2023-06-12 07:00
The latest WFDF 2021 rules apply at this tournament. You can find the rules at the WFDF site.
The WFDF 2021 Additional Championship Game and Event rules do NOT apply at Windmill. Instead the Windmill Tournament rules below apply.
All games are to 15 points. However there is a hard cap at 75 minutes. You will hear the "time-is-over" jingle 75 minutes into the game. Play out the current point and the game is finished. In Swiss play ties are possible. In bracket play (for the top 8 teams in each division from rounds 6-8) if the difference in score is less than 2 (so equal or a 1 point difference) then add one to the highest score and play to that score. If your game starts a bit late due to the previous game running long then the game is still over on the "time-is-over" jingle so we can avoid cascading delays. Please clear the field quickly after your games are finished to allow the next teams to start their games as soon as possible.
The finals have the same bracket-play cap at 90 minutes.
All games have a two-minute mirror halftime at 8 points. The second half is started with initial elections (whether to receive or throw the initial pull, which end zone to defend) switched.
Each team has 2 two-minute time-outs per game, which can be taken at any time before the 'time-is-over’ jingle (i.e. there are no timeouts in the last 5 minutes of a time-slot)
Windmill does not provide any timekeepers. Both teams are responsible to keep the pull, time-outs and foul/violation resolving within a reasonable time limit.
Teams are expected to arrive on time. Games can start as soon as each team has a minimum of 5 players (WFDF rule 5.1).
If a team does not have 5 players at the start of the match the opposition will be awarded a goal and game start will be delayed by 5 minutes.
If a team has not fielded a minimum of 5 players after 25 minutes after the start of the game they will forfeit the game and the opposition will be awarded a 5-0 win.
In case any of the teams show up late, both team representatives should agree on how many points should be awarded to the team before starting the match. The points awarded should be communicated to the scorekeeper.
The Windmill organisation can suspend or cancel games. In the case of a mid-game suspension, the game can continue if the game round has not ended. If the round has ended, or a game is cancelled the score at the moment of the suspension or cancellation stands, even if that results in a tie.
In case one or more rounds are cancelled the Windmill organisation will reschedule or skip the round(s).
The Windmill organisation reserves the right to suspend players for one or several games due to substance abuse.
At every field there will be scoring volunteers who keep track of the scores and directly upload them to our scoring system. Additionally, the team captains must sign the scoring papers at the end of the match. if you don’t sign, don’t come complaining at HQ afterwards if the score’s wrong. In case you notice that there is anything wrong, please notify us immediately at the Iggy. Scoring volunteers are not timekeepers!
In the windmill app you are able to fill in your spirit scores. To be able fill in the scores your (spirit) captains have be logged in. Received scores will be visable once both teams filled in the spirit scores.
Friday after 17:00 and Saturday after 16:30 you can collect your foodtickets if you have filled in all scores of that day.
A game that involves a significant number of calls, especially when these remain disputed, should be brought to the attention of the Windmill organization by a spirit captain as soon as possible. Windmill determines whether further action should be taken against teams or individuals.
Please be knowledgeable about how the spirit scoring system works. The app provides a rubric with examples on how to properly use the spirit scoring system. Please use this for your scoring and don’t just score a team based on whether you like the team or not.
We play normal 4/3 mixed using Ratio A: “prescribed ratio” rule (WFDF rule A6.2): At the start of the game, after the first disc flip, an additional disc flip happens with the winner selecting the personnel ratio for the first point. For the second and third points the ratio must be the reverse of the first point. For the fourth and fifth points the ratio must be the same as the first point. This pattern of alternating the ratio every two points repeats until the end of the game (half time has no impact on the pattern).
In conjunction with this we also use the “prescribed pull” rule:
If the personnel ratio for a point has four (4) female players, a female player must undertake the pull at the start of that point.
If the personnel ratio for a point has four (4) male players, a male player must undertake the pull at the start of that point
All players can choose at the start of the tournament which side of the gender ratio they are eligible for as long as it doesn’t lead to unsafe or unfair situations.
Swiss Draw for all divisions: Women, Mixed and Open
The Swiss Draw format ensures that teams are ranked quickly according to their real strength and play close matches against opponents of similar strength. Windmill is proud to have successfully run this format for years.
We have used the power ranking format to rank teams since 2013; power rankings assign a numeric value to each team - which represents its relative strength in relation to other teams - with the intention that the point differential in a game represents the difference in strength between the participating teams. Following completion of each round of play, a computer processes the match results and calculates each teams power ranking score based on the results of all of the games played thus far.
For example: if Team Alice beats Team Bob with a score of 15-10 then this results in a power ranking strength of +2.5 to Team Alice and a strength of -2.5 to Team Bob (for that particular game). Of course it’s possible that some teams may complete more games then others following a particular round of play. Don’t fear; even though this makes it more difficult to assign power ranking scores to the teams, we use computer methods to optimize these numbers so that they best represent the known game outcomes as well as possible.
A possible interpretation of these numbers is the following: If Team Charlie with power ranking strength +3 plays Team Eve with strength -2 then Team Charlie is expected to win with a point difference of +5. In principle, Team Charlie will improve its strength by winning with an even higher margin. Team Eve will improve its strength by losing by less than a 5 points differential. In practice the change in strength after a round also depends on the performance of the previous opponents of Team Charlie and Team Eve (as well as the opponents of the opponents etc).
Teams will be ranked after each round according to their strength. For teams with the same strength, the tiebreakers are: most wins, fewest losses, and average opponent strength (in that order). Average opponent strengths are calculated by summing the strengths of all the previous opponents of a team, and dividing that by the number of played games (teams that have played better opponents are ranked higher).
The tournament starts by completing five rounds of the Swiss Draw format - using the power ranking method - in order rank the teams. Following five rounds of play, two divisions are created; division A contains teams ranked 1 through 8 (inclusive) and division B contains teams ranked 9 onward. The top 8 teams (division A) move on to complete in a standard playoff bracket format, playing quarter finals, semi finals and finals. Teams in division B continue with three further rounds using the Swiss Draw format (continuing with Swiss Draw has the advantage that the lower teams are likely to play new opponents).