-4 April - Border Classic, Albury
9. 17-18 April - Bashionals, Brisbane
10. 24-27 April - Nationals, Adelaide
Sensible Dan Blacklock recently posted this very sensible rant to an Ultimate administration email list, which we think is well worth sharing, particularly at this time of the year:
Hello all,
It is surprisingly difficult to find the AFDA registration links for some leagues/tournaments.
Here are the causes as I see them:
1. AFDA has two lists under the Tournaments link (Calendar and Register).
This becomes very confusing as the Calendar list doesn't always provide you with a link on how to sign up for the tournament/league. These should be consolidated into
one list as the information they contain is almost identical. I have heard that AFDA is getting redesigned so this may be redundant.
2. Blogs frequently require you to go hunting for the registration link.
Blog engines usually allow you to setup a links list/page, put the league/tournament registration links there. If you can’t setup a links list/page make sure you include the registration link in every post.
3. Emails that talk about the league/tournament but don’t link to the registration page.
Every email advertising the league/tournament should have the registration link in them. If you decide you want to redirect people to your blog first so they can get to the registration page from there make sure you comply with my previous point.
That’s my little rant for the year.
See you all soon.
Regards
Dan
Emminently sensible Dan. A few quick thoughts from Brisbane Ultimate Blog central:
1. The AFDA knows about the problem and hopes to sort this with the major upgrade due this year. It stems from the days when many folks didn't want to use the registration system, but did want to list their events on the calendar system (and the progressive way the site was built). Since these days TDs and LDs *have* to use the rego system (for insurance purposes), almost nobody needs it to be separate.
2. Blogs? That wouldn't be us of course ...
3. Our tip - whenever you're sending an email about your event, start by 'replying' to your previous email. This way all the information posted earlier is included, for all those people who missed it the first time, and it saves you repeating yourself.
For those of us who do lots of Ultimate organising via email and the web, its easy to think everyone else is like us - reads every email, remembers everything that's going on, etc etc. The reality is that most everyone isn't. So you need to repeat the key bits of information over and over again and again.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, here’s the good news about the 2010 Open/Women’s season, all in one place (and we're happy to edit if you've got some extra stuff to tell us ... [which we now have!].
Since the introduction of Regionals in 2005, there has been an occasional moan from folks who remember the days of leading into Nationals with a few warm up tournaments – Seeds of Doom, the Border Classic and so forth.
Regionals was a necessary addition to the season, but it seems its only been in the last year or two that folks have looked up from organising their clubs and aiming at Regionals/Nationals, and started to organise a few events and plan for their club to make it more of a season again.
This is great news, recalling as we have ranted elsewhere that some clubs were getting to the point of having 40+ training sessions to play a handful of games at Regionals and 6-7 games at Nationals!
So here’s how the calendar is playing out:
30-31 January – Golden City Classic – Ballarat, Victoria
http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=744
While its hard to call an inaugural the second year of an event a ‘classic’ as yet, Simmo and the mob in Ballarat have led the charge with getting the Open and Women’s season going, and that's classy. This tournament is going to make a name for itself, with strong support from the Victorian clubs (Chilly, Heads of State, Honey and Sporting Athletico all sending two teams), and the clever enticement of some interstate teams (Brisbane’s Sultry in the Women’s Division, and Adelaide’s Ultimate Evolution in the Open) will make the event all the more attractive for any last minute local and interstate gangs to get together.
[late edit] 14 February - Share the Love - Sydney, NSW
http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=722
Late mail - the Sydney-siders figured they'd better do something ... this one-dayer has a maximum 10 mens and 6 womens teams. Registration will open in January 2010. More info to come. Be there to become the "most loved player"!
