USP Footy - Terms and Conditions

Entries

1. To enter the Competition, each entrant (“Punter”) must register their personal details and select a team or player to win each event from a predetermined list of sporting events included in the Ultimate Sports Punter Footy (“USP Footy”) Competition, using the online Entry Form that is published on the website www.ultimatesportspunter.com.au (“USP Website”), during the “Entry Period” of when Entry Forms are released from Monday 11am 6 March 2023 to when entry forms closes at Thursday 7:20pm 16 March 2023 (“Competition Deadline”).
2. USP will take no responsibility whatsoever for lost, late or misdirected entries whether caused by personal error, system failure or otherwise. No late entries will be accepted. Entry Forms can only be submitted via the online Entry Form available from the USP website. No other means of Entry Form submission will be accepted.
3. All times and dates in these Terms and Conditions are times and dates in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) which may be AEST of AEDST depending on the relevant date.
4. The list of selections made by the Punter, completed on the Official USP Footy Entry Form is known as an "Entry" into the USP Footy competition. Points are allocated for correct associated winning selections and the punter that accumulates the most points at the end of the year is deemed the winner. See also the sections Scoring Points and Degree of Difficulty to further understand how the scoring works.
5. A punter can only submit 1 (one) Entry Form into the USP Footy competition which is distinguished by a unique email address. If a punter submits multiple Entry Forms, the last Entry Form submitted prior to the Competition Deadline will be judged as their official Entry Form.
6. Any Entry becomes the property of USP. Any information provided will be used by USP to conduct and promote this Competition.
7. It is the responsibility of the Punter to ensure that their selections within the Entry Form are accurate, final and eligible.
8. A punter must be over the age of 18 years old prior to the entry deadline (16 March 2023) to enter the USP Competition. The winner of Ultimate Sports Punter must provide proof of age prior to the distribution of prizemoney. Failure to provide proof of age will see the Punter eliminated from the competition.
9. Syndicate Entries are permitted, but they must name one representative responsible for the Entry.
10. Entries that conform to the above conditions will be classified as a valid submission. Any Entry that does not conform to the above conditions will be considered a null and void submission and removed from the USP Footy Competition.
11. All Entries that are submitted will receive an email confirming receipt of Entry Form, along with a copy of the selections from their Entry Form. This does not consider the Entry Form as confirmation of a validated Entry Form. Only valid Entries will be uploaded onto the USP Website once all Entries are validated. Punters with Entry Forms that are not validated, will not be informed by USP.

Personal Details

12. A Punter must submit their correct personal details into the Entry Form.
13. Australian residents must provide their correct Name, Surname, Email Address, Age bracket, Gender and Postcode.
14. Internationals must provide their correct Name, Surname, Email Address, Age bracket, Gender and Country of Residence.
15. The provision of a mobile contact number is optional. USP may from time-to-time use mobile contact numbers to issue messages related to the Competition.
16. A Punter must provide a unique Username on the Entry Form, which will be used to identify their Entry on the USP Website.

Selections and Lifelines

17. A Punter's Entry consists of a list of selections for Events. These events are listed on the Official USP Events List. Selections are to be chosen on the Official USP Footy Entry Form prior to submission.

Lifelines

18. As well as normal selections, Punters have access to 1 (one) lifeline to use during the USP Footy competition. This Lifeline can only be used once and its use is mandatory. The Lifeline is "The Joker"
19. This Lifeline gives the Punter the opportunity to receive double points (10 points) for the event, although they must pick the winner of the event. Zero points are awarded for second and third placed selections. The use of this Lifeline must be made on the Official Entry Form by selecting an Event from the list titled “Joker Choice”.
20. Each Punter must allocate one Football Club as their Joker, which will provide the Punter with an opportunity to accrue double points for “Most Disposals”, “Most Goals” and “Most Brownlow Votes” for that Football Club. However, the selection must be correct to win double points, otherwise the Punter will be allocated zero points for that event if their selection finishes second or worse in that event. This is in the vein of “double or nothing”, where you win double points if you are correct, but zero if your wrong.
21. The events are scored separately, so for example you can get double points for "Most Goals" if that selection is right, but zero points for "Most Disposals" and "Most Brownlow votes" for that Club if your selection/s have the second most or worse.

