Sport

THE ‘ULTIMATE’ SPORT FOR FOOTBALL’S FAILINGS?

By David Naylor ⋅ April 12, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Whilst writing this article, Arsenal’s Vassiriki Diaby has just committed a treacherous tackle on Bolton’s Gretar Steinsson, imprinting stud marks upon his ankle. The referee waltzes over and nonchalantly produces a red card to leave the Arsenal team bewildered and looking as though they are about to capitulate for the sixth time in as many games potentially conceding the title to Manchester United.

At the same time, Leeds Jedi’s played ‘Flyght Club’, the two Ultimate Frisbee teams of Leeds and Nottingham respectively. An accurate pass picks out a run of a Jedi, exposing the Nottingham defence.

Controversy erupts as a Nottingham defender slides and trips the Leeds player, leaving him face down in the mud. He gets up, throws a look of disgust towards his opponent and chucks the disc in the air. In any other sport, such an act of petulance would have warranted a straight red card from the referee. However, in this arena umpires have no place, leaving the players to negotiate the right course of action themselves.

One could find it extremely difficult to see any way in which the globalised game of football could learn anything from a relatively undiscovered game such as Ultimate Frisbee. Mark Ansdell, club captain of the Liverpool University Frisbee team, disagrees.

“In refereed sports, the players often look to get away with as much as possible, where as “Ultimate” (Frisbee) does not support such behaviour”, Ansdell states. “Conflicts must be resolved one on one”.

This synopsis is difficult to argue with when viewing the despicable behaviour of Ashley Cole and Javier Mascherano towards referring decisions in recent weeks in the apparent “beautiful game”, which is unquestionably becoming very ugly.

However, it is extremely difficult to give Frisbee that much respect and praise away from areas such as refereeing. Indeed four students from a north Yorkshire school comprise half of the England under-19s team competing in a European competition in the summer, as critics deride the sport as ‘amateur’.

Nevertheless, the University of Liverpool team pride themselves on welcoming a assorted abilities, something which has to be applauded given the sometimes aberrant nature of the university football trials. Accepting beginners to GB players is in contrast to the sometimes ‘cliquey’ nature of their football counterparts where the friends of captains have been rumoured to be picked over better players in certain circumstances.

Ultimate Frisbee accepts all male and female newcomers with open arms. Indeed, as Mark Ansdell goes on to say there is “nothing like getting sweaty with the opposite sex…” Indeed, to add to the more social aspects of the club, the Liverpool University team has enjoyed unbridled success since its inauguration in 2001, winning six majors honours.

Forgetting for a second the superior behaviour and social aspect that Ultimate enjoys, Arsenal have just snatched a dramatic last minute winner to leave the Bolton team aghast.
It is now difficult to conclude this comparison.

Having just witnessed one of the most compelling games of football of the season, it would be absurd to suggest that a game such as Ultimate Frisbee could one day take the mantel away from football on a large domain.

However, football could do well to examine fewer opportunities across the world to make more money and instead conduct a thorough self-examination in order to rid the sport of its tarnished image. If football aligns its behavioural values somewhere close to Ultimate Frisbee’s they will be well on the road to recovery at both university level and further afield.