User:Tlindsaybrown/Sandbox

I-Beam is an Australian men's ultimate team based in Newcastle, New South Wales. The team competes in the Australian Ultimate Club Championships (AUCC) and lead-in tournaments. I-Beam competed for the first time in the 2007 open season.

History
The first ultimate club to form in Newcastle was in 1998 as the University of Newcastle Ultimate Club. In 2002 some male players from the uni club formed a team and entered the Australian Ultimate Club Championships (AUCC) 2002. They were called the Flick'n Steelers and were the first open ultimate team to represent Newcastle.

The Flick'n Steelers
Like most Newcastle sporting teams the Flick'n Steelers wore red and blue. Led by former Dingo Andrew Pennington, the team debuted in the 2002 open season and finished 11th.

2002 - 11th 2003 - 10th 2004 - 9th again beating Wollongong in the final playoff.

2007-08 - I-Beam 2006 - Deathstar; Newcastle B 2005 - Deathstar 2002-04 - Flick'n Steelers

2005 - DS 3rd 2006 - DS 4th, Newcastle B 13th, beating Wollongong in the final playoff

2007 - 5th 2008 - 3rd

The Deathstar Years
From 2005 to 2006 the Newcastle Flick’n Steelers merged with Canberra and Wollongong to form Deathstar. Up until this stage, all three clubs had produced elite-level players, but none of them had the depth to challenge clubs from well-developed Ultimate playing centres such as Sydney and Melbourne. The purpose of the merger was to take the stronger players from the three Ultimate hubs and form a club that could compete with sides from the established regions.

Deathstar played at the 2005 and 2006 AUCC and also participated in the newly-formed national league (NUFL). The club was disappointing in their quest to challenge the top. They had a few mildly successful results, such as a third place in 2005, but nothing like what the founding members had dreamed of.

Success, however, did come in another form.

By 2006 the three Ultimate hubs from regional NSW had developed well-enough to enter reserve teams in the Eastern Regional Championships. All three reserve teams qualified for AUCC 2006. This was Deathstar's last effort at an AUCC.

Uniform


The team still plays its inaugural uniform. The jersey is white, with green and brown trim on the sleeves. The I-Beam logo is brown and sits on the centre of the chest. Player numbers are also brown. The kit is completed with black shorts and black socks.

The current shirts are supplied by VC Ultimate.

The club colours of green and brown represent the City of Newcastle and are the colours on the flag of Newcastle. They differ from the red and blue which are traditionally worn by sporting teams representing Newcastle.

I-Beam's alternate strip is a blue Chesty Bond singlet with black shorts and socks. The singlet is a tribute to Newcastle's blue collar history, stemming from local industry such as the former BHP Steelworks and nearby coal mines.

Wollongong
There are few rivalries fought in Australian Ultimate that are as passionate as Newcastle (I-Beam) v Wollongong. The history of the competition stems from University Games level, where the two uni teams met regularly.

Historically, sporting encounters between Newcastle and Wollongong teams have been called Steel City derbies, after the former BHP steelworks that used to be in each city. Both cities also have major coal ports, but “Coal City Derby” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

The Ultimate Steel City rivalry transferred to open competition after both the Newcastle (Flick’n Steelers) and Wollongong men's teams debuted at AUCC in 2002. For several years the two teams continued to be of similar strength and faced each other regularly, often in playoff games. This fuelled the rivalry.

Following the Deathstar years, the rivalry was enhanced further. Now, to lose a Steel City derby leaves a bitter taste.

In March 2008, at the Eastern Regional Championships, the two teams contested the first ever Steel City Trophy. I-Beam won the game and currently hold the trophy.

Fyshwick Utd
A friendly rivalry between I-Beam and Fyshwyk Utd (Canberra) emerged after the Deathstar years.

Representative Players
There are three I-Beam players in the current Australian Open team, the Dingos, that played in the World Ultimate and Guts Championships (WUGC) 2008 in Vancouver, Canada.


 * 🇦🇺 Chris Warris'''**
 * 🇦🇺 Jonathan Tatham
 * 🇦🇺 Tim Lavis


 * Chris Warris also played for the Dingos at WUGC 2000 and WUGC 2004.

Former Dingos players who play for I-Beam:
 * 🇦🇺 Andrew Pennington
 * 🇦🇺 John Greenfield

2007

 * Australian Ultimate Championships 5th (seeded 5)
 * Regional Championships 4th

2008

 * Australian Ultimate Championships 3rd (seeded 3)
 * Regional Championships 2nd