Brisbane Ultimate Blog presents ... Queensland Club of the Year 2009

At the QUDA Bash (occurring as we auto-set this to be posted for all you folks who’re missing it), the Brisbane Ultimate Blog was proud to present the award for the 2009 BUB Club of the Year!

In 2006 it was Bootius Maximus.

In 2007 it was the University of Queensland Ultimate Lovers.

In 2008, the UQ Lovers won again!

Who won in 2009?

But before we post the winner up here, lets go through the process and the countdown.

You'll remember how its done from previous years (we strive for a bit of consistency. Indeed, some clubs may be able to chart their points progress from year to year, to work out what years were better than others (all are good of course (how many sets of brackets can we fit in here?))))

Qualifying Elements
1. Clubs must play two tournaments, or have travelled over 700km for one tournament, or have been included in the previous year’s Club of the Year counting.
2. Club must be majority Qld or NNSW players.
3. Players may play for multiple clubs through the year, but only one club per event.
4. Clubs may accrue additional points via multiple teams in the same event.
5. A tournament must have at least four teams to be included, and be by open invitation/qualification (hence, NUFL not included, as only certain clubs can compete).

Determining Points
1. Points are given for placing in relation to the size of the tournament. Last place gets 100 points, each placing above that gets 100 points, but to 10 teams.
2. If there are more than 10 teams, the maximum points are 1000, and the points per placing distributed down to 100 points for last.
3. Spirit points are given as 20 points per team at the tournament - so for example, winning spirit at a 8 team tournament is 160 points.
4. There is a travel bonus to recognise that getting a team a distance takes more effort. 50km-700km is 100 points, 700-1400km is 200 points, more than 1400km is 300 points
5. Bonus points up to 100 for miscellaneous at the discretion of the award organiser.
6. If there are two divisions in a tournament, second division is treated as a separate event, although points are valued at 75%.

Last year we tried to add a bit of an intangible through Captain voting. But most Captains were too busy drinking with something else to vote, so we decided its too hard.

Sorry if we’ve made any mistakes – let us know and we’ll fix them.

Second to last tangent - we also looked this year at how we could account for League Clubs, but weren't able to come up with a good formula, particularly given BUML has yet to finish for the year. Maybe next time around, Mellow Yellow.

Final tangent – thanks to everyone who’s interested in this. We’re pleased that the prestige (well, noting at least) of this Award has grown from year to year. As always, we offer it with a knowledge of its limitations – and invite anyone who reckons they can do better to get on with it!! :0

So take a seat and let us get into the Countdown!

11th-14th Lounge Lizards (426 points), Barbarians (300 points), Dojo Mojo (150 points), Griffith Guerillas (100 points)
All these teams only played one tournament this year, and entered calculations based on their past experiences as a Club. Maybe next year they’ll enhance their existence? Most sympathy to the Guerillas, who came 12th in Division 1 at AUGs, and probably would’ve smashed a few teams in Division 2, but that’s the gamble. It was great to see the Dojo Club remembering what weekend Ultimate was all about, with a visit to the Slamtown Invitational in the middle of the year. The year was a great third run at Regionals for the Brisbane Barbarians, demonstrating their pluck by taking third place and getting their name on the trophy. And providing that a great idea will never die, the Lounge Lizards came off their rock(ers) for a run at Halibut, taking a healthy 8th position and plenty of points.

10th Slamtown Flatball Club (700 points)
2009 was a tricky year for interpreting the Gold Coast’s growing strength on the Queensland Ultimate scene. Indeed, as the quality has grown, many GC players took the opportunity to play for a variety of clubs through the year, including the Stimulated combo at Halibut and all sorts of groupings at Big Sky 9s. But near as we in the stately mansion can determine, the SFC got a roll at Regionals for 5th (100 points) and Lovefest for 3rd (500 points)

9th Fresh Fries Upsized (800 points)
There will no doubt be claims that the Fresh Fries and the Trevor clubs have a very similar roster and ethos, and therefore should have their points combined. But, you need to have pretty much the same name from tournament to tournament to be a real club in our eyes! Sorry gang (but add those points up if you wish, and there is still a bit of a surprise below!) The Fresh Fries are included under their own name, even though they only played one event in 2009 (Eastern Juniors), because they also played last year. 600 points for winning the 6 team tussle, plus a further 200 points for the travel.

8th Townsville (903 points)
Was there a club called Townsville this year? Well, kinda, and we figure the continuity of some Townsville squads over the years means that we’re adding up their points together as one group. Argue all you want, but remember its a big effort for Townsville to get along to tournaments elsewhere in Queensland, and whether as Thor at Regionals, or the Downstairs Mixup at Halibut, we’re adding up those points, adding in those travel bonuses, and naming them 8th this year (down from 6th in 2008).

