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Ambush Unrostered Player

Posted 10/25/2007

On Friday, Oct. 19, 2007 it came to the attention of UPA Series administration that the Women’s Division team Ambush had participated in the 2007 UPA Championship Series (sectionals and regionals) with a player who was not on their Series roster.

The following sections of the Club Series Guidelines deal specifically with this situation:
General Team Info
3.1 - Rosters must be finalized, via the online rostering system, by the Tuesday prior to a team's sectional tournament .
7 - Rosters are closed once the Roster Deadline has passed, and no players can be added to a roster for the remainder of the Series.
8 - Failure to abide by any of the above rules may result in the immediate disqualification of the team or individual.
General Player Info
1 - All players participating on a team for any and all Series events must be listed on the team roster. If a player not on a team's roster participates in the Series with that team, that player and/or team may be disqualified from the Series.
 
The Competition Committee (National Division Directors and Championship Series staff) discussed the case in depth over the weekend and came to the following decision:

"The team will be permitted to continue competing in the 2007 Series. However, the un-rostered player (Amanda Goodwin) and the team captain/organizer (Alison Kling), responsible for submitting the team's roster, will not be permitted to play at the UPA Club Championships."

The team appealed this decision to the UPA Board of Directors, as is permitted under the association’s bylaws. The Board reviewed the case, the appeal, and the decision, and voted to uphold the administration’s decision. Per the bylaws, the Board’s decision on the appeal is final.

Further details about the administration’s decision and the rationale for it are outlined below.

1 - Each year, players are not able to play in the Club Series because they are not added to a roster prior to the registration deadline. This deadline is published in February and is widely promoted through announcements on the UPA website, direct emails to players and captains, and through UPA coordinators. It would be unfair and inconsistent for the UPA to knowingly allow a player who was not on a roster to participate in the Series, given that many other players are not able to be added to rosters after the registration deadline. Certainly the player in question, despite having played at sectionals and regionals in violation of the rostering rules, deserves no different treatment than the other players who were in her same situation.

2 - In addition to not permitting the un-rostered player to participate further in the Series, an additional penalty was deemed necessary for the team. Otherwise, an incentive would exist for teams to compete with un-rostered players until they got caught, knowing that at worst they would lose only that player. Incentives and disincentives must exist so that teams take care to follow registration procedures so that the Series can be organized fairly and consistently.

3 – The Series Guidelines clearly permit the disqualification of the team as a potential penalty for teams that violate Series rules. In fact, teams have been disqualified for roster violations in the past. However, in this particular case it was established that the violation (playing with an un-rostered player) was the result of an administrative mistake on the part of the team. In light of this information, the fact that no team has previously been disqualified such an error, and the lack of explicit language that such an outcome was not just possible, but likely, the Competition Committee decided against disqualifying the team.

4 – The Competition Committee determined that a lesser penalty would be applied to the team through sanctioning of its team organizer, who was not only the person directly responsible for the mistake, but who had actively acknowledged that she had read and understood the Club Series Guidelines. Individuals who create a roster for the Club Series are required to check a box, prior to creating their roster, to confirm they have read and understand the Series Guidelines. While all players are also responsible for knowing and following the guidelines, in this case, particular responsibility can be placed on the team organizer en lieu of the team as a whole.

5 – There is precedent for the team organizer to be sanctioned in cases of “administrative” errors that lead to roster violations. Various lengths of suspensions have been applied in the past to team captains/organizers in such cases. The suspension of the team organizer for the Club Championships in this case was deemed appropriate as a penalty for the team and the organizer for violation of the rules, and to serve as an effective reminder for future Series teams. While the team’s penalty certainly was not as severe as it could have been, its severity relative to previous cases was based in part on the increased level of information and notification that teams now receive as part of the registration process. In addition to general announcements and reminders sent to team organizers and the online access each team member and organizer have to the roster, each rostered member of a team is sent an email prior to the registration deadline. That email contains a list of rostered players on their team, a reminder to check and add players as necessary, and a reminder that they are responsible for following the Series Guidelines.

6 – Competition-based penalties (e.g. forfeiture of certain games or inability to advance in the tournament) were discussed, but deemed inappropriate because of their adverse effect on the fairness and integrity of the competition.

7 – Administrative-based penalties (e.g. fines) were discussed, but deemed inappropriate because of the potential for teams to buy their way around rules, and because such an approach creates an unequal burden or advantage to players/teams based on their financial status.

8 – The decision in this case did not take into consideration the timing of the discovery, the quality of the team or players, their playing history, the stage of the competition, or the impact of the decision on competition logistics. The Competition Committee believes that rules, and penalties for violating them, should be applied fairly and consistently without regard to playing ability or the nature of a particular Series event. 

 The Competition Committee is sorry that this situation occurred, particularly in light of the time, effort, and excitement we know goes into playing in the Series. There is no vendetta against this team or player, only a genuine interest in applying rules fairly and consistently, over time and across divisions. The UPA Series administration has done a lot of work to help teams and players follow administrative and competitive rules, and to help prevent these issues from occurring. However, a certain level of responsibility to follow the rules will always fall back on the team and the players themselves. With that responsibility comes the necessity for repercussions when the rules are not followed. Otherwise, the rules become merely suggestions. We hope that this experience will help the players understand the need for the rules that are in place and the need to follow those rules carefully. We also hope that the decision of the committee will serve to further strengthen the legitimacy of the UPA Championship Series as the world's premier competitive Ultimate competition.

UPA Competition Committee
UPA Board of Directors