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The University Ladder League Central News
27.07.06
Ladder League reports: Season 2005/2006
Across the country, the 2006 University Ladder Leagues concluded on 30th June 2006, having seen 40 games played in SW, Midlands, North and Scotland, and 93 games in the South-East alone.
It was great to see teams have the enthusiasm to play more local games, and the organisation to be able to adapt to a new structure and organise their own matches within weeks - so if you participated, give yourselves a pat on the back, and start looking ahead to how your team will get involved in the next LL season. In particular I'd like to big up the event organisers who acted as a catalyst for the ultimate that was played - keep up the good work!
Here follows a pretty damn long region-by-region breakdown of the results.
Dark Horses win Scotland Ladder League 2005/6
1. Dark Horses (1507)
2. Ro Sham Bo (1461)
3. Stirling Blaze (1403)
Events: 2
Games played: 5
Most active teams: Dark Horses, Stirling Blaze
Although Ro Sham Bo started well, setting the precident by hosting an event mid-Feb to get things started at home, the Dark Horses (Strathclyde, 7th seeds) were the surprise victors of the day, beating both Ro Sham Bo and Stirling Blaze by one point each, meaning they shot up to 2nd immediately, Ro Sham beat Blaze 11-10 so kept their place at the top of the table.
Ro Sham Bo 2 also played their only game of the season here, winning 10-5 against Stirling Blaze and moving up to 8th place, suggesting their second team might have a shot at Division 2 this year.
A month later, Dark Horses visited Shooting Stars, where the Strathclyde team completed their hatrick of one-point victories, displacing the one-win, one-loss Ro Sham Bo team from the number one spot and ultimately taking the Scotland Ladder League title.
Dark Horses were unlucky at regionals, losing out in a crossover but finishing 9th and taking the plate. Stirling Blaze qualified for Division 2 (narrowly missing out to Flatball in the Division 1 game to go), Ro Sham Bo 2 came 5th and Shooting Stars made the top 8. Ro Sham Bo 1 beat Far Flung in the Regionals final and went on to comfortably become Uni Open and Mixed National Champions 2006.
Durham Northern Lights win Northern Ladder League 2005/6
1. Northern Lights (1666)
2. Jedi (1488)
3. York Ultimate (1456)
Events: 2
Games played: 11
Most active teams: Northern Lights, Too Many Pies
Durham arranged the first event in mid-Feb, with 5 teams attending in all. It was a great day for the hosts DUF / Northern Lights, who defeated the visiting regional champions' team from York by a 10 point margin, also seeing off challenges from Too Many Pies and DUF 2 (Northern Lights' second team).
Too Many Pies also showed promise for the season to come, defeating York in a tight game 9-7, but losing to the impressively able Durham second team 6-4.
A second event, part of the local "Christe Cup", saw Jedi notching up a couple of good wins against Boogie Knights and Fingers 6, but not enough for them to displace eventual Regional & Northern Ladder League champions Durham off from top of the table. Boogie Knights managed to beat Fingers6 8-6, and York held onto 3rd place behind Jedi.
At regionals, DUF fended off Jedi directly to take 1st place, the Phat Eds went through to Division 1 over Fingers 6, and Too Many Pies and York also qualified for Division 2.
Haze win Midlands Ladder League 2005/6
1. Haze (1910)
2. Jesters (1737)
3. Warwick Bears (1618)
Events: 3
Games played: 19
Most active team: Jesters
2005 Uni National Champions Haze came out in force at the first event, conceding only 9 points in 4 victories. Random Fling won a close one against Jesters, and Demons from De Montfort put on a good performance, beating Bears but losing by one point to Jesters.
Bears were stronger in their second event, narrowly losing to Haze who went on to win the league with 7 wins out of 7. Jesters hosted both Midlands events and played the most games in total, with a 4 win, 4 loss record they earned 2nd place, ahead of Bears, Fling and Demons.
At regionals, Haze were beaten to 1st by OW!, Fling also made Division 1 and Bears just beat Jesters to the last spot in Division 2. Haze went on to take revenge on OW! at Nationals by beating them in a sudden-death quarter final and finishing 4th above OW's 5th.
Uriel win South West Ladder League 2005/6
1. Uriel (1656)
2. BLT (1567)
3. Picnic (1454)
Events: 2
Games played: 8
Most active team: Uriel
The first event was a one-day Uni tournament in Glastonbury, already planned before the Ladder League was announced, in which it was decided the results would count towards SWULL. Seven games were played between 5 attending teams, and Uriel immediately appeared to be the team to look out for as they defeated Picnic and BLT with relative ease, catapulting themselves to the top of the table. BLT (Bath) won 10-9 against Picnic and 9-2 against No Frills, who had a disappointing day, beating only BLT2 11-6.
