WORLDS 2014, also known as the WFDF World Ultimate Club Championship, was an event organized by the World Flying Disc Federation in 2014 where 50 teams from 6 continents competed in 5 different events – Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Play-Off, as well as Men’s and Women’s Masters Play-Off. The event happened in Lecco, Italy and took place on August 2-9 2014.
Teams
50 teams from 14 different countries across the globe competed in the WORLDS 2014 tournament. Since Wham-O, the country which introduced the Frisbee, was American-based, flying disc sports are most popular in the US, which is apparent by the amount of teams from the States which competed in the event. However, the UK, Australia and Japan also had quite a few teams to go toe to toe with the Americans. The complete list of all the teams that competed in the various events of WORLDS 2014, segregated by their home country, is as follows:
- United States:
- Revolver
- Johnny Bravo
- Boston Ironside
- Seattle Sockeye
- Scandal
- Riot
- Fury
- Showdown
- Dra’n Thrust
- Wild Card
- The Ghosts
- Polar Bears
- Surly
- Johnny Encore
- Boneyard
- Godiva
- Canada:
- Phoenix
- Furious George
- General Strike
- Traffic
- Team Fisher Price
- Gecko
- Stache
- Union
- NSOM
- FIGJAM
- Flood
- Vintage
- UK:
- Team UK Online Casinos
- Cabridge Ultimate
- Clapham Ultimate
- Bear Cavalry
- Zimmer
- BAF
- Team UK Online Roulette
- Australia:
- Colony
- Juggernaut
- Black Sheep
- Batmania
- Roadkill
- Phat Chilly
- Japan:
- Buzz Bullets
- Nomadic Tribe
- UNO
- HUCK
- Hanabi
- Vigi
- SANZ
- Germany:
- Heidees
- Heidees Mixed
- Wolpertinger
- Golden Girls
- France:
- Ultimate Vibration
- MTX
- Colombia:
- Revolution
- Denmark:
- Ragnarok
- Russia:
- Lucky Grass
- Italy:
- Mucche – Ult. Bergamo
- Venezuela:
- Yamomami
- Singapore:
- Shiok
- Finland:
- UFO Masters
Results
Considering that the US is the homeland of flying disc sports, as well being represented by almost a third of all the competing teams, it’s quite easy to foresee that the States would bring home some medals. However, it was quite a surprise for everyone just how well the American teams performed over everyone else. Out of the 15 available medals, 12 were brought to US soil. While the US teams have dominated some of the previous tournaments as well, they had never won on such a massive scale. At that point, it was hard for anyone to get mad at them for it – even the losing teams were impressed by their skills! Helping out their neighbours to the south, the Canadian teams managed to win two medals, while the only one medal that remained in Europe was a bronze by the German Masters team Golden Girls. The full results you can see in the table below:
| Event/Medal | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s | Revolver (US) | Sockeye (US) | Johnny Bravo (US) |
| Women’s | Riot (US) | Fury (US) | Scandal (US) |
| Mixed | Drag’n Thrust (US) | Polar Bears (US) | The Ghosts (US) |
| Men’s Masters | Boneyard (US) | FIGJAM (CAN) | Johnny Encore (US) |
| Women’s Masters | Vintage (CAN) | Godiva (US) | Golden Girls (GER) |
About Flying Disc Sports
Ever since the Frisbee was invented (in a prototype form) in the late 1940s, people have been using it for various sports. The most popular, of course, is tossing it back and forth between players (known as Freestyle), which is what is usually played unofficially on the beach or in fields, most often between friends. However, there are currently over 20 different, officially recognized sports that use a frisbee, or a similar plastic disc – Disc Golf, Dodge Disc, Guts, etc. While it can be hard to find any official tournaments for most of them, they’re still played all across the globe. However, it’s hard to deny that the most popular frisbee sport that’s played officially is most definitely Ultimate.
Ultimate is the sport that was played during WORLDS 2014, as well as most other tournaments that the WFDF organizes. Ultimate is played on a rectangular terrain separated into three – two end zones at the edges and a playing field at the center. Each team (usually consisting of 7 people) has to pass the frisbee around, with the rule that the person holding it is prohibited from moving until he or she throws it to a partner. A point is scored when someone in an end zone manages to successfully throw the disc to a teammate standing in the opposite end zone, which as you can imagine is rather difficult with 14 people on the field and requires expert team work and coordination. It’s important to note that the rules of Ultimate that are used in WFDF matches differ slightly from those used by US and Canadian federations, but the differences are rather insignificant and mostly related to how disputes are resolved.
About WFDF
The WFDF actually has a pretty fascinating history all on its own. While flying disc sports have been played informally for as long as plastic discs have existed, it wasn’t until 1967 when an attempt to formalize them was made by none other than Wham-O, manufacturer and distributor of numerous popular plastic toys, including the Frisbee. While the IFA was never meant to be anything more than cheap publicity for Wham-O, it quickly grew in popularity and helped launch the careers of numerous flying disc athletes such as Ken Westerfield and Jim Kenner. IFA’s four organizers, among which Dan “Stork” Roddick, made several tours around Europe and the US, with their various tournaments gradually attracting more and more attention. Stork, being the head of the sports marketing arm of Wham-O, began encouraging the creation of national flying disc associations (FDAs) in several countries, including, but not limited to, Sweden, Japan, Australia, Germany, Italy and Venezuela. Sure, at first it started out as nothing more than a marketing ploy, but it quickly grew into something much more than that. Stork became personally and emotionally invested in professional flying disc sports, organizing events whenever he could.
In 1983 Wham-O was bought by Kransco, which directly led to the disbandment of the IFA. Distraught by this turn of events, Stork quickly called a meeting between his associates in La Mirada, California to discuss their options. An attempt to start a federation had been made earlier, but never really went anywhere, so Stork and his associates had to decide whether or not it was even worth bothering with another one. Ultimately, they decided that it was, and agreed to found an independent flying disc organization in Sweden, which they did later that year. The WFDF was born!
Its first official meeting happened in 1985, where rules, statutes and regulations were decided upon, and the first board was elected, with Charlie Mead as its first president (though he was replaced by Stork himself only a year later, who led WFDF until 1991). Gradually, more and more FDAs joined the WFDF, and by the time the 90s rolled around it had become the major player in the world of flying disc sports – the one it was always meant to be. While its regulations had been changed several times over the years, for the most part they’ve remained consistent, aiming to be inclusive and in favor of the players rather than against them.