There's been a big discussion on Euro-disc recently because France aren't sending an open team to WUGC.
European Ultimate has undoubtedly progressed rapidly over 'our' playing careers. As far as I understand, many nations hold a national championship for club teams, and as there are plenty of advertisements announcing tournaments all over Europe on this forum, there must also be demand for teams to play at them; some being based more on the enjoyment of the sport (Copa) whilst some more on the higher quality aspect (Wonderful Copenhagen).
As I see it, this is fundamentally building the sport at a grass-roots level. No television cameras, no huge crowds, no Mc Donalds/Nike endorsements/advertisements at such events. These local/national events are primarily for the players to enjoy playing competitively at their level, provide them with the opportunity to do so, and to build the number of participants within the nation itself.
Going up a metaphorical branch, EUCS, EUCC (and WCU) provides the better teams with an opportunity to get a more competitive game; which is important for them. Such teams (Clapham, Skoggs, Ragnarok etc) need to have these more competitive games to help them to improve, which allows them to achieve better results at even higher levels (WUCC).
The highest level of competition (WUGC) like the Olympics is mostly for the spectators and national pride, with a very small percentage of overall participants competing at the highest level.
ECBU just finished, yet Great Britain did not attend as it clashed with one of our 'grass roots' tournaments, known as the ultim8 Tour; which some 60ish teams attended from all over the country in both open and Womens divisions.
I was a little upset that my nations team that did so well at EUC07 last September was unable to attend (personally I prefer beach to grass but thats another argument) however I can completely understand why we did not attend... pulling the best players from the top 10 teams wouldn't be fair.
I would have loved to have taken some friends to Le Pouliguen and play, last time I was there my team won the spirit award and we all had a lovely time (I must say the French competition was fierce), however it is important that high level events like ECBU remain the showcase for high level competition, which is why amateurs/underachievers are not allowed to compete at the Olympics for the sake of representing their nation at high level competition, nor should they be ('Eddy the Eagle' rule).
Given France's situation as outlined by José I think that it is more important that France (and other nations) concentrate on building the sport at a grass roots level, increasing their player base and improving the standards of their teams. Surely this is more beneficial than sending a few individuals halfway around the world at great expense to be beaten by the home team (Canada are a bit good so I hear) and achieve a mediocre result. If 25% of my FFDF membership fee was funding someone else's career I might begin to think that it could be better spent on other things. I'm not implying that to send players to worlds is mis-spending the money as doing so is certainly an important part of the FFDF or any association.
I am impressed that the FFDF adopts a national selection policy instead of simply sending the best club team; Certainly their method takes more time/effort.
Considering the high costs of competing in Vancouver, I can't say I blame so many players for dropping out. I spend a lot of money just to play ultimate at various tournaments and I certainly could not afford to play at worlds if I was good enough to make the national team. Ironically I still manage to play ultimate several times a week in my local park at no cost.
Ultimate in Europe is growing rapidly, I am proud to see that there is a European University Ultimate Championship competition in its second year and with a little help from the EFDF or European national ultimate federations I believe that the date of this tournament could be optimised so that more teams are able to attend (again, this one clashed with the UK Ultim8 tour, plus the UK university calendar is already quite full as it is, it's a wonder the players get any time to study let alone train). Should this continue it will raise the standard of younger players in Europe, which is a great thing as in future years they will be able to achieve higher than their predecessors did.
To my understanding, the city of Vancouver has more ultimate players than the entire UK does, and has a league structure that spans more than 4 divisions that play every week. In comparison London is still light years behind, although it does hold a winter league, summer league and spring indoor league.
Hopefully the next EUC can be attended by all European national teams, perhaps at a lower entrance fee than Southampton (high fees prevented many teams from entering) without sacrificing the quality of the tournament.
All those that think that France not sending an open team to WUGC is a terrible crime and national shame should first look at the levels of participation, high-level achievements, the frequency of tournaments and the increase in player numbers within the country, and then asses weather these are more important than a mid-table result at the highest level of the sport. If the FFDF has to make a choice of either investing money into the sport that would benefit it's members, or spending vast amounts of money sending a non-competitive open team that cannot fund itself to go to Vancouver I would like to think that the sensible option is the former.
It is a shame that the best French open players won't get the opportunity or experience of representing their country in a few months time, but considering the past events surrounding the French national team and the huge personal cost of doing so, I can't say I'm too surprised.
