World Cup, Dropbears and the 3-Max Rule
/In the lead-up to the 2023 World Cup, and after prompting from the international community, Quadball Australia has decided to publish an article outlining our stance on the 3-max rule.
For context, quadball has always been a sport that prides itself on inclusivity. Historically, there has been a rule, referred to in the most recent rulebook as the gender maximum rule, which states that “a team may not have more than four players who identify as the same gender in play at the same time”. This rule came to be known by the wider community as the ‘4-max rule’. The intention behind this rule is to ensure that a team has a gender-diverse range of players on field, since inclusivity is a core value of quadball.
One of the problems with the 4-max rule is that, for a large portion of a game, a team has six players on field, rather than the standard seven, inclusive of the seeker. Many people raised the argument that true inclusivity might look like changing to a 3-max rule, where the limit of players on the field of the same gender is three instead of four.
In 2022, in the midst of these conversations, the International Quadball Association (IQA) rules committee voted against changing the 4-max rule - a decision that was met with outrage by some in the international community. A community-developed petition was shared across social media platforms to gauge the thoughts of players and community members in light of the IQA’s decision.
There were also teams at the 2022 European Games that opted to play by the 3-max rule at some points to demonstrate that it was not detrimental to the quality of gameplay at an elite level. One of the national teams who played by this rule was Norway, who invited the Australian team, the Dropbears, to do the same in their game together. Australia accepted the invitation, ultimately besting Norway and taking home third place in the process.
Since then, the international community has been looking to Australia in the lead-up to the 2023 World Cup to see if the Dropbears are prepared to play by the 3-max rule, in spite of the lack of rule change. We are very pleased to say that the Australian Dropbears are intending to play by the 3-max rule for the entirety of the World Cup.
In saying this, however, we would like to clarify our position. When selecting a Head Coach for the 2023 squad, we did not make playing by 3-max a formal requirement for the position. Instead, as part of our interviewing process, we asked applicants about their thoughts on the 3-max rule. One of the factors that influenced our decision to select Luke Derrick as the Dropbears’ Head Coach was his support of the 3-max rule.
Since then, Derrick, along with the rest of the Dropbears’ leadership team, have selected a squad of 25 players with the intention of playing by the 3-max rule. Australia is very fortunate to have such a wide range of talented players of all genders, which empowers us to select a national team with the intention of playing 3-max. We recognise that this isn’t always possible for other countries and we are very grateful that it is a possibility for us. It is important to note that there is a chance that four players of the same gender may end up on field at one point or another, due to substitution mix-ups or injury, but it is the intention of Derrick and the Dropbears to attend the World Cup and play by the 3-max rule.
In a statement to Quadball Australia about this decision, Derrick made it clear that the Dropbears will be 3-max all the way, regardless of their opponents: “We will not be making [playing by the 3-max rule] contingent on whether other teams agree to do this or not [...] We believe in the strength, skill and talent of all of our players and therefore do not believe there would be an advantage either way.”
Derrick also asks other countries to consider taking a similar approach: “We encourage all teams to play 3-max at the upcoming World Cup because we believe that is the future of our sport. That is where we are heading, further and further towards gender equality. We believe in the abilities of all of our players, regardless of gender, and know that each one of them will represent the green and gold with pride.”
You can catch Derrick and the Dropbears this July at the 2023 World Cup. Over the weekend of the 15-16 July, the Dropbears will face off against the best players from across the globe in Richmond, Virginia at the first World Cup in five years.