Continuing our occasional tour of the fields used by Ultimate around Brisbane, let's check out the venue that was unfortunately closed the other week due to the previous night's rain, the Griffith University Nathan campus fields.
Play of Ultimate at Griffith Nathan is partly a story about a local dude seeing the fields during his neighbourhood wanderings and saying to himself "I want to play Ultimate there!" (cf A$sembly St for a similar tale).
It was close to where this dude lived and not far from the South-East Freeway, but also was a fantastic venue. The AFL field is large enough to fit three full sized Ultimate fields on it, plus the ground was level and grass well cared for. The neighbouring rugby field is a bit rougher and doesn't drain as well, but fit two more Ultimate fields. Both fields have excellent lights, and are served by a good carpark and tidy pavillion with ample shade and change-rooms.
Regionals 2007 and 2008 were held at Griffith with plenty of success. Regionals is usually just before University sport begins, so there was no difficulty booking the field for the weekend.
Weeknights were a contrast, as the University sought to fill evenings with semester based sport. In 2009, an effort was made to establish regular Ultimate on Wednesday nights over the Winter break between Semesters 1 and 2, without too much success.
One benefit though was gaining an understanding of the Griffith sport and clubs system and people. We learned what they were after, and what was required to get more regular access to the fields.
So Early in 2010, QUDA was able to use this knowledge and commited resources to the establishment of a University Club at Griffith Nathan. This was timely as BUML was facing challenges in ensuring adequate field space at Annerley. QUDA's commitment in running an O-Day stall and providing recruitment resources showed Griffith sport we were serious, and they allocated us access on Monday night's year around.
As the year has progressed, having BUML at Nathan has also been a massive boon to establishing the University Ultimate Club, as new players were immediately thrust into regular weekly play against friendly and spirited teams - they get the real Ultimate deal from their first moment of arrival. Meanwhile, while some folks may whine, having BUML spread across two venues has greatly increased the number of teams it can accept, as well as increasing its resilience against field issues like rain and pressure from other sports.
The new Griffith Club, along with QUDA, is now starting to plan the next phase - cementing Ultimate onto the permanent University fields/sport calendar as the regular Monday night user, as well as looking to gain more space (the rugby field on Mondays) and time (another night for training or a separate League). Onwards to 2011!
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2 comments:
"Meanwhile, while some folks may whine, having BUML spread across two venues has greatly increased the number of teams it can accept, as well as increasing its resilience against field issues like rain and pressure from other sports."
A few of those points had never occurred to me. I've never openly whined about it, because I could see the need for extra space, but I can't say I'd ever been a fan of the between-game rush across town. But reflecting on the past few years, it's clear that the addition of the Griffith fields has aided BUML in becoming, as you point out, a much larger, more organised, and yes, more resilient league.
Great post, JdR!
The between game rush is only a factor for a handful of people this year.
What the structure of BUML may be in 2011 I'm not sure!
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