xEUCF update, ECC and Chesapeake.

So all of the 2009 regional EUCS events have taken place and the results of those teams that have qualified are filtering through. It makes you realise how far we have to go as a sport when it's so difficult, without knowing individuals at each event, to find out what is going on at the elite end of Ultimate. There is certainly plenty of movement in the right direction however and it's developing positively far more than other sports have done in the past and currently are, so thats +1 for Ultimate!

So here are the div 1 open qualifiers to xEUCF in London 24-27 sept from all regions (click logo for link to xEUCF website)

South West

1. FAB (Bern, Switzerland)
2. Jack'Suns, (Fontenay-le-Comte, France)
3. Freespeed (Basel, Switzerland)
4. CUSB (Bologna, Italy)

North East

1. VIF (Sweden)
2. Karhukopla (Finland)
3. Skogs (Sweden)
4. Orebro (Sweden)

West

1. Fire (London, UK)
2. Clapham (London, UK)
3. Fusion (UK (Scotland))
4. Chevy (Manchester, UK)

Central East

1. Woodies (Germany)
2. Feldrenner (Germany)
3. Silence (Czech Republic)
4. Ragnarok (Denmark)

Amazing! xEUCF is going to be pretty awesome...A few things I wanted to point out about these goings on. Firstly, the UK dominates the West Europe region. Secondly, the two strongest teams in the UK this year in both open and womens divisions recently went to test their skills against some of the top North American teams. Clapham went to the Emerald City Classic tournament in Burlington, Washington and Iceni went to Chesapeake in Poolesville, Maryland.

(click the logos to find out complete results). These two tournaments are known for the rediculous quality of the Ultimate, pretty much the highest level of club ultimate you will find in any tournaments around the world. Even so, what are potentially the two best teams in Europe (let alone the UK) managed just 3 wins out of 16 games between them. (2 out of 10 for Clapham and 1 out of 6 for Iceni).

I don't know the ins and outs of any extenuating circumstances like missing few or many key players or individual game stats but I know that whoever went in these teams will have been giving it their all on the pitch. Thus exemplifying the quality of Ultimate in North America when compared to the rest of the world....?