[end edit]
27-28 February – Brisbane-Canberra Invitational – Brisbane, Queensland
http://firestorm.quda.org/?page_id=211
Now in its second year (after 2009 in Canberra), the BCI is probably now the primary warmup event for the elite going in to Nationals. The eight Open teams who’ve accepted the invitation (Firestorm (Brisbane), Fyshwick United (Canberra), Chilly (Melbourne), Heads of State (Melbourne), I-Beam (Newcastle), Karma (Adelaide), the new Sydney club, and Auckland) will in all likelihood fill out the top eight or nine at Nationals. Six Women’s teams have also been confirmed, equally talented: Black Betty (Brisbane), fACTory Girls (Canberra), Honey (Melbourne), KAOS (Perth), Indies (Adelaide) plus a new club from Sydney. This will likely be the biggest tournament in Queensland in 2010, and a great opportunity for Brisbane locals to get down and do some spectating.
13-14 March – Northern / Southern / Eastern /Western Regionals
The largest weekend in the Australian Ultimate calendar, as upwards of 50 Open and Women’s teams descend on four venues around the country, all vying for an increasingly tighter number of slots for Nationals 2010. Simmo has done a full rundown of the slots available and his tips on who's likely to go.
27-28 March – New Zealand Nationals – Christchurch, New Zealand
http://www.ultimate.org.nz/pages/tour/2009-10/OpenWomen.htm
Becoming a great and fun way for Aussie clubs to prepare for Nationals, and generally delivering quality games against unfamiliar faces. There’s also the NZ South Island Championships on 20-21 February in Christchurch, and the NZ North Island Championships on 6-7 March in Hamilton – these latter two are also great tips for the burgeoning ‘B-Team’ season.
[late edit] 3-4 April - Border Classic - Albury NSW/Vic
http://vfda.asn.au/index.php/Clubs-Men-s/Chilly.html
Late mail - Victorian Club Chilly have announced the return of this fine tournament. Mostly a date claimer, with interested teams asked to get in touch by 21 February, with more info to come. [end edit]
17-18 April – Bashionals – Brisbane, Queensland
If you missed out a Regionals, there’s still a season to be played and a trophy to be won, as we here at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog bring you Bashionals (which we’ll be blogging separately about).
24-27 April – Nationals – Adelaide, South Australia
That big tamale, with the 32 qualifiers from Regionals in the Open and Women’s division heading south south south for battle and the finale to the season.
Some might say “that’s a lot of Ultimate”, to which we reply “EXCELLENT!”. They may then add “it’s expensive to get to all that!”, to which we reply in three parts:
The great thing too, is that in between all this, there are still u19 and u23 Australian team training camps, groups preparing for World Clubs 2010 in Prague, plus some other great tournaments like the Terrigal Towel http://afda.com/showtournament.php?tournamentid=630, and whatever else we can come up with.“a) Having a club of upwards of 25 regular players (many clubs how have 40-50
players) means that the Club should aim to go to as many events as it can – its
not about fielding the same players at every event, its about your Club having a
great time and building all your players and waving your Club’s flag. You only
need 11 people to go. Be ambitious! Follow your dreams! You can reach your
goals!b) Instead of relying on player’s back pockets, why not fundraise –
making money as a group strengthens your club tooc) Playing tournaments is a seemingly forgotten but great way to prepare your team for Nationals – far more valuable (and fun) than training!”
Just in case you missed it, registration for BPL 2010 Season 1 is open.
And the Dojo Mojo are already making exclusive invitations to the best players.
Just noticed that Discraft have lowered their minimum custom disc order to 50 discs (down from 100). Discs must be white with one colour of printing on them. Not sure of price, and of course the postage per disc is more the less you get.
With the Aussie dollar high, this may be of interest to people hosting smaller tournaments or wanting club discs.
Bloody heck! It's New Year's Eve here at stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion. There are several fatted calves on the rotisserie, the kegs are spiked, the champagne is chilling, and the disco ball is turning. But before we get into the fun, lets quickly count down the second half of the top ten of 2009 ....
5. Trevor Goes Everywhere
The appearance in 2009 of a new club determined to attend every single tournament that it could, oh that happened to be made up of mostly junior players, was a great thing.
