This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/Baconator981 on 2024-08-05 02:53:05+00:00.

Part 1: Ultimate Frisbee

As the name suggests, Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that involves throwing a frisbee. Teams must work the frisbee down the field by throwing and catching only, no moving with disc is allowed. Any time the frisbee touches the ground it is a turnover. The sport borrows significant terminology from sports such as basketball, American Football and tennis. What makes the sport unique however, is its almost entirely self-officiated nature a concept known as the Spirit of the Game.

The two concepts work hand in hand. Almost every game of ultimate is played with no 3rd party referees or other officials to make calls. Instead, players are empowered to make their own calls regarding fouls, whether a player caught the disc, and whether a player is in or out of the end zone, or the field. Calls are then discussed, ending with the player who made the call retracting it, the player adjudged to have fouled another accepts the foul, or the players agree to disagree, contest the call and play resumes as basically a do-over. This is where Spirit of Game comes in. Players are expected to engage with these discussions in good faith and do their best to be as honest as possible. Obviously this is a very exploitable which led to the introduction of some 3rd party officials, who in North America are known as observers (International play uses a different system but this game happened in the US so I will be focusing on observers). A full history of observers and spirit of the game in general can be found here.

Observers are meant to provide a balance between Spirit of the Game and fair play at the highest level, as importantly to this day the vast majority of games are played without observers. Where observers are different than referees is that they can only make a few calls by themselves, offsides (when a player is over the end zone line before a disc is thrown to start the point),in or out calls for both the end zone and field, and Team and Personal Misconduct foul for unspirited behavior or plays that are considered particularly dangeroys. Other than that observers can only make calls if one party involved in a foul call asks for their input, at which point their call is treated as binding like a referee’s would.

Part Two: The Call

The all-important incident occurred in the 2023 USAU National Championships, a tournament that involves the best 16 club teams from around the USA and Canada and which is generally considered the most prestigious annual tournament in the world. Teams have to make it through sectional and regional tournaments to qualify. The game in question was a quarterfinal matchup between number 1 seeded DC Truckstop and number 6 Boston DiG. Despite being number 1 Truckstop had only gone 1-2 in their pool play round robin, forcing them to play through a pre-quarterfinal to reach a DiG team who had won their pool. The game, which can be viewed here in its entirety (behind an unfortunately expensive pay wall) went all the way to universe point, an ultimate term for double game point. Games of ultimate are played to 15, so the game has to end with a score. DiG would start with the disc on offense, giving them a massive advantage. DiG moved the frisbee down the field quickly resulting in a throw to #11 Peter Boerth. The disc however ended up in the hands of Truckstop #16 AJ Merriman. Boerth would call a particular kind of foul called a strip. Calling a strip means that a player believes they made the catch, only for the frisbee to be knocked out, or ripped out of their hands. Crucially, as Boerth was in the end zone when he made the call a strip call would result in a catch and a DiG win.

After a brief discussion, Merriman would go to an observer who would overturn the strip call, giving Truckstop posession. They would quickly move the disc down the field and score to win the game and move on. This picture from ultimate photographer/videographer NKolakovic would show the situation clearly. Boerth had caught the disc before Merriman touched it, and by rule it should have been a strip and a Dig victory. While this picture was available very quickly, and the fact that replays were available, USA Ultimate rules, the set of rules the game was being played under, do not allow for observers to use technology to see calls and so the call stood.

Part Three: Aftermath

This was a particularly deflating call. Unlike most situations were an early missed call could be worked back from, this call quite literally prevented DiG from winning the game. Trucktop would go on to win the National championship, their first ever and the first ever for the DC/Maryland/Virginia area in the open division. This was considered a tainted win of course and so the ultimate community was involved in intense discussion. Some suggested that Truckstop should have given up their place in the semi-finals, an idea that USA Ultimate soundly rejected for the precedent it would set. The role of the observers, as well as the use of technology were also reviewed. Observers are allowed to say they cannot make a call because they could not be confident of a ruling, and yet this safegaurd had not made an impact. The other major ruleset, that of the World Flying Disc Federation, does allow for technology reviews, but have game advisors who cannot make any calls except for offsides, who are only there to give their perspective and clarify rules misunderstandings. Even months after the event, players at my local pickup game were discussing the call