Uriel's lead showed no signs of stopping as they hosted the second event, in the end Mythago were the only attending team and managed to pick up enough points to put them ahead of No Frills on the table, despite losing 13-7 to Uriel who became SWULL champions 2005/6.
At Regionals, Uriel managed to just hold on to the Division 2 finish behind BLT, with No Frills, Picnic and Mythago all qualifying for Division 1 and going on to finish 3rd, 6th and 2nd respectively.
Mohawks win South-East Ladder League 2005/6
1. Mohawks (2657)
2. Brunel (2549)
3. Under Cover Lovers (2299)
Events: 15
Games played: 93
Most active team: Mohawks
The Mohawks started the season as they meant to go on, hosting a big event with 6 teams and about 80 players present, conceding only 4 points as they scored 33 against Surrey, Surrey 2 and Disc Doctors, and vaulting themselves from 11th up to the top of the table. Surrey Scorpions beat Disc Doctors 8-2 to move into 2nd place, and Mohawks 2 & 3 showed some talent, both beating Surrey's 2nd team.
Next came an event at Brunel University. Brunel had won both regionals and the Ladder League last year, so the Mohawks had been bigging up the matchup weeks in advance... the game between the two undefeated SEULL teams was played in terrible conditions and the scores stayed very close, despite a Callahan from the Mohawks it ended up 4-3 in Brunel's favor.
Strange Blue and Aye-Aye arranged one SEULL fixture this season, meeting in Cambridge with SB winning 13-9.
Brunel's second event in as many weeks saw Roehampton, UCL and Kent Touch This make appearances, with both UCL and Brunel winning all their matches to put them up to the top of the table with the Mohawks.
Events continued to roll by - Hyde Park saw UCL narrowly beat Thrown, with Disc Doctors & LSE racking up some points, Guildford witnessed another rampage by both Mohawks teams who saw off challenges from Surrey and Roehampton, another event in Brighton gave UCL a shot at table leaders Mohawks, which they took and beat them 9-8, but it wasn't enough to overtake the Mohawks on the table, who were notching up an impressive number of games played by attending all the events they could. After losing narrowly to Surrey a few weeks before, Roehampton stepped it up to beat Mohawks2 9-8, and went on to beat Thrown and Holloway at the next event at Brunel.
Brunel had a sense of urgency - they were winning all their games but the Mohawks had been consistently turning out good squads and were creating a gap at the top of the table... Brunel hosted another event and invited the Mohawks, along with 6 other teams, over to play. At the end of the day's play the two majorcontenders faced up to each other, and the Mohawks showed they were more than just eager as they powered to an 8-4 victory with just a couple of months of the league left. Disc Doctors capitalised on the aftermath, taking the opportunity to be the third team to beat the Mohawks, but it wasn't enough to put them in contention for the title.
Roehampton, who had been performing and improving throughout the season, hosted the next event, and to their surprise and elation ended up beating third-placers UCL 9-6. This was also to be the last place where Brunel and the Mohawks would meet - a tense match with nothing between the teams, ultimately the Mohawks came out on top 7-6 and Brunel knew they would have to pull something special off to stand a chance of retaining the SEULL title.
LSE hosted the next event in Regents Park - loads of the London teams turned out to get some more games under their belts, and despite beating UCL 9-8, Brunel crucially lost to the London School of Economics team 8-7. LSE had a great day, beating UCL as well as Brunel and launching themselves to 7th in the table.
The last event of SEULL 2006/2007 was hosted again at Brunel, and they knew they would have to do better than the Mohawks to stand a chance of winning the league... Roehampton first, Brunel beat 11-1 and Mohawks beat 14-1. Then Disc Doctors - Brunel beat 10-1 but Mohawks beat 12-0 - this was turning out to be the Mohawks' day. Both teams ended on a good note with tight wins over Sublime (who came along in the end to practice for regionals), but it was to be the Mohawks' finest hour as they assured their place as victors of a Ladder League season with unprecidented activity from a total of 23 teams.
At regionals, Brunel won when it mattered, beating the Mohawks in the group stages and finishing 2nd behind Strange Blue, whilst UCL and Mohawks played in an exciting Division 1 game-to-go, with UCL coming out victorious. At Nationals, the Mohawks beat Sublime in their semi final and ended up finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in Division 2, with Strange Blue representing the South-East in the top 8 of Division 1 and UCL surprising all by beating Brunel in the knockout stages.