4. New Tournaments: Big Sky 9’s, Slamtown Invitational and
Three new tournaments arrived on the Brisbane Ultimate scene this year, and fingers are crossed all over that they can become annual annual annual! Each filled a new niche, with Big Sky 9’s obviously a huge success in achieving its ambitious aims – rounds of applause to all involved. (We should mention the Townsville Hat here too. Well done Northerners for enticing a few southerners up too.)
3. Buggers Ascendant
It’s a story that this isn’t a story. Once, nay twice again, the Moreton Bay Buggers took home the Robert Craddock’s Dog trophy for winning the Brisbane Premier League, first in June and again in November. And yet nobody seems too put out by it. Bugger dominance in BPL Finals is just the way of things, like the sun and the tide.
2. World Games in Kaoshing
Well, this did get a lot of attention, and rightly so. An outstanding effort for Ultimate Frisbee globally. For Brisbane rep Mike Neild, its been a roller coaster of a year, and we hope he and his lady are well.
1. UQ Wins AUGs
The week was outrageous. The Final was outrageous. But the
Well, its that time of year when we in stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion like to roast a few chestnuts over the fire while turning the air conditioning up full boar, and contemplate the year that was. Of course, the rain has been handy too. Last year we stumbled upon the handy number 10 as the tally of big events for 2008, and we figure we might as well do the same this year.
So here's part 1 of the Top 10 most interesting things that happened in 2009 that we barely otherwise covered here at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog.
10. Matt Boevink Strikes Back
Former QUDA President (2003-2005) Mr Matt Boevink gave everyone one of his ‘well, why the hell not’ smiles at the Association’s AGM in March 2009, stepping back into the toughest job in Queensland Ultimate, and heralding the next phase in the overarching administration of Ultimate and Disc Golf in Queensland. 2009 was another big year for QUDA.
9. The Crawford Report
If you’re a policy wonk like those of us who hang out in the massive library and research labs here at stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion, then you’ll have read the Crawford Report from cover to cover and be excited about what this could mean for the future of Ultimate. But you’re probably not. Nonetheless, we’re slotting this one in, so that if we look back in a few years time, if the future goes as it might, you’ll be able to look back here and say we had it right.
8. Passion Bounced
Its hard to avoid passing judgement, particularly on the friendly Brisbane Ultimate Blog, but its hard to go past tipping the scandal of the Brisbane Ultimate year being the UQ Passion’s disqualification from playing in the BPL Season 1 Finals. Passion’s failure to fill in enough roster sheets to qualify any of its players to play in the Finals series led League Director Stu to forfeit them and invite 5th place Old School Buggers to play in their stead against 1st place Dojo Mojo. Many felt this against the spirit of the BPL, which emphasises competitive play over ‘off-field rule mongering’, and were disappointed that if roster sheet-filling were of such importance then it could’ve monitored it during the season and had a quiet word passed on pointing out that Passion would be in breach of the rules. On the other hand, compliance with the agreed rules is also central to spirit of the game, and reams of email saw Stu stick to his guns and point out that the rostering rules were well known to everyone as an important part of ensuring the integrity of the Brisbane Premier League.
The year seemed to go further downhill for the Passion from there – their leadership’s apparent rigging of the BPL Season 1 Most Valuable Player voting (begun much earlier in the year) may have been meant to be a silly prank (no slander to Tomsteve Daley though, who did have a great year on the field in 2009), but in the context of what had gone before, seemed to make the team lose what sympathy they had. An effort at a new start and new look for Season 2 sadly saw the team burning some bridges with the folks at QUDA by taking forever to repay a loan to buy shirts, and the season ended with them missing the Semis again. Passion reps have ignored an invitation to visit the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion for interview (it is exam time though), but perhaps the New Year will bring a new vibe and a new Passion.
