Cork's first Open club make its debut as Rebel Ultimate taste European open ultimate for the first time at the wonderful Windmill Windup in Amsterdam.

This June saw the debut of Cork's first Open club as Rebel Ultimate got their first taste of the European open division at the wonderful Windmill Windup in Amsterdam. The squad made up for the loss of some of its experienced players who had fallen victim to either a last minute injury (Ferg, Oisí­n), exam pressure (Leo) or emigration (Ian, Dylan), by taking on a few greatly appreciated pick-ups, Trinity's Hugo Fitzpatrick, a 15 year old German Junior called Mo Brucklacher and Brendan O'Callaghan from DeLux (Sunday).

In the wee hours of Thursday morning half of the team arrived in Amsterdam, where the first port of call was the nearest coffee shop to sample some space cakes. These delicacies had one Rebel in uncontrollable hysterics and another pulling a whitey beside a frightened old lady on a bus. That evening, the festival known as Windmill Windup kicked off in its traditional glorious amusement. A giant 30 foot inflatable elephant denoted the main marquee which housed the HQ, bar and merchandise shop. A giant tepee with a projector and screen was used to show games from the World Cup, while two more tepees were simply there to relax in. A dunk tank was brought out Saturday night which rewarded people's accuracy by getting either friends or complete strangers wet, while disc golf targets were positioned around the venue testing people's putting skills.

The Rebels obtained their team pack and were eager to try out their new goodies, including new discs for every player. Hefty quiches and some World Cup entertainment ensured Rebel were mentally and physically prepared for match day 1.

Day 1

Rebel (5 -15) Gentle (finished 14th)

The tall athletic Belgians capitalised on Cork’s usual first game jitters. Regrettably Rebel never got into their stride and every two or three points scored by Gentle was interrupted with a solitary reply from Rebel. Poachy defence allowed Gentle to get easy long scores and once Rebel’s captain went out of the game due to a head collision, combined with some turnovers due to Rebel’s players getting used to their new teammates, allowed Gentle build a significant lead Unfortunately, a comfortable win for Gentle was inevitable and it ensured that Rebel Ultimate started off with a poor enough ranking (28th) on account of the Swiss draw format.

Rebel ranked 28th (15 - 9) Me & My Friends (finished 27th)

The second game took place during the worst conditions of the weekend. The overcast and misty drizzle that plagued the morning turned into a fully fledged down pour with a significant wind. The Rebel squad was determined to beat their French opponents not only to put the first game out of their minds but to also not suffer the embarrassment of losing to the worst named team in Europe. Points were traded up until the half way mark when our superior fitness and experience in wet Irish conditions began to shine through. We relied heavily on our short game and the quickness of our under cutters Hobs, Ray W, Ray C and Dónal M who gained those crucial yards with their tireless cutting. Mo’s handling prowess was particularly evident in this game also where his inventive OI backhands and flicks resulted in numerous scores.

Rebel 23rd (15 – 8) KoBOLd 24th (finished 28th)

For the last game of the day the skies had cleared and we met our German opponents on the all weather astroturf pitches. KoBOLd was a fairly average team with one snappy handler and one giant causing all the problems. Hucking was the order of the day with Kieran, Brian and James delivering the throws while Kyle and Mark supplied the take downs. Mark’s grabs were so impressive that he had all the UCC players questioning why he was ever positioned as a handler on the varsity team in the first place. Despite having the run of the game, some uncharacteristic catching errors set in and coupled with a late resurgence by KoBOLd ment we only won by 7 points. Regardless the result ensured that we were seeded 14th for the next match.

Friday evenings pull contest saw an impressive performance from the injured Fergus McAuliffe who could of made the final on a different day, but disgraceful attempts from James Finn and Dónal M were luckily only seen by a handful of disgusted onlookers. Unfortunately Friday night also saw the biggest travesty since the Deepwater Horizon oil leak take place. The table quiz got off to a good start with teams being rewarded for their apt regard for general knowledge, dingbats and famous film quotes. The Rebel team made up mostly of the reigning intervarsity table quiz champions were in a good position at half time (1st) however the next four rounds of what can only be described as a mess of anti-knowledge and some useless facts concerning Ultimate team logos saw them fall unceremoniously from grace to an embarrassing 11th position. The UL Ninjas finished highest of the Irish in 5th place. While some of the Rebels retired to the tents shortly after the disgrace that was the table quiz.

Day 2

Rebel 14th (10 – 15) Silence 13th (finished 4th)

The first game on Sunday pitted us against last year’s runner ups, Silence from the Czech Republic. Silence were a well organised bunch, with structured O and D lines and they had their sights set firmly on doing one better than last year. They started off the better side rushing into a 3 point lead easily converting their Ds near the Rebel endzone. A grab by Jim, skying most of the Silence D line in the process marked a turn in the Cork side’s fortunes. Suddenly it was Rebel making the Ds and duly converting them. Tight defence from the likes of Juno, Jose and Ray Williams kept the pressure on the Czech side and half was reached on the tight margin of 8 -7 in their favour. In the second half, Silence demonstrated their fitness and experience as they emerged from the starting blocks with great momentum. With a change to force flick and an emphasis on taking away Rebel’s long game, Silence deservedly took a commanding lead. Rebel had only 3 responses to Silence’s 7 and so we were cast down to 22nd position.