It's been a good season for the Ladder League, and if the South-East's experience is anything to go by, next year will be ten times bigger as clubs are familiar with how the league works now. Think about making plans to host more Ladder League events next season - it's the easiest way to get your beginners hooked early on, and now the Uni events calendar is out you can plan your October fixtures with confidence.
For next year I recommend more events are 'themed' - so invitations are tailored towards, say, getting beginners out and playing, or training first teams for regionals, or fielding your Women's or Mixed squads before the womens & co-ed indoor and outdoor tournaments. So long as there are enough events to go round, teams will be able to be more focused when going into an event.
There may be some changes to the Ladder League system next year, including online results submissions, a National table, allowing teams to travel outside their region to play games, and the incorporation in some way of open club teams - stay tuned for more details, it's going to be huge.
24.03.06
Hello UU,
Things have been quiter on the ULL front this month. The Midlands saw
another event happen, this time with four teams taking part, and six
games being played in strong winds. Haze are still top, with Jesters
and Bears fighting it out for second place, and Random Fling just
behind.
The South West got a game played, Uriel defeating Mythago 13-7 to
further assert their place at the top of the SWULL table. There was
more activity in the South East; as their season came to a close there
were two events including a Grand Finale in Brunel - 18 games were
played in the last month before Regionals, with the Mohawks going out
strong & taking the SEULL trophy, Brunel in 2nd, and UCL 3rd. There
was a Ladder League presentation at Regionals, which saw Roehampton
take the Most Improved Team award, Mohawks 2 take the Best Second Team
prize, and Mohawks win Spirit of the Game with Holloway as Spirit
Runners-up.
The Ladder League was brought up at a number of regional AGMs
recently, and general consensus was positive, with teams stating their
intent to become more involved and organise more events, and those who
have been already involved indicating their performances have improved
as a direct result. It was also pointed out that the timing & lack of
pre-warning has caused this season (in regions other than the
South-East) to be less popular than it could've been, so in response I
would like to re-iterate a point;
This season's ULL is a trial season, to get teams accustomed to how it
works, and to prepare them for the full season next year. The first
proper ULL season, 2006/2007, shall run through the Autumn and Spring
terms, finishing just before Outdoor Regionals, so the Summer term can
be dedicated to participation in the Mixed Tour and exams.
I encourage people to continue organising events for the Summer term,
as there's everything to play for (you could be the first Ladder
League Champions in your region, like Brunel in SE), but the lack of
overwhelming activity this year shouldn't be misinterpreted, as next
year the league can be fully adopted and it's potential fully realised
(as it has been in the South-East this year - 23 teams playing 93
games in total, and a 40% increase in teams attending Regionals!).
At the South-East AGM we recognised the biggest benefits of the first
proper season of SEULL to be enabling beginners to get involved in
competitive outdoor Ultimate very early on in the year, and, later on,
to provide valuable training of 1st teams for Regionals. It was
decided for SEULL next year to promote specific co-ed LL events, to
tweak the scoring system more towards performance rewards, and to
consider the inclusion of junior teams - expect there to be some
groundbreaking votes happening in the near future!
Current ULL 1/2/3 positions:
Scotland: Ro Sham Bo, Dark Horses, Stirling Blaze
Northern: Northern Lights, York, Too Many Pies
Midlands: Haze, Jesters, Bears
South-West: Uriel, BLT, Picnic
South-East: Mohawks, Brunel, UCL [final]
Happy hucking,
Felix
ps. check out for some SEULL &
USWIR highlight videos
pps. 20 minute UWIN2006 highlights video coming soon...
22.02.06
Hello UU,
There has been a flurry of activity across the UK in the last few
weeks, and now every single region has hosted at least one Ladder
League event, meaning all the regional ULL tables are in action!
Scotland saw an event run by Ro Sham Bo, where the Dark Horses
surprisingly beat the hosts as well as Stirling Blaze. Four games
played in total, with Ro Sham Bo still at the top of the table, but
under threat from the Dark Horses. There are rumours that Flatball
will be hosting an event soon.
The North has had one big event, with Northern Lights 1 & 2, Too Many
Pies, York and Newcastle Brown all attending (5 NULL games played),
plus they have another event scheduled for this weekend which will get
three more teams starting playing games, so things are really moving
fast here! DUF have taken the lead of the table over regional
champions York, and Too Many Pies are only 13 points behind in 3rd
place, whilst DUF 2 have had a really strong start to the season
moving from 13th up to 7th, above Fish, who are hosting this weekend.