7. JFOG and QUDA Storage, Signage at AJSC
As usual, there were all sorts of adventures with fields this year (let us not speak of the AJSC lights), but a few standout moves this year were the putting up of some signage at AJSC, and gaining some permanent storage (and regular tournament use) of the JF O'Grady Fields in nearby Fairfield.
6. Women Break Out
Some people may not have notice it, but 2009 was a big year for Women’s Ultimate in
It’s worth noting that while the Open Division at Northern Regionals featured only five teams (down from six the previous year), these were five bigger and better teams, leading to a much more challenging and entertaining event for the lads.
… assuming the phrase jumping the shark hasn’t actually jumped the shark.
After a booming 2008, Ultimate blogging in Australia seems to be in a bit of a decline. If you look at nothing but the numbers, you'd think that even the venerable Brisbane Ultimate Blog staff have been slacking off a bit (this is nothing to do with Hugh Hefner's efforts to purchase the stately mansion). But maybe instead of quantity we're moving towards quality?
Anyway, since its practically the end of the year, we figured we'd best get to saluting our comrades out in the blogosphere, or at least those amongst the big 4 (yes, there's a few other blogs out there that we haven't mentioned ... perhaps those quieter blogs are perhaps the best examples of shark jumping)
Sif
Tiger and Semfel had an uneven year on the blogging front. It could just be those hormones getting out of control again. But for the perspective of some dog-soldier buck-private Ultimate players facing up to the realities of injury and training for big events, this is the blog to read (leaving aside occasional divergences into poker and general chest beating). Posting was very quiet in 2009 relative to 2008, but still they kept them rolling.
Best Tiger Post: http://sifultimate.blogspot.com/2009/10/eiyuji.html
Best Semfel Post: http://sifultimate.blogspot.com/2009/06/diversification.html
This Things I Believe
Rubes had a third regular year of blogging – roughly a post a month, same as 2008 and 2007. 2009 on the page was dominated by events – Regionals/Nationals, World Games, and then the Tribe of Tiny Horses’ unfortunately dead-end path to World Clubs in Prague (sadly, the successful teams don't go much for blogging). Every post of Rueben’s is worth reading, so go read the lot, and like us, keep bugging him to post more.
Best Rueben Post – we’ll give the hype to this one, just because of the true history involved: http://rjhberg-disc.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-first-layout-callahan.html
Thinkulti
Owen’s adventures in Columbian Ultimate have dominated his blog this year, and for most ‘English-reading’ Ultimate players, this has been a bit of an eye opener for us. Remains essential reading.
Best Owen Post – we have to give it to this one for its insight: http://thinkulti.blogspot.com/2009/10/from-sidelines-unselected.html
Ballarat Ultimate
The annual AUGs build up and follow up and the annual Nationals build up and follow up continue to make Simmo essential reading, but its all the other thoughts and insights that make for the full blogging package. That Simmo does all this of course means that we here at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog can just snipe at the sidelines, or more accurately, from home because we didn’t get our lives together in a format that supports going to Nationals or attending Uni any more. Nonetheless, Ballarat Ultimate remains the gold standard for Australian Ultimate Blogging.
But we’ll have to suggest if you only read one post, you go for this one, just because of the long term service this will provide the Ultimate community: http://ballaratultimate.blogspot.com/2009/08/games-to-kill-time-at-tournaments.html
Hmm, so in sum, all this endeavour I think goes to show that there's still life in the old bloggers yet!
There's some disc golf on again this Saturday 19 December, at the central-to-Brisbane course at Fehlberg Park, Yeronga (off Fairfield Road). Meet at the child care centre carpark off Hyde Road. Play from 8am-10am.
You don't need a special frisbee!
Contact Tim at discgolf@quda.org for more info.
Reminders about upcoming beach options over the festivas (the holiday for the rest of us) season:
G'day Beach Ultimate Fans,
The Beach Ultimate Series - Round 2 and 3 on the South Coast - Monday 28 December at Kirra and Sunday 3 January at Kingscliff.
