Spirit of the Game has meant a lot of things to me over the years but I now think it can be summed up in four words: respect for your opponent.

When I began playing, spirit of the game seemed to mean how you behaved at a tournament - both on and off the pitch. We voted for teams that we had a laugh with and Irish teams won Spirit awards left right and centre, in the most part for the way we partied hard and tried to play hard too. We were the fun, messy teams that everyone got on great with but we never really challenged for honours. This continued onto the international scene - in 2003 the Irish open team won spirit at the European Championships (admittedly we gave our all on the field, but we went pretty hard at night too!). Elsewhere - at university and club level - we seemed to pick up the award for fun.

In 2004, Paddy Murphy (the Irish national team) became the first team I played proper, intense Ultimate with. We went to the UK, Brit Open and WUGC in Turku and won Spirit. It meant more here than anywhere else because we were involved in tight games with tough calls and against a variety of opponents. 2007 was the same for me - tougher games, higher standard and huge variety of teams and approaches. However, as we progressed up the pecking order at Tour and indeed at Europeans we won less Spirit awards. It's always something I wonder about - did we suddenly change? Were we less the token fun teams at tournaments and now a threat? Or was it that Spirit itself had evolved?

From the stories I heard from Vancouver in 2008, Spirit was a central talking point. Teams were effectively brazenly cheating and there was nothing to be done. Cultural differences, sporting backgrounds - many excuses but one common theme - bending the rules as far as possible. It seemed to me that some Irish players were ready not to play the sport again after what they experienced in Canada. To think the actions of a few teams could influence experienced players so much seems insane to me. Ironic that the fundamental part of the game, the part that makes the sport special, could end up being the most divisive part.

The more I play, the more I think people's opinion on the concept is changing. Maybe it's that I'm older, maybe it's just at the level I'm currently playing but I think there's a shift towards rating teams based on how they actually act on the field in relation to one another and to the opposition. Teams seem more conscious of how they conduct themselves and how they rate other teams. More and more the word respect is being used and given we have to referee ourselves I think that's the word we need most.