The Midlands have already played a total of 12 MULL games, at a big
event with 6 teams held in Leicester. There's going to be a repeat of
this event this weekend, Haze will be attending again to show what
form they are on for the 2006 outdoor game - currently they are top of
the table with 4 wins from 4, conceeding only nine points and scoring
45. Jesters and Random Fling are battling it out for second place
currently. Hoping there'll be another event organised elsewhere in
the region soon too, to get teams from Oxford and Birmingham playing
games.
The South West has saw a one-day tournament in Glastonbury a week ago,
from which seven results counted towards SWULL. Uriel have gone
straight to the top of the table from 6th place, but are only 20
points ahead of BLT, who had two teams competing in Glastonbury.
There's going to be an event in Exeter this weekend, so we could see
Uriel accelerating away at the top - so long as they can fend off
Picnic again...
The South East has continued with regular activity - events are
already scheduled for the next two weekends in London, and the last
event was held at Roehampton university (home of a team so new that
this will be their first ever outdoor regionals), and saw 11 games
taking place, with Mohawks 1 & 2 winning all 7 of the games they
played in and ascerting themselves at the top of the SEULL table.
There have been 33 SEULL games since Christmas, bringing the total
number of SE games to 75 so far this academic year.
Things are moving along nicely, but I continue to urge teams to
organise more events for before and after Regionals - all you need is
space for two or three pitches, a free Saturday or Sunday, and the
ability to send out an email to teams from your region, inviting them
over to play! It really is that simple - just ask anyone from your
region who has organised an event in the last few weeks themselves!
Also, remember to take your visitors on in a 3 Pint Challenge in the
pub after the games, so your region can get some results up on the Uni
3 Pint Challenge Table:
Get busy playing ladder league,
Felix
ps. Check out GlaxoSmithKline - the new game involving a frisbee - the
video -
31.01.06
Hey all,
An update about the Ladder Leagues which have been happening since Christmas:
MULL (Midlands): This weekend saw the Uni National Outdoor Champions,
Haze, playing their first competitive uni outdoor games since winning
the title last year. In all, 6 teams took part in an event arranged
by Adriano, and a total of 12 games were played - results and a table
update to follow shortly on the website
.
Also, a new team has been added to the map - Desparados from Derby
University have burst onto the scene, led by Russell Scott from EMO.
SULL (Scotland): Interest has been expressed but no fixtures made
yet, as far as I know. Ro Sham Bo seem particularly interested in
getting some outdoors practice done before regionals, so hopefully an
event will be arranged soon.
Someone from this region asked if the LL results are used for seeding
regionals - they are not, this was not the idea behind the ladder
league, the idea is just to get teams active and playing, and to
encourage more participation in competitive games from women and
beginners.
NULL (Northern): It's very possible the NWL results will count
towards NULL - we are in discussions at the moment.
SWULL (South West): Mike Tonge has taken over running the SWULL, and
the results from Milky's one day SW Uni outdoor tournament on 11th Feb
will count towards the table. Hopefully clubs here and in the north
will start organising small events soon, to get their leagues
ticking...
SEULL (South East): The South East have been continuing their second
successful Ladder League season, with 64 games played this academic
year - 22 since Christmas. The Mohawks had an event on two pitches
with four teams taking part, 6 games played, and then Brunel hosted a
large event in London, with 8 teams playing on three pitches in an
event that felt like it could've been the first day of outdoor
regionals. Roehampton - a new team this year - are hosting the next
event, a week on Wednesday, which'll be on a smaller scale to the
Brunel one but is attracting much interest already.
So, all in all it's going rather well, although a few more fixtures
wouldn't do any harm. If you're vaguely enthusiastic about uni
ultimate and don't mind dedicating literally an hour or two to the
organisation of an event, then just send an email out to your regional
mailing list inviting teams to come and play you! You can limit it to
2 or 3 teams if you want, to keep it more managable (or if you're
short on pitches), but I cannot stress enough quite how open it is for
you to get involved in this, and to do some really great things for
your region.
Just take a look at the calendar linked below, pick a free date (25/26
Feb looks good), figure out where there'll be space for a pitch or
two, and then invite some teams over!
Make it happen,
Felix
25.12.05
Today the regional University Ladder Leagues were started, with short seasons commencing for Spring & Summer terms 2006, before full ladder league seasons in the academic year 06/07. From experience, activity tends to drop off in the summer term as students have exams, so get as many games in for the spring term as you can. There are 10-12 weeks this term, so get planning now as to which weeks you're going to be hosting teams & which weeks you'll be visiting teams.
If you have any questions, notice anything dodgy or inaccurate on this website, or if you want to volunteer to keep the website updated, don't hesitate to get in touch with , or your regional coordinator.
Above all, enjoy, and keep playing ultimate,
Felix
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