Rebel 22nd (15 – 11) Sun 21st (finished 23rd)

The final game in the Swiss draw format saw Cork take on the French side Sun. While finishing in the top 20 was the pre-tournament goal of Rebel, the club relished a shot at the 9-16 bracket. Only a convincing win in this game would ensure such a result, a fact which was on the minds of all the players.

Rebel was the dominant team from the get go and a noticeable improvement in our game could be seen in our defence of the endzone. Whenever Sun worked up the disc to the kill zone, it took in some occasions at least 20+ passes for them to get it across the line, if at all. On O Kyle Smith once again stuck out taking down everything deep that was thrown his way. This was a trend which would continue for the rest of the day. On D, Juno ran ragged and made some fantastic interceptions.

Despite leading for the entire game, complacency reared its ugly familiar head and two simple drops ensured that we’d only finish the game with a 4 goal cushion. About an hour after the game we got the news that this game’s result left us in a disappointing 19th position. With a margin of just 5 victory points, sadly the dream of the 9-16 bracket was gone, thankfully though our goal of finishing in the top 20 was still at stake.

Rebel 19th (12 – 9) PUF 22nd (finished 24th)

By this stage the pressure of trouncing the opposition had lifted as the Swiss draw format had come to an end. Instead it was a simple case of placing and working up the ladder, game by game to the top spot which in our circumstance was 17th place. PUF was the first and last Dutch team that we came across. The game started on equal terms. Rebel gained scores from clinical passes and deep hucks while PUF got a lot of joy from their up the line play. The switch to a straight up force threw a wrench in their open side game which allowed Rebel to gain a lead. In addition, tight marking on the disc saw the stall count almost reach double figures on many occasions putting a lot of pressure on their handlers. 12-9 it finished in Rebel’s favour.

Rebel 19th (15 – 14) Hallunken 18th (finished 19th)

The fourth and final game of Saturday was the semi final for the coveted 17th place final. Rebel had already achieved its goal of making the top 20 and all that was left was to find out how high up in the teens we could go. The sun was shining despite it being a bit late in the day and the occasional wind kicked up every now and again. Much like our first match Rebel found it hard to get started succumbing to three straight scores from the Germans. A rousing speech from Kieran shook all complacency from our shoulders and we responded with 6 uninterrupted points of our own and eventually took half 8 – 4.

Hallunken were far from finished however and came out in the second half with a very pouchy zone that seemed to mark our handlers out of the game. It took some Finns (http://www.ultipedia.org/wiki/Finn ) and long distance OI passes to the wings to break the deadlock however Rebel never felt safe against the zone and often tried and failed with deep shots that had worked wonders all day. As the game stretched on (it lasted over 110 minutes) fatigue set in for both sides and only short range passes were used to battle Halluken’s impressive defence. Despite being 14 – 12 up, tired mess ups such as handlers turfing discs and cutters failing to make simple dump passes, guaranteed that the match would be decided on universe point with Rebel Ultimate starting on O.

The intensity was apparent on both sides with defence ruling the point. Cork were turned twice, once even on the edge of our own endzone. The players in red gave it one last big effort, worked it up the pitch with countless passes, and with a grab by Mark from a gutsy DoD blade, the Cork side ended the mammoth game. At the end of day 2 Rebel had won 5 games and lost 2.

Saturday night had all the fun that Windmill Windup is known for: Spicy lasagne for dinner with the World Cup on the big screen for all that could fit into the tepee to see the USA draw with England, with many foreigners struggling to understand the manic ravings of Richard Hobson, and opting instead to watch the dinner band. A huge mingle tournament in which Juno showed how important aggressive play is, was preceded by a beer race. Electro beats and a wicked DJ kept the party going until 3 in the morning for those who could last.

Day 3

Sunday morning was arguably the hardest morning to get up to thanks to the two previous, game laden days as well as the Saturday night antics. The last game of Rebel’s Windmill adventure saw us take on the French team Barry White for the position of 17th.

Rebel 18th (8 – 15) Barry White 17th

Barry White was an experienced and fit side and the difficulty involved with turning them over was testament to this. Their handlers found it fairly easy to get free on the dump and their effective O involved lots of break throws, lots of hucks and very little disc retention time. Early on in the game Rebel’s O was marred with mistakes. Some laziness in the cutting lanes allowed the French players to poach effectively resulting in lots of frustrating interceptions. Rebel emerged better in the second half with Hugo and Benny making big contributions on O and D, with some great catches, good resets and tight D. Despite a three goal run by Rebel at the end, Barry White the much fitter and experienced, closed the game 15 – 8 for a well deserved victory.

Overall the weekend was a huge success for both Cork and Irish Ultimate alike. Another Irish club made its presence known on the continent and a lot tactical experience was brought back to Cork.

Thank you to Ferg for travelling and supporting the team throughout the weekend, as well as filming the KoBOLd game. We would also like to thank Mike, Sinéad, Linda and Jabba for their support throughout the weekend.

MVP – Kyle Smith and James Finn

A Game – Richard Hobson

Dónal Murray Award – MSP

Rebel Ultimate: Brian O’Callaghan (c), Dónal Murray (vc), Kieran Giller, Richard Hobson, Fergus McAuiliffe, Ray Considine, James Finn, Kyle Smith, Martin “Juno” Kelly, Mark Fanning, Dónal O’Donohoe, Ray Williams, José Alejandro Cruces, Hugo Fitzpatrick, Mo Brucklacher, Brendan O’Callaghan.