Inspired by the readings on Bagel Fodder Ultimate over there on the right, I decided to delve into the propaganda-driven statistics offered up by the fine tertiary institutions of Australia. And some of the crap ones as well. The logical train of thought is that the bigger unis should have the bigger teams because, well, there's more people to choose from. Obviously this can't always be the case because there's a number of other factors here at play - previous success, the presence of an existing club, awareness of the sport, competition from other sports for the athletic folk, and the oh-so-attractive allure of being a drunken slob. But let's look at university size (undergraduates and postgraduates) and their ultimate team's finishes at AUG over the last three years.
| University | Students | Campuses | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
Monash Vic
| 55,000*
| 6
| 12th
| 4th
| 7th
|
Sydney NSW
| 46,054
| 3
| 5th
| 7th
| 2nd
|
QUT Qld
| 39,919
| 4
| 17th
| 11th
| 19th
|
Curtin WA
| 39,100*
| 1
|
|
|
|
Uni of Queensland Qld
| 37,518
| 3
| 2nd
| 1st
|
|
Griffith Qld
| 37,000*
| 4
|
| 18th
| 17th
|
UNSW NSW
| 36,789
| 1
| 9th
| 3rd
|
|
Uni of Western Sydney NSW
| 35,061
| 6
|
| 16th
|
|
RMIT Vic
| 34,107
| 3
|
|
| 13th
|
Deakin Vic
| 34,043
| 5
|
|
| 10th
|
Melbourne Vic
| 33,639
| 1
| 3rd
| 9th
| 4th
|
Charles Sturt Uni NSW
| 33,251
| 6
|
| 19th
|
|
UTS NSW
| 32,708
| 4
|
| 20th
| 14th
|
Uni of SA SA
| 32,187
| 4
| 15th
|
|
|
Macquarie NSW
| 31,660
| 1
| 1st
| 2nd
| 5th
|
Latrobe Uni Vic
| 28,000*
| 3
|
| 17th
| 9th
|
Uni Sthn Queensland Qld
| 26,174
| 3
|
|
|
|
Central Qld Uni Qld
| 26,000*
| 5
|
|
|
|
Victoria University Vic
| 23,600
| 5
|
|
|
|
Newcastle NSW
| 22,827
| 3
| 4th
|
| 8th
|
UWA WA
| 22,419
| 1
| 11th
| 10th
| 6th
|
Wollongong NSW
| 22,044
| 2
|
|
| 18th
|
Edith Cowan Uni WA
| 20,605
| 3
|
|
| 12th
|
Charles Darwin Uni NT
| 20,098
| 5
|
|
|
|
Southern Cross NSW
| 18,902
| 4
|
|
|
|
Adelaide SA
| 18,385
| 1
| 6th
| 14th
| 3rd
|
Uni of New England NSW
| 17,896
| 1
|
|
|
|
James Cook Qld
| 15,756
| 2
|
|
|
|
Flinders SA
| 15,110
| 1
| 10th
| 12th
| 1st
|
Uni of Tasmania Tas
| 15,050
| 2
| 8th
| 5th
|
|
Swinburne Vic
| 14,481
| 2
|
|
|
|
Aus Catholic Uni National
| 13,032
| 6
|
|
|
|
Aus National Uni ACT
| 12,482
| 1
| 7th
| 6th
| 15th
|
Murdoch WA
| 12,400*
| 3
| 13th
| 15th
| 11th
|
Ballarat Vic
| 10,500*
| 4
| 14th
| 13th
| 16th
|
Uni of Canberra ACT
| 9,000*
| 1
|
|
|
|
Notre Dame WA
| 6,000*
| 3
|
|
|
|
Uni of Sunshine Coast Qld
| 5,833
| 1
|
|
|
|
Bond Qld
| 3,200*
| 1
|
|
|
|
* - couldn't find the exact number, only an estimate
There's no consistency at all with these results - we have larger unis with a weak team (or no team at all) and we have small unis with successful teams. There's also the obstacle of different campuses - generally ultimate is based at one campus of a university, and the only cases of multi-campus involvement that I know of involve players who play ultimate anyway. They weren't recruited to the game through their university. However it is definitely an option teams should consider in the future, particularly unis with multiple campuses in the same city. Spare a thought though for CSU, who is spread out right across New South Wales, and ACU which spans four states.
Recruiting from other campuses is certainly a strategy Ballarat is going for next year. Our team is based out of the Mount Helen campus, yet we have Camp Street, Horsham and Ararat to draw from. We also have a luxury many other unis don't - Uni of Ballarat is also a TAFE provider, so we can also draw from another few thousand students at the SMB campus. It's all about finding and taking advantage of the opportunities.
Josh Rynan (Most Improved Player) and Dylan Carter (Spirit Award) with their awards.
Nathan Job (Rookie Of The Year) and Sara Talbot
Myself and Sara going through the votes.
Greta Hunt (Clubperson Of The Year) being presented with her award.
2008's milestone players - Greta (50 games), Sara (100), myself (150), Amanda (100) and Sam (100).
Amanda and Monique Connell getting stuck into it.
Sam, Dan Rule, Aaron Rutigliano, Josh and Aaron Stewart.
The "Wags" table (don't tell them I said that) - Phoebe Reid (our wonderful AUG trainer), Daiha Fehring (our gun female rookie) and Ang Longhurst (Sam's personal manager).