Rego is open for both - early bird is $5 per player till Tuesday 22nd December (our longest day). After that date rego is $10 per player and includes insurance, sand, cones, beach, lines, ocean, shade, wind, eskies with ice, sun, prizes and a great excuse.
Sign up at http://afda. com/rego/ showcompetition. php?competitioni
d=758Space is Limited - so pay to confirm your place - only the first 24 players are confirmed
TIME: come early and leave late.. enjoy a whole day at the beach ;-) but the team draw out of the hat will happen around 2pm and we will be done before 7PM i'm guessing.
Maps: Kirra - http://maps. google.com/ maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=1083404576873726005 05.00047a8f49212 18e5b05d
Kings - http://maps. google.com/ maps/ms?ie=
UTF&msa=0&msid=1083404576873726005 05.00047a8f5f1c3c7c6e96eCarpooling - Saving fuel, money and time on trains - organise your own car load and ride on this spreadsheet: http://spreadsheets .google.com/ ccc?key=0AvDq1oW
UT9wgdFZNbzZMdFd hZnZiaVJyVklQT3d uZWc&hl=enor go via transinfo.com.
auBring: A smile, disc, water, food, drinks...sunscreen, togs....
Bring a friend and a foe
Bring $10 if you haven't paid already!! Early birds only paid $5.
Send your early bird or late payment to
ADBUC Committee BSB: 064435 Account #: 00622595
Email when you send the bank transfer: natman82(at) gmail(dot) com
Website - adbuc.blogspot. com
Its that time of year again (actually, it has been for several weeks now), when your average Ultimate player faces the prospect of play in the HOT HOT HOT sun.
Most Aussies are in the game with regards Slip Slop Slap (but don't forget to help with advice should you come across any new chums from foreign lands) but Ultimate's mad love of all day tournament play can place people in danger of illness and certain doom, in the form of hyponatremia (aka loss of salts). Just ask Cupcake, who apparently ended up in hospital a few weeks back, or the lad back in 2004 who spent three days near in intensive care after a day at Canberra's Dis Kapital tournament.
If we may disgress - three days in intensive care is serious serious shit. You go to intensive care if they think you're going to die. And this guy was fit as - he'd finished a four year stint in the army about 6 months beforehand. And he felt fine, up to collapsing in the car on the way home. Lucky his girlfriend was driving, and lucky they were 5 minutes away from the hospital. It was about 9 months before he got onto an Ultimate field again.
So its important on hot days for organisers and players to do a few things (like I say, aside from the generally understood shade, sunscreen, rest and drinks stuff):
- keep your salt up as you go through the water. Whether you use pricey softdrinks or bags of peanuts and chips.
- check the Bureau of Meteorology's Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) website at the start and during the day. WBGT takes into account temperature, humidity, radiation and wind.
As suggested by Sports Medicine Australia, if the WBGT gets over 26, then change the plan, including shortening games, taking more breaks, bigger rosters, and being more alert about yourself and your team-mates. If the WBGT gets over 30, have a good think about whether to postpone play until a cooler part of the day, or cancel all together.
The AFDA hot weather policy is pretty close to this, providing plenty of Ultimate-specific advice, but this is due for an update, mostly to reflect that many players now carry internet-enabled phones, and are thus able to check WBGT to support more objective decisions about play.
Feeling a bit controversial today. Must be Tuesday!
A lot of people think that the way to defeat everyone else in Australia is pretty simple:
1. get your best players together;
2. train a lot.
That's a reasonable way to do it.
But every year there's many teams in each division who do this, but only one wins. Maybe this isn't the best approach - in fact its only got something like a 10-20% success rate.
Here's a different suggestion.
Want to win lots of National titles in the next decade?
Spend the time you'd spend training recruiting hundreds people into your local Ultimate area.
Crazy, eh?
Lets look at what the data would say if it had been gathered for us to analyse (so, yes, we're going out on an unsubstantiable limb here):
- UQ are one of the biggest Ultimate clubs in the country, and have been for years. Oh, and yes, they have Gold Medals for AUGs for 2007 and 2009 (they didn't go to 2008 ... to busy with all their members).
