UK Open Nationals 2003-2008.

I thought I would have a go at collating the results of all the UK Open Nationals that I could find. The UKU website has results from 2005-2009 but the BritDisc archive goes back to 2003. As a side note, there are some interesting posts from about 5 years ago which, depending on what aspect of the sport you want to read about, shows our varying levels of progress. It made for some entertaining reading anyway! So below is what I came up with by just entering the results and not doing anything fancy with it. (click for a larger image)

Nationals 2003-2008

Nationals 2003-2008

There aren't really any surprising results, the middle of the table sees the most changes year on year, the top 8 stays largely the same, Clapham have won every year since 2003 (and actually back to 2001 although I couldn't find results that far back). A total of 74 different teams have made it to Nationals since 2003 (although often teams reinvent themselves with either a new name or when 2 clubs combine) and a number of teams consistently get 2 teams to Nationals.

For any sport to develop and flourish I can think of a few basic requirements. A solid grass roots development programme, an effective, efficient and well organised governing body, healthy competition, people who care and a history. Ultimate has all of these but in the early stages. I would love to know what other sports like Football, Baseball and Basketball were like 50 years after they were first played to compare them to where we are in terms of competitiveness, player numbers and organisation. Although the last thing I would want would be for Ultimate to go down a route resembling theirs.

Documenting everything that happens is one way we can develop a history and ensure a future.