Scoring Points

22. At the conclusion of each event a punter will be awarded 5 (five) points if their selection has finished 1st (first) in the competition, 3 (three) points if the selection has finished 2nd (second) and 1 (one) point if the selection has finished 3rd (third). No points will be awarded if the selection finished further back in the order of results.
23. The final placing of the events will be taken from the AFL website for each particular event.
24. For “Club Specific” events, they are scored on the following basis:
• "Most Disposals" is the player who has the highest collective total of kicks and handballs combined for all games (so includes finals for those teams that make it).
• "Most Goals" is the player who kicks the most goals for the Club, with behinds counted to split players in the event of a tie, for all games that the Club plays in the Home & Away and Final Series (so includes finals for those teams that make it).
• "Most Brownlow Votes" is the player who tallies the most votes for their Club. All players are eligible, even those that are suspended through the year.

25. The “Norm Smith Medalist” events is worth double points (10 points, 6 points, 2 points or zero points).
26. For some knockout events (which may not have an official table) the champion (winner of the final match) will be considered to have placed 1st, the runner-up (loser of the final match) will be considered to have placed 2nd, and the 2 (two) semi-finalists (losers of the penultimate round) will both be considered to have placed 3rd, taking the AFL Premiers event as an example:
• Selection of the Grand Final winner earns 5 points
• Selection of the Grand Final runner-up earns 3 points
• Selection of either losing preliminary-finalist earns 1 point

27. If there is a tie in an event, the points will be adjusted as follows:
• In a 2-way tie for 1st place, 5 points will be awarded for both 1st place getters and 1 point will be awarded for the 3rd place getter(s). No other points will be awarded.
• In a 3-or-more-way tie for 1st place, 5 points will be awarded for all 1st place getters. No other points will be awarded.
• In a 2-or-more-way tie for 2nd place, 3 points will be awarded for all 2nd place getters. Points will be awarded as normal for 1st place and no other points will be awarded.
• In a 2-or-more-way tie for 3rd place, 1 point will be awarded for all 3rd place getters. Points will be awarded as normal for 1st and 2nd places.

28. The above scoring system only applies to the final and official results of an event. If a sport has its own system to break a tie (i.e., Golf playoff, Golden Goal, Overtime, Replay, etc.) then this will be taken into account in the official results before the USP scoring system is applied.
29. For the purposes of USP Footy, the terms "tie" and "draw" will be seen as interchangeable terms, indicating a "deadlocked" result, with no clearly definable winner. USP recognises that these terms can carry different meanings across different sports, but equally result in an inability to identify one of the two teams as a winner.
30. The aim of each punter is to accrue as many points as possible with the Entry selections. During the USP Footy competition, these points will be tabled weekly on an interim basis and available for viewing on the USP website. These events include Minor Premiers, Coleman Medalist, Most Disposal for each Club, and Most Goals for each Club. These points will be declared official within 1 (one) week of the conclusion of the last event on the USP Footy calendar and should only be used as a guide until declared so.

Degree of Difficulty

31. In addition to scoring points, punters Entries also accrue a Degree of Difficulty (or "DD") that is used in the final USP Footy rankings to differentiate between equal point scores.
32. DD is accrued for each scoring selection in an Entry
33. DD is calculated as the fraction of Entries with a differing selection for the same event, displayed as a decimal percentage. In simpler terms, it is the percentage of people who didn’t make the same selection for that event.
34. The DD points (not percentage breakdown) are rounded to the nearest number (down between .001 to .499 and up for .5 to .999) and can never be 100. If one punter has a unique selection, the DD is rounded to 99. If every punter has the same selection, the DD is 0 (zero).

• Punters that selected the Geelong, who finished 1st would receive 5 points and have 47 (100-53) credited to their DD.
• Punters that selected the Sydney, who finished 2nd would receive 3 points and have 76 (100-24) credited to their DD.
• Punters that selected the Bucks, who finished equal 3rd would receive 1 point and have 91 (100-9) credited to their DD.

35. The aim of DD is to create a secondary scoring system to differentiate Entries at the end the season on the same number of points. It does this by rewarding punters who make scoring selections that differ from other punters. In this vein it is similar to "Percentage" in the AFL or "Goal Difference" in many major Association Football leagues.
36. While DD may be displayed on the USP website during the season, DD is primarily used as a secondary ranking method at the end of the competition. Example - If an Entry finishes the USP season with 100 points and 95 DD it will be ranked above an Entry that scored 99 points and 150 DD. The points are not combined.
37. The “Joker” DD is calculated at the normal rate (i.e. It is not doubled) as it cannot exceed 100.