- Largest concentation of women Ultimate players in Australia? Sydney, has had about 40-50% of women Ultimate players in the country for a decade at least. Number of national champions? Sydney women won every year of the last decade, except whent the NZ National team doesn't turn up and pinch the prize (beating a Sydney team in the final).
- But what about Open? Hasn't Chilly of Melbourne won lots of National titles the last bunch of years? Ever wonder why that is? Well, leaving aside Chilly's 4 recent wins, remember that every other title since 1993 bar the one NZ pinched has been a Sydney team (again, having 30-40% of the nations Ultimate players over this period). But if you got the data from the VFDA, I suspect you'd see one interesting correlation with Chilly's wins - the massive growth in Melbourne Ultimate over the last 5-7 years. It wasn't that long ago that Melbourne Ultimate was only a few teams.
The conventional response might be: the Sydney Women and Melbourne men win because they're the major team for a large area of players (of course, this ignores the fact that other strong teams do exist in these areas, but whatever).
But the important thing is that they're in a large area, with many many grassroots players having access to the team.
You can keep working on your elite group, but perhaps a better strategy is to grow your base so that the elite group gets broader, deeper and stronger.
Then you'll be winning championships.
It occured to us here at stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog manor, that there's going to be some huge Ultimate events occuring in our neighbourhood over the next 18 months.
The Brisbane-Canberra Invitational is scheduled for 27-28 February, here in Brisbane. The tournament's goal is to invite 8 Open and 8 Women's teams to compete. This makes this baby bigger than any Halibut, particularly as you'd anticipate teams bringing large squads, as they're usually serious groups preparing for Nationals glory. Less than 10 weeks away. TD John McNaughton probably needs your help!
Halibut 2010 on 31 July and 1 August will of course be the usual large affair, even with some of the national elite having been occupied in Prague earlier that month. I'd expect at least 12 teams, same as last year, particularly if a TD gets on board soon as is able to start promoting the tournament.
Then in less than 18 months time, the Northern Region is due to host the Australian National Ultimate Championships 2011 over the Anzac Day long weekend in April of that year. A massive 32 teams are anticipated to descend on Brisbane to fight it out - this will be the biggest Ultimate event ever held on Queensland soil. Are we up to it?
Perhaps one thing that will make life easier for the Brisbane organiser types will be the suggestion that Townsville bid to host Northern Regionals 2011. What an exciting thought!?! After all the years of Townsville teams treking down to play in the South East corner, the flow may go in the other direction. But just like the folks in Brisbane who will need to put their hand up to make Nationals happen, the Townsville folks will also have to grab the TD hats and tie them on tight ... and soon!
Catching up on our duties as the unofficial journal of record for Brisbane Ultimate, here's the results from the recently completed Monday night Mixed League.
BUML Division 1
1. These Guys
2. Bert and Ernie
3. Arachidonic Acid
4. Ballisitic Fruit Basket
5. Quick Beets
6. Trevor Goes to DIV1
BUML Division 2
1. Kelvin Grove Cougars
2. ExQuisiTe
3. Baby Chimis
4. Dyspnoeics
5. Bermuda triangle
6. Trevor Goes to Annerley
7. Heros
8. Mellow Yellow
9. Discheads
10. Agent Orange
11. Chump Club
12. Poachers
Things are a bit quiet here at stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion at the moment. It’s the off-season, you know? Too hot for us. Wettie has retreated to the cooling balms of the Cobra-lair, while yours truly is looking at piles of paper, keyboards and books and sighing with pleasure. And speaking of pleasure, we’re fortunate to have been able to send our new social reporter, Zsa Bin ‘Flick’ Gaboom to last week’s glittering QUDA Bash. Here’s her report.
DAAAAHHHHHLINKKS!
