Mercer County Ultimate Disc League (MCUDL)
Two years older than the UPA, MCUDL, based in Hamilton, New Jersey, is the world’s oldest continuously running league. It was founded in 1977 by Don Steinberg and began with about 60 players. Current MCUDL officer Bailey Saul reported that MCUDL now runs a summer draft league and a more competitive “A” league, featuring many players from the club team Pike, for more than two hundred local players. Many of the A league players also offer their experience and expertise in the draft league.
Over its four decades, teams such as Raw (as in raw talent); Tastes Like Chicken; Lawn Chairs; Babies on Fire; Slipped Disc; FUBAR; Cavity Creeps; Neverready; Cheap Dates; Mr. Magoo; and Not Your Call have been playing in MCUDL.
MCUDL has expanded to focus on inclusion. Its leagues are coed and MCUDL strives to play 5/2, but sometimes ends up playing 6/1. Many of the leagues’ players are in high school. Despite the youth movement, MCUDL remembers its Ultimate history: the league still has a provision in its rules that if one of the captains wants to play a timed game (two, 24-minute halves), they can go for it.
Finland
Flying disc play was introduced in Finland by exchange students in the latter half of the 1970s. Ultimate was tried for the first time around 1978 after players read the game’s rules included in Wham-O disc packages. That same year, the Finnish Flying Disc Association (FFDA) was established by a group of disc activists from Helsinki, including Seppo Nieminen, an enthusiastic disc golfer and importer of Frisbees. A surprise victory at the first European Championship tournament played in Paris in 1980 catalyzed interest in Ultimate, and an FFDA Ultimate committee was established in 1983.
Club-level activity blossomed in Finland during the 1980s, dominated by Atletico, who won six consecutive Finnish titles. In 1990, thanks to the efforts of the board working under the chairmanship of Eero Alperi, flying disc sports gained governmental recognition in Finland and became eligible for funding by the government, allowing FFDA to establish an office and a paid administrative position. FFDA restructured in the late 1990s under the leadership of Jari Mäkinen, Sami Holopainen and Juha Jalovaara, who organized the 2004 WUGC in Turku. There are currently around 500 Ultimate players in Finland and the government-funded portion of the 2004 budget was €15,000 euros ($18,000).
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