NUFL: our neglected bastard step-child

Four or so years ago, some dude had a vision. A vision where the best ultimate teams in Australia would compete in a league across two or three or four weekends. That vision became NUFL - National Ultimate Frisbee League. It was where our best could compete to improve their abilites at the elite level, and play an important part in the selection of our National teams.

Fast forward to 2008, and NUFL seemed to be pushed to the side a bit. After the "dustbowl" fiasco of NUFL 2 in Melbourne last year, and the trouble NUFL 1 had with rain delays this year, NUFL 2 didn't even happen because, it seemed, no one really cared that much.

The problem at the moment is that it doesn't seem to fit anywhere in the ultimate calendar. You've got club trainings/tryouts in January to February, Regionals/Nationals in March to April, Uni season from May to September, Mixed season from July to October, and "hat" season November to December. The aims of the program also seem to be a little misguided. Initially it was started in the wake of 2004 Worlds after the powers that be identified a need for regular elite competition in preparation for 2006 WUCC and 2008 Worlds. But now 2008 Worlds has been run and won, what now for NUFL? Do we start looking to 2012 now?

I reckon NUFL needs a bit of a revamp.

First off, the aim of the competition. Yes, we need to emphasise the importance of regular elite competition for our top players. But NUFL is also the perfect vehicle to showcase our sport. It should be our "traveling circus" so to speak. Have three events per year around the country, with points counting towards a place in the final at NUFL 3. Push this form of our sport out to the media and spectators - "come and see the best of the best!" And at each event, have the local league coordinators and team captains going amongst the crowd - "come and learn to play like these guys!"

Second, the timing. While ultimate is played year-round, it is ideally a summer sport. Rather than have our elite competition in the middle of winter, we should be playing it in November, December and January. Right when the warmer weather is at its best, when the fields aren't taken up by rugby, soccer and AFL, and when the folks are going to come outside and watch.

So, in keeping with the "vision" theme, allow me to present my vision of what NUFL should be like...

The locations

The obvious answer to "where" is Sydney since that's where most players are. But I'd like to see it as our travelling roadshow - have a NUFL event as a major event "package" that we can sell to local councils. We tell the councils "give us somewhere to play and stay, and we'll bring the event". You would be amazed at how many smaller councils would jump at an opportunity like this - fields would be free, we could find local sponsors to help for catering, and we could get bulk discounts on accomodation. We could even tie it in to existing events - have a NUFL event played on Austar Arena on the same weekend as the Ballarat Show in November, or even down at the Peanut Farm Reserve during the St Kilda Festival in early February. The crowds are already there.


The teams

There's two routes we could go with this - have the top 6 open and top 4 women's Australian clubs from Nationals be invited to NUFL. So a hypothetical 2008/2009 NUFL would have Fakulti, Fyshwick United, I-Beam, Heads Of State, Chilly and Taipans or Sublime in the open, and Wildcard, Southside, Factory Girls and Team Box for the women. However, as I've previously stated, I have a problem with the marketability of existing team names. Plus we'd be leaving out talented interstate players. So here's the system I'd propose.

- Have existing groups "bid" for a team. For example, Chilly's leaders might bid for a Victorian team, while QUDA might bid for a Queensland team.
- Teams then pick X amount of players from their region, followed by interstate players via a draft.

"But that's exactly what NUFL already does!" I hear you cry. Not so fast, I say. We would have to emphasise the new entities having a seperate identity from their clubs, and having them identify with a geographical region. This would be specifically aimed at spectators, sponsors and local media. People are more likely to stick with a sport if there's a team or athlete they can identify with and support, and the easiest way to give them that is by having teams named for the states or cities they are from. At a NUFL event in Geelong, spectators are going to be instantly drawn to a team called Victoria Vikings, rather than a team called Team Box or Firestorm or whatever. After they've seen the Vikings play at NUFL 1 in November, they'll click onto the website in December and January to see how they went at NUFL 2 and NUFL 3.


The atmosphere

At risk of being accused of "selling out", we would have to make the events very spectator-friendly. We'd want it to be a day out for them - heaps of space between fields to allow people to set up deckchairs and picnic rugs, scoreboards on both sides, food and drink vendors, people distributing magazines with player names and photos, big noticeboards with fixtures and current league standings. I would think ground announcers would be a must - for things such as "goal caught by Player X with the assist from Player Y", and "foul called by Team A, contested by Team B, so the disc will go back to Player Z to restart play."

I let my imagination run wild a bit - corporate marquees, elevated above the fields a bit for a better view, for sponsors and the like. Live DJs playing sets between games. Team mascots. NUFL merchandise (official discs and Gaia shirts). Photos and video highlights posted on the website. A sideline bar on one field, like WUCC and Worlds.


Let's keep Nationals for the players, and take NUFL to the world.