Four players challenged for the disc as they reached high to win the aerial battle before Britain's Katie Trim was sent crashing among a melee of bodies.

Kanna Sogabe beat Eleanor Zsazsa Kemp to the disc, but Trim felt Yui Nishide had impeded her jump.

The four players then came together to talk over what had happened with the two game advisors standing by to offer any guidance in the discussions.

After listening to the views of Sogabe and Nishide, Trim opted to retract her challenge before shaking hands with the two Japanese players.

Another situation in the match saw Britain’s Phoebe Teo dive for the disc to try and catch it before it hit the ground.

Teo appeared to have pulled off a fine catch but quickly held her hands up to admit that the disc had touched the grass first.

There were several other moments of great sportsmanship in the opening game of the World Under-24 Ultimate Championships at the Highfield Sports Ground in Nottingham.

Sportsmanship is deeply rooted in the sport of flying disc which sees players make decisions without the intervention of referees.

Even in the heat of the battle when medals are on the line, disc players are known for putting egos to one side to make the right decision for the good of the game.

Tom Styles has commentated on hundreds of flying disc matches over his 20-year career but there is one moment that stands out which he feels underlines the good nature of the sport.

It came in the gold-medal match between Australia and the United States at the Birmingham 2022 World Games.

After a long pass from Australia’s Cat Phillips into the end zone, teammate Rob Andrews leaped high with American Nate Goff for the disc.

Neither could make the catch as the disc drifted to the back of the end zone before Olivia Carr appeared to produce an incredible catch for the score.

It was an extremely tight call but without even thinking Goff threw his arms up to signal the score after spotting that Carr had managed to keep her toe in touch.

Goff’s call had given Australia a lifeline as they closed the gap 12-11.

In the end, the United States did get the score required to complete a 13-11 victory, but Goff’s act of sportsmanship was one of the moments of the Games.

At a time when football is becoming over officiated with the assistance of video referees and using hawk-eye’s virtual line to see whether a player’s fingernail is offside, it is great to see a sport where it is entirely up to the athletes to make a decision on the field for themselves.

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There can’t be many sports where this is the case and demonstrates that players can self-officiate.

What the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has done to ensure fair play remains essential to the sport is the "Spirit of the Game" - an award that is considered as coveted as winning the tournament itself.

To find out the Spirit of the Game winner, each team elects a spirit captain which scores every opponent out of four in five categories.

Scoring between 0 for "poor" and 4 for "excellent", teams will be rated on "rules knowledge and use", "fouls and body contact", "fair-mindedness", "attitude and self-control" and "communication".

"Spirit of the Game is an honour and this is something that was developed very early on and is part and parcel of the whole idea of self-officiation because you have to have a good spirit," said Brian Gisel, chair of the WFDF Ultimate Committee.

"At the start of a lot of sports, it’s practical to not have a lot of officials as you have to find them and pay them.

"But as the sport grew and developed, we decided to create a system where we never needed officials."

The WFDF has a Spirit of the Game Committee, which is headed by José Amoroso, the former President of the Portuguese Flying Disc Federation.

Amoroso said research into the behaviours of flying disc players found that in the finals of competition the result of spirit scores dropped.

After data was collected from 2,843 matches staged in 2022, the study discovered that the average spirit score was 10 out of a possible 20 but in the final it fell