From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Tue Jun 29 22:30:28 1999 Received: by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) id WAA14498 for britdisc-outgoing; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 22:28:56 +0100 (BST) Received: from daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (daffodil [137.205.192.30]) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA14492 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 22:28:54 +0100 (BST) Received: from mail-gw1.webleicester.net (mailgate.webleicester.co.uk [195.146.160.12]) by daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA24292 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 22:28:53 +0100 (BST) Received: from pii266 (pool-pri2-039.webleicester.co.uk [195.146.164.39]) by mail-gw1.webleicester.net (8.9.1/8.9.0) with SMTP id WAA02473 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 22:27:26 +0100 (BST) Message-ID: <000001bec276$baad4680$27a492c3@pii266> From: "Ben Ravilious" <bravil@webleicester.co.uk> To: "BRITDISC" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Oliver Bennet's article on frisbee Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 18:23:41 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.1 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Hmmm. Nice letter, well written, etc, etc, but I think the editor will now read all that hyperbole and just say "piss off" to anything related to 'Frisbees'. As Mike Beaton (Shark) pointed out, they never mentioned Ultimate so we can't exactly accuse them of harming our sport! I doubt that a journalist is going to respond favourably to a hoards of irate students playing a sport with a silly name condemning their work. Instead, I think we should be writing positive "well actually its a great new sport...." style letters. Some will no doubt accuse me of control freakery but it would have been nice to let someone from the BUF (I'm thinking Jon Hope - publicity officer) at least suggest some sort of strategy to how people could best respond. Its a shame we didn't have a debate about this before sending off "yours, angry of Ultimateville" letters. Whatever - its a free country (!) and I hope something positive comes of this opportunity. I reckon a formal invitation from the BUF to come and see ultimate being played would be a good move. Your call Jon. Keep scouring those tabloids Stu! Ben RED 10 (my opinions only) -----Original Message----- From: Steve Morrish <s.m.morrish@dundee.ac.uk> To: express.letters@express.co.uk <express.letters@express.co.uk> Cc: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> Date: 29 June 1999 15:32 Subject: Oliver Bennet's article on frisbee Dear sir, Oliver Bennet's article on frisbee being a vile sport, with the threat of decapitation a real one, was both ludicrous and damaging to what is a growing sport in this country. That the article was tongue in cheek does not make up for the fact that your reporter failed to do any research whatsoever on this subject. Has he ever played Ultimate (the sport played with a frisbee)? Has he ever been to one of the many well organised competitions that are held around the country on almost a weekly basis? Did he make any attempt whatsoever to find anyhting out about the sport at all? No, he did not. I am incensed that such an article was carried by what I had regarded as a quality newspaper. The Ultimate World Championships are being held in St Andrews between the 8th and the 14th of August. Perhaps Mr Bennet would like to attend, to see what Ultimate is all about. He will find none of the stereotypical attributes he seems to think are rife within the sport. How can we hope to raise the profile of the sport in this country, if narrowminded, brainless idiots such as Mr Bennet continue to portray frisbee as being played by stoned, long-haired hippies with nothing better to do with their time than to endanger the health of picnickers? Not only does this article damage the sport, which if he had bothered to do any research whatsoever, he would have found that it promotes sportsmanship, friendship and the spirit of the game above everything else, but has also damaged the credibility of these very attributes. There are many people, myself included, who are desperate to introduce Ultimate to schools, both to prolong the sport and help it grow, and to promote the three ideals mentioned previously. Mr Bennet may consider himself a humourous journalist, but in reality, he is nothing more than a petty, unimaginative hack. Yours in disgust, Steve Morrish Captain, Shooting Stars Ultimate Frisbee Club University of Dundee