Oh, the QUDA Bash last Friday night. Oh, my head spins dahlinks! It SPINS! No, non, nyet, it was not the jagerbombs or tequila that did it to me (although I did spend some little time on my small bottom tsk tsk, but when you’re wearing seven inchers … ( heels I mean, not that kind you RUDE little ‘ting!) one’s teeter becomes a totter so EASILY). Anyway, where was Zsa Bin?
Well, this was the third QUDA Bash, and once again the social butterfly met up with the flying disc bee as they say in the biological sciences or at least if that was how your mother described it to you when you were six, and it was all thanks to the high powered organisational skills of that QOTS (Queen Of The Scene) Ms Molly Young and her little band of flowers that we have to thank. Molly, you are a true DAHLINK and I kiss you on both cheeks and give your bottom a little pat to say well done. Nice gown too. Your little Flick she loved it dahlink.
Many many well dressed and very pretty young things trod the tiled carpet at the glamorous QUT Campus Club (I thought this was Jangles' house - but maybe he was out galavanting as he does? Such a clean-cut boy - you'll never see him doing that nasty movember thing), very conveniently located for many folks near the city pubs and clubs and of course the Botanical Gardens made for some frolicking and late night disc golf both before and after apparently. And if you weren’t well dressed … well, we still interviewed a few people on the tiled carpet, including Dan ‘the Tan Van’ Young (brother of the QOTS and very sexy indeed – this is a young man that is going places, ladies) who was an early arrival, and Alastair ‘the Dapper’ Don, who this year in solidarity with the brothers and sisters involved in the climate change talks decided to leave the limousine at home (forgetting of course that this meant that his entourage would be lost and turn up a little bit late).
It was indeed a starry night and so your celebrity correspondent gravitated into the powerful field of QUDA’s Astronomer Royale, who was holding court in a fine blue number (the colours though were so bright across the spectrum, and your celebrity correspondent had been a little naughty with the drinks and so maybe the colour was black. I don’t know. Ask your mother.)
Speaking of royalty, things certainly started jumping when the Lady’s Eireann and Carla arrived with their lovable jesters Sir Rob and Doctor Jon … although sadly the Yellow numbers were a little down this year. Alex and Katherine Whan used to like our Brangelina ... but now ...
But of course, I am busy name dropping here and I will stop it, just for your dahlinks because you ask so nicely and don’t complain when I pinch your chubby cheeks. See-mon and sMike of Townsville were there. Those two would make a killing as hairdressers - all you need up north is a set of clippers.
That silly man Jason dR was asked once again to the be MC for the night. Master of Ceremonies I think he thought of himself, but I think he was just a Mic Controller - you can't get that thing out of his hands. Thank goodness there was no kareoke or he would have started on the Freddie Mercury - oy vey! He did look good in his vest, I will give him that dahlinks, although he’ll have to do a proper song and dance routine next year, ala Hugh Jackman, if he wants to keep the job. His jokes fall flat, but on the other hand he’s willing to do it and we should thank him for that. Fortunately, it was a good time for me to sit down as the room was spinning a little bit, what with the good looking boys and the be-yootiful ladies and the drinks and the chatter and the good times and memories of the year and that.
The presentations kicked off with the traditional Club of the Year, and everyone was madly flicking around with their internet enabled phones to find out who won, because it was revealed that the winners had already been leaked on the internet at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog itself (a bit suspicious as they were the sponsors of the award … but then if I were to start talking about suspicious then it would be a bit like the mirrorball calling the glitter-queen a bit too sparkley – je ne pour ou quois? (While I think of it, thankfully the delightful Stephanie was there once again to add a certain class to proceedings too – kiss kiss!)
But in a surprise TWIST, Trevor Goes to the QUDA Bash received an award as “Best New Club of the Year”. And speaking of kiss kiss that’s what Reece and Trevor and Jason did up on the stage. It was almost as bad as that American idol boy, although the age difference was a little scary. Everyone was watching Jason’s hands and thankfully they stayed in sight (not like last year, eh! Not many people noticed but I DID and I’ll be saving that little piece of dirt for when I need Mr de Rooy to do me a very big favour!)
