In 2004 Peter Cinquini returned to Tasmania and started playing ultimate again. When asked to supply some information on Nationals in Wynyard in 1989, he produced the following:
Writing this a frightening sixteen years after the event you'll forgive if my memory is a bit foggy. (There was an Tasmanian AFDA newsletter produced at the time which would probably have more factual detail).
In those days the AFDA in Tasmania was not involved in Ultimate. The only times Tasmania competed as a team at National Championships was when it was held in Tasmania. Nationals held interstate would not come near to mustering an Ultimate team and the general preference was to concentrate on the individual events. (Interestingly, there were folk at the CSIRO in Hobart that were around at the time who would might have played if they'd known but the connection was never made).
The 1989 Nationals held in Wynyard in the north-west of Tasmania. The Tasmanian Ultimate team consisted of just seven players: the legendary Leigh Bird (multiple Australian golf and distance champion), Scott Hunt (owner of multiple Australian Chum flying dog champion and national TV star, Kenny), Frank Kerruish (owner of multiple runner-up Sadie) and myself. Other members of the team were probably Michael Rubock (organiser of the Nationals), Dieter Jones and someone else whose name I've forgotten. Most of us had little experience in the game, particularly with the strategy. We did all meet once a month to play golf in Austins Ferry but as a Ultimate team the first game we played together at the 1989 Nationals was also our first time together on the Ultimate field.
The first game we played was against an experienced New Zealand team. Sad to report, this was also our last game! My vivid memory were the frequent 'team subs' employed by the opposition that had the effect of completely demoralising us on the way to our inevitable drubbing. Tasmanian play of the game would have to go to freestyler Frank Kerruish who towards the end of the game received the pull by kicking the disk into the air with his foot and delaying it on his finger before passing it on. The actual final score will thankfully remain unknown.
After the game, we came to the realisation that all other teams in the competition were playing Ultimate seriously! Most of us wanted to concentrate on the individual events and/or the organisation of the championships. Facing the next game with just six or maybe five players and no pickups we decided to abandon our valiant attempt at Tasmanian representation. I went on to play for the West Australian team that year.
Did you know... A famous Sydney team that evolved after the 1989 Nationals was 'No Excuses'. Its team T-shirt was full of the excuses that were clichés at the time including "I'm a Tasmanian!"
Dieter Jones came across Peter's version of events on the web and added some additional information early in 2006. He produced the following information:
I just came across your web site and read with interest the little snippets by Peter Cinquini. Just thought I'd add that the most likely "missing" players from his original Tasmanian Ultimate team in 1989 are probably Matthew Jones and/or Gabe Gossage. I recently caught up with Leigh Bird and dug out some old photo's from Wynyard 1989 showing Leigh, Mike Rubock, Mat, Gabe and me.
I would perhaps question if this was the first Tasmanian Ultimate team at a nationals though. I went to the 1987 champs in Sydney and also the 1988 champs in Perth. I remember playing ultimate at both although I cannot guarantee that we were a "pure" Tassie team. Still it is a great tradition in Tassie sport to "adopt" a couple of mainlanders to give them a chance to play. I know in Sydney we again had Mike, Leigh, Scott Hunt, Frank Kerruish, Matthew and me so that is at least 6 towards a team. I know we played more than one game in Sydney but eventually had to drop out before the end of the round robin. We were definitely entered as "Tasmania" though.
Leigh has a much better memory for this sort of useless trivia than I anyway.
We are still trying to obtain scanned copies of Leigh's old photo's. They will appear here if we can find them!