Dangerous Plays & Posts

"Danger Will Robinson, Danger!"

From 11th ed XVI.H.4
"Reckless disregard for the safety of fellow players or other dangerously aggressive behavior (such as significantly colliding into a stationary opponent), regardless of whether or when the disc arrives or when contact occurs is considered dangerous play and is treated as a foul. This rule is not superseded by any other rule."

With most of Ottawa's competitive players recovering from Nationals, and the majority of league players recovering from playoffs, interesting posts on the OCUA forums have been few and far between. Having said that, there's this little feud brewing right now on the forums between two acquaintances of mine. As much as I hate to see two really good players go at it, it's very entertaining. I've got the "burn" count at 2-to-1 for the non-competitive player, but I won't count out the competitive guy just yet. Sadly, I see this ending badly for both of these guys, but it's like a car crash that I just can't help but stop and watch.

Back on track. The one forum topic that seems to be getting some attention is about the "dangerous play" call. Specifically, some guy got called for a dangerous play when he threw out a huge backhand fake at a defender approaching him (who was part of the soon-to-be-formed cup). The defender found this fake intimidating and called a dangerous play.

Since I'm not a rules guru by any means, my thoughts on the "dangerous play" call should be to call it sparingly, and only if you feel endangered. Simple enough? Apparently, there has to be "reckless disregard" and a lot of other words that complicate the call. My counter argument would be that no player should ever play in fear on the field. If they feel they are in danger, make the call, explain the call, the disc goes back to thrower, and play continues in a slightly safer environment.

Given my size, it might surprise you to know that I've made the call before on a smaller guy. The situation was that buddy was going airborne in an attempt to D any disc thrown in his general direction. After two near misses of him almost crashing into Sprawl's ladies, when he went up for the disc near me and got a knee in my back, I made the call. He immediately contested (before I explained why I made the call), so I explained that he needed to learn better control of his body in the air if he planned to fly around after every disc, and then gave the disc (that I caught despite the knee to my back) back to the thrower. He was pissed, as the captain of the other team, he docked Sprawl some spirit points (whoop-itty-doo), but he played more controlled the rest of our game.

In summary, if the person who made the call on the faked throw felt endangered, I think they had every reason to make the call. Ultimate is already dangerous enough without reckless players making reckless plays. And if either of two individuals who are zinging eachother on the OCUA forums read this…you're getting into dangerous territory, so please be careful. Until next time, happy hucking!