When it came to Club of the Year, of course the University of Queensland Lovers won. Sad that so few of them were there. I think points should be added for coming to the QUDA Bash. I think Julian was boycotting.
Alas, I took a short bathroom break and missed a few of the awards. Upon my return to the ballroom there was a man with a staaah-range accent walking the room with a rubber mallet (perhaps one of those sexy kinky sexy things, perhaps? Get your mind out of the gutter! Maylin is a harsh mistress, I am sure, but not that kind.) Thankfully, only pure thoughts entered me as I noticed Notty up on stage too. That women is so innocent yet so glamorous ….
my friend Daniel Blacklock says she has a wicked gleam in her eye but I will hear nothing of that sort!
Probably the closest category of the night was then announced. Chokers of the Year. There were two nominations, both very very worthy in their own way. Plastic Scourgery and Dojo Mojo. As I overheard from a husky young man next to me “There’s some high quality failure there, and I’m not talking half-arsed failure like Churchill”. But there could be only one winner and that was Plastic Scourgery! Does this mean that the Dojo have come second and choked again though? Sometimes it’s like a mobius loop trying to follow this. By this stage that wonderful wonderful man Mr Dustin Czok had bought me champagne. Andy Langowski looked gutted – this seems to be his permanent expression, except when he’s eyeing off his lovely wife or drunk (which is most of the time, so he’s really a very happy fellow).
2009 was a very big year on the field for Queensland Ultimate apparently (I don’t pay much attention to this kind of thing, but *sigh*, you are reading me for a full account of the evening as I can provide. Of course, the night couldn’t go by without a mention of the king-stud-of-Queensland himself, Mike Neild, who represented Australia at the World Games, or Mr Disc-Golf Tim Marchbank who’s now the Australian Champion at his discipline (ooh, discipline!). Of course, UQ were once again the Australian University Games Champions. And the Fresh Fries were Eastern Youth Champions. Well done all - champagne flying disc, to be sure!
Finally came the announcement of the Bruce McNaughton Award. Bruce was there, escorted by his lovely daughter Peta and that layabout of a son, John (but such a nice smile he has – I understand I think, a little), but as you’ve no doubt heard or read across the twitter-waves, the wonderful winner, the beautiful and talented Adilia Murabito, had done a Cinderella and wasn’t in the room at the vital moment to receive the award! Still, the love I felt …. well it was like Matt Boevink was smiling down on me from on high. He really is like the Sun, you know!? Speaking of sunshine, beach-god Nathan and his goddess Tatiana spoke to me about some off-the-record stuff that will be revealed to all soon!
With the ceremonies seemingly over, I felt a vague concern. Through the bright lights and charming good looks surrounding me at the bar, I knew something was missing. What was it? Suddenly, everything came to life again, as announcements were made for the ladies to put their hands on their heads or their tails, and the gents were asked to lean over the bar, as it was time to judge the Queensland Frisbee Male Arse of the Year. I and many around me squeed with joy! DAAAHHINKS! It was so exciting.
And who should be doing the judging but Eireann! A connoisseur of butts, I understand, having groped many a bum in her time.
After a lot of feeling, three semi-finalists were selected for a re-frotteur. I for one was surprised at how long all this was taking, dahlinks, let me tell you. But Eireann and her helpers seemed to think that the male arse is like a fine wine and best consumed slowly or something. I don’t know. But anyway, the winner was Leon ‘Fatty’ McIntyre! Hopefully the Board of Education won’t find out. But hey kids, Dojo Mojo finally have something to put in their trophy cabinet (perhaps we now finally understand why he was recruited to the team)!
Eventually anyway, much like the glittering stars themselves, the night ended. But oh what a night! I look forward to dusting off the evening gloves for next year.
Until then - as I always say, chaow bella frisky! Zsa-bin out!
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