Winners

38. All monetary amounts are in Australian Dollars (AUD).
39. Maximum total prize pool value for the USP Footy Competition is up to $1,500. A right to receive a prize is not transferable or exchangeable. If there is a dispute as to the identity of an entrant, USP reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to determine the identity of the entrant.
40. The winner of the USP Footy competition will win $1,500. There are no prizes for placings, outside the winner.
41. In the event of a tie (equal points and DD), the prize will be equally divided between the winners.
42. The cash prizes will be provided to the winner/s within thirty (30) days of the completion of the USP Competition.
43. The winner will be responsible for providing the appropriate bank details to facilitate prize money payment.
44. It is a condition of entering the USP Footy Competition that the winner/s agrees to be interviewed, photographed and/or filmed by USP or its agents for a story or feature on this Competition and/or Ultimate Sports Punter generally. These stories could be featured on any media platforms (including websites and social media platforms) of USP or our Partners without any remuneration or other compensation to the winner.
45. No judge, or their partners are eligible to win the cash prize. Should a judge finish on top of the standings at the end of the competition, the prize will be awarded to the highest eligible Punter.

Special Circumstances

46. Postponed/Abandoned event
    If an event is postponed, it will remain as part of the competition, and points will be awarded as normal, as long as it is completed (or an official winner announced by the presiding body) before the final scheduled USP Footy event ends. If it is not completed before this date, the Event will be considered "abandoned" and no points will be awarded for the event, provided it does not fall into the special circumstances as listed below. If an Event is abandoned, the Jokers will be forfeited for said Event.

47. Event abandoned in concluding stages
    If an event is abandoned in the concluding (point determining) stages of a multi-event sport (such as the AFL Grand Final) due to special circumstances (i.e. severe weather, unsafe conditions, terrorist attack, pandemic, etc) and the event is not rescheduled to be finished, or is rescheduled to be finished after 31 December 2022, the judges reserve the right to declare the event a “tie” and award winning points to both competitors if, in the opinion of the judges, it is clear and fair that both teams be awarded equal standing. In these circumstances, a decision will be made after first taking into account the stance of the presiding sporting body.

48. Disqualifications
    In the event of disqualification (e.g. drug taking by a player, salary cap breach, etc), the point allocation will be amended to reflect the presiding body's official results, provided that these results are amended before the conclusion of the final scheduled USP event.
    The official results at the conclusion of the final scheduled USP Footy event are deemed to be the official Ultimate Sports Punter results and will not be amended after this date. For example, if the Brownlow Medal winner is disqualified in January 2024, no changes to the USP Footy results will be made.

49. Unforeseen Situations<
    In the case of unforeseen situations, the USP judges reserve the right to make decisions at their own discretion. These decisions must be based on logic, common sense and fairness.
    
    If the USP Competition is not capable of being conducted as reasonably anticipated due to any circumstance beyond the reasonable control of USP, including but not limited to a pandemic, epidemic, public health emergency, technical difficulties, unauthorised intervention, fraud or a change of law, USP reserves the right to modify, suspend, terminate or cancel the Competition at their discretion.

Judges

50. The judges of the USP competition are Anthony Macali, Drew Parkinson, Gerard Smith and Liam Smith.
51. The judges reserve the right to make any rulings they see as fair and proper in the interest of the competition. They reserve the right to make amendments to the rules of the competition at any point in time. They will notify competitors of this via the USP website. The judges' decision is final. Common sense and fairness will prevail.
52. The judges reserve the right to limit the number of total entries into the competition to a manageable amount.
53. The judges reserve the right to remove an Event from the competition without explanation.
54. The judges cannot add an Event to the competition once the first valid Entry Form is submitted.
55. The judges reserve the right to refuse to accept an entry prior to the competition commencing without explanation.
56. The Judges reserves the right, at any time, to verify the validity of entries and eligibility of entrants and in its absolute and sole discretion, to remove any Punter from the USP Competition who is believed to have breached any of these Terms and Conditions, tampered with the entry process or engaged in any unlawful, objectionable, offensive or other improper misconduct related to the conduct of the USP Competition or other conduct which USP regards as interfering with or jeopardising the fair and proper conduct of the USP Competition.

Complaints and Appeals

57. Any complaints and appeals should be directed to the competition judges via admin@ultimatesportspunter.com.auas soon as possible. The judges will investigate the situation and respond within a timely manner (typically 7-10 working days).
58. USP accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any system or connection problems that might affect any end user during this Competition.
59. USP is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone, computer online systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, software, technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participants or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation in or downloading any materials in this Competition.

Correspondence

60. Punters are required to remain contactable via email. Any change in email address should be reported at first convenience to admin@ultimatesportspunter.com.au. Punters are also responsible for keeping updated with the competition via the USP website.