7th Trevor Goes to the Club of the Year Awards (1094 points)
Its been a big year for the Trevor franchise, with teams including Trevor Goes to Slamtown, Trevor Goes to Halibut, Trevor Goes to Lovefest and Trevor Skies Mike Neild getting plenty of attention and racking up the points for participation, participation, participation (and having fun too).

Indeed, it is with great pleasure that we name Trevor as winners of the Brisbane Ultimate Blog NEW Club of the Year Award! Well done gang!

6th QUT River Rats (1163 points)
Another big year for the QUTies, one of Queensland's oldest clubs. Successful again in League play, but its their adventures of their Women’s squad at Regionals that really set them apart ... wait, hang on, they did win a nice bronze medal for the first time in Div 2 at AUGs .... plus pulling 9th place at the highly competitive Big Sky 9s. Actually, its probably QUT’s biggest year ever! (For those checking – 2006 680 points, 2007 900 points, 2008 580 points).

5th Delirium (1271 points)
Pulled together to represent Brisbane and Queensland at Mixed Nationals 2009, Delirium showed off the finest shirts in all northerndom while gathering the best talent. A warm-up at Lovefest plus the long road to Hobart and the 12th of 23 result gave them the goods!

4th Sultry (1470 points)
A busy final year for the sauciest logo in Queensland Ultimate sees the ladies go fourth. Two teams plus a spirit win at Regionals, a trip to Perth for Nationals, plus down to Canberra for the BCI, led to a healthy total.

3rd Mind the Gap (1707 points)
Once again this year, the venerable Mind the Gap showed everyone how its done, putting teams in for Halibut (6th), Lovefest (2nd) and Big Sky 9s (8th). Yes, participation is the name of the game, even when you’ve got the zimmer frame waiting patiently for you on the sideline (although perhaps the recruitment of some younger folk for a Gap-year also helped).

2nd Firestorm (2360 points)
A big year for Firestorm, with 5th place at Nationals, 1st and 2nd at Northern Regionals, and 8th at the inaugural Brisbane-Canberra Invitational down south there (looking forward to BCI2010 in Brisbane though!). A big year of travel too, to Perth and Canberra.

Now, some may argue that the rules of the BUB Club of the Year are skewed to prevent proper recognition of Firestorm as a club. All we can say in response is that you need to get your arses to more than three tournaments a year for us to take you seriously (and not come dead last at one of them)! More nicely, note that Firestorm topped its 2100 points of 2008 and 1440 of 2007 – maybe next year?


1st University of Queensland Ultimate Lovers (3415)
Yes, its a three-peat, and a smashing one at that (topping 2408 points from last year). But what do you expect from the biggest, oldest, best organised (Passion aside!) and most famous Ultimate Club in Queensland? In addition to its many League teams, UQ had a team at Slamtown, Halibut, two at Lovefest which it organised, and Big Sky 9’s, as well of course the best result for a Queensland team this year, taking home GOLD GOLD GOLD from the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast in October.

Well done UQ. If you ever get yourself a clubhouse (or even a small piece of wall at a pub), you’ll have three Club of the Year trophies now to put up there.


Well done UQ, and to everyone involved in Ultimate Clubs in Queensland!

Brisbane Ultimate Blog to Present Prestigious Award Once Again

Well, the heirarchy over at the QUDA HQ have invited Wettie and me to get out the tuxes and once again present the Queensland Ultimate Club of the Year Award at next week's QUDA Bash.

A quick search of this blog will demonstrate the esteemed and growing history of the award. Previous winners include the UQ Lovers (2008), the UQ Lovers (2007) and Bootius Maximus (2006).

The award is determined based on a calculation of club results at tournaments during the year. Here's the rules:

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Qualifying Elements
1. Clubs must play two tournaments, or have travelled over 700km for one tournament.
2. Club must be majority Qld or NNSW players.
Players may play for multiple clubs through the year, but only one club per event.
3. Clubs may accrue additional points via multiple teams in the same event.
4. A tournament must have at least four teams to be included, and be by open invitation/qualification (hence, NUFL not included, as only certain clubs can compete).

Determining Points
1. Points are given for placing in relation to the size of the tournament. Last place gets 100 points, each placing above that gets 100 points, but to 10 teams.
2. If there are more than 10 teams, the maximum points are 1000, and the points per placing distributed down to 100 points for last.
3. Points are given for winning Spirit. Points are calculated as 20 points per team at the tournament - so for example, winning spirit at a 8 team tournament is 160 points.
4. There is a travel bonus to recognise that getting a team a distance takes more effort. 50km-700km is 100 points, 700-1400km is 200 points, more than 1400km is 300 points
5. Bonus points up to 25 for miscellaneous at the discretion of the organiser.

A couple of changes to this year:
- A club also qualifies for calculation if it only entered one tournament, but it was a tournament it played in last year (ie it has a history of playing the tournament) - this is to recognise continuity from year to year. So for example, the Brisbane Barbarians, in their third year of playing Regionals, are in.
- We've done away with the 'Captains Voting' element we tried last year - it was too hard.
- If there are two divisions at the tournament, these are treated as two different tournaments. However, points in the lower division are awarded at 75%. So for example, QUTies will probably receive more points for their 3rd in Div 2 at AUGs than Griffith for its 12th in Div 1, but not a lot more.
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2009 Tournaments
The following tournaments are currently (hopefully) entering calculations - please let us know if we've missed ones you've played in: BCI, Northern Regionals, Nationals, Eastern Youths, Slamtown Invitational, Brisbane Indoor, Lovefest, AUGs, Mixed Nats and Big Sky 9s.

Qualifying Clubs
We think the following Clubs will be given points (based on the above). Please let us know if we've missed something: UQ Lovers, Mind the Gap, Lounge Lizards, Firestorm, Sultry, Delirium, Thor, Slamtown, Barbarians, Downstairs Mixup, Fresh Fries, Trevor, QUTies and Griffith Guerillas.

QUDA Bash 2008 - Flicking with the Stars

Its taken us a few days to recover, but last Saturday saw Queensland Ultimate’s night of nights return to the stage, with the second annual QUDA Bash at the AJSC Clubhouse.

The crowd was larger than last year, and the food excellent. Lead organiser for the evening, the delightful Maylin Chuah received many congratulations as she circulated amongst the social butterflies, and rightfully so.

The Brisbane Ultimate Blog’s reporting team was a bit late, so we didn’t get to catch the red carpet arrivals. And we forgot the camera, so in terms of reporting on the fashions, we can only point to the charming Rowena, fabulous Notty and glam Adilia for their striking outfits, and Mr Blacklock Esquire was looking good as always. Emily G was particularly radiant, along with beau Goldie, and cutest couple was a tight contest between Flan and Cath, Andy and Suze, and Emma and Matt.

On the drinking scene, Mellow Yellow had their backs to the wall for additional support, as dashing Dave B, sturdy Jon, Rob, new chap Josh and the rest of the crew pounded their wrists up and down and barely got out of their chairs. Most of their banter seemed related to the absense of Bermuda Triangle from the festivities. Al Don held up his end also, we understand, well into the wee small hours, we understand. John McNaughton and a few others also kept a close eye on the underdog victory in the Rugby League World Cup, shown on the big screen.

Then it came time for the glittering awards part of the evening, starting with Queensland Frisbee Calf of the Year (the leg bit, not the baby cow). Blindfolded judge Jimmy Larkin, along with offsiders Rob and Jon making suggestions on look, texture and firmness, groped I mean inspected the calves of the best of the filly population, forwarding eight young lasses through to a semi final second grab, before holding high the leg of Blair Sheard. Well done Blair, and keep up the good work.

Next was the esteemed Brisbane League Director of the Year. Seven people have stepped up to organise Leagues this year, making the decision an exceptionally tough one for the judges - few know of the awesome effort that goes into getting us out there playing Ultimate week after week, and 2008 had been a big out. The crowd hushed and then cheers as a seven way tie was announced! Congratulations to Stu Austin and Jon Good (BPL), Adilia Murabito, Dan Blacklock and Kristin ‘Notty’ Nott (BUML) and Eireann Gilligan and Maylin Chuah (WUFL) for their efforts.

2008 was also an impressive year for Queenslanders striding the international Ultimate stage, so time was taken to cheer on the crew who went to Vancouver in August for the World Ultimate and Guts Championships –Mat Ryan, Mike Neild, Chris Burwell, Piers Truter, Kristin Nott, Al Don, Brock Cunliffe and Will Larkin. Andrew Badman also rates a mention, as Byron Bay is part of Queensland, in our heads at least, and he’s pretty funny, in our heads at least.

We also had a stack of people at the World Beach Ultimate Championships, back in January in Brazil. Congrats again to Kristin Nott, Al Don, Adrian Gepp, Bree Edgar, Danielle Smyth, Chris Cunliffe, James Larkin, Nat Litzow, Shawn Robb and Keith Cameron-Smith (the latter probably the best thing that’s ever come out of Townsville Ultimate (this year at least)). Cheers (or jeers) also to Beth and Stu who played for the Poms!

This left the two biggest awards. Queensland Ultimate Club of the Year was a pretty exciting countdown, and you’ve already read the announcement and details on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog, but congrats to Gold Coast and Byron Bay for pulling equal third, Firestorm for a great year that gave them second, and to the UQ Lovers who pulled in the award for the second year in a row.

Finally, at the inaugural QUDA Bash long ago in 2007, QUDA introduced its Volunteer of the Year award. As the judging committee sat down to consider who it should recognise as the 2008 Volunteer of the Year, one name came up again and again. It was a name that had come up again and again and again and again when the very best in volunteering was considered, and of course, whenever something around Queensland flying disc sports needed to be done, and not just in 2008, but in many years previous.

The judging committee thought about it a bit more and realised that giving this person the 2008 Volunteer of the Year award just wasn’t enough.

So it was very exciting to announce at the QUDA Bash the introduction of the Bruce McNaughton Award. Here’s what the award is about:

The Bruce McNaughton Award (aka ‘the Bruce’) is to be presented by QUDA to recognise outstanding volunteer contributions to the organisation of flying disc sports in Queensland.

The criteria for the award are based around Bruce's own fine attributes. No criteria are compulsory; it is up to the judging panel to decide upon any relative weighting of criteria based on the expectations of the flying disc community, and how to compare candidates with differing backgrounds and attributes. The criteria can be considered as a guideline for nominations, rather than a formula for making the decision.

1. Is, or has been, involved in flying disc sports in Queensland for at least three years.
2. Teaches a love for flying disc sports to new players, and is an exemplar of Spirit of the Game to old.
3. Takes the initiative to address opportunities and needs within the Queensland flying disc community.
4. Takes on formal positions, and smoothly and successfully completes and enhances the duties and responsibilities of the role.
5. Is truthful, courteous and friendly to all.
6. Supports other volunteers and administrators.
7. Has a sense of humour.
8. In particular, the QUDA Management Committee should seek to recognise those people whose volunteer effort goes beyond providing playing opportunities for themselves.

These are qualities that we should all be aiming for, but which the Bruce McNaughton Award winners excel at and make remarkable sacrifices to achieve.

Each year any number of people may receive 'the Bruce', depending on the quality of the nominations. However, QUDA should aim to give approximately one award per year to maintain the prestige of the Award. The Bruce is not intended to be an ‘of the year’ award, but to recognise ongoing and long term achievement – hence the Bruce may also look backwards, to further acknowledge the work of people in developing our sport in the past.

The judging panel will consist of the QUDA Management Committee, who are inelligible for consideration for the first three years that they are members of the Committee. The Secretary shall annually invite nominations from the membership of QUDA. Nominations should list key achievements and be of no more than one page. Members of the Management Committee may draft and submit nominations.

Bruce was acknowledged at the QUDA Bash as the first winner of the award, and a trophy will be presented at the QUDA AGM in March next year. There was much cheering, and perhaps a tear in a few eyes.

After the awards, dessert was presented and the socialising was renewed, before the lights came on and people headed into town to continue the night (although a few went home to bed).

See you next year, and thanks again to Maylin and her helpers for making the night so grand.

Early Leaks from Queensland Club of the Year Calculations

So this morning we fired up the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion's own "Enigmuck" calculating machine, and pushed in a few brightly coloured punch cards covering results from earlier in the year (we thank Auscert for its recent technical advice).

After some chuffing and churning, Enigmuck forwarded some results so far for teams which are in the running for Queensland Club of the Year. You might recall the 2007 winners were the UQ Lovers (followed by Bootius and the Lounge Lizards), while 2006 was year of the Bootius Maximus (followed by UQ and Dojo Mojo).

The spreadsheets rolling off the dot matrix referenced a number of teams based out of Queensland (and Northern NSW) who've played at tournaments so far this year, including Firestorm, Mind the Gap, Slamtown Flatball Club, Minx, Sultry, Thor, the Pass, UQ, Mellow Yellow, iCarrot and Not Sure Yet. All well and good - all of these Clubs made it to something like Regionals, Nationals or Halibut, and we expect to insert results from the QQ/AMUC reps the Lounge Lizards and Great!Sugoi! before the year is out, along with any other Clubs that get themselves to Lovefest and AUGs.

As we perused and then prepared to burn the pages (we don't want any surprises leaked before the annual QUDA bash at the end of the year), we noticed Enigmu continuing to blow steam and sparks, before some more pages rolled out!

Suddenly, League teams were appearing before our eyes!?! The Moreton Bay Buggers, Chimichangas, Bermuda Triangle, Rawhide, Plastic Scourgery, Dyspnoeics, Dojo Mojo, Poachers, QUT RiverRats and the Heroes were added to the mix. These were teams that had played at least two reasonably sized Leagues this year ....

We weren't sure what to think.

So we'd figure we'd ask you.

Do you think that League teams should be included in the Queensland Club of the Year calculations? And if so, do you think winning a League is about as excellent (or more excellent or less excellent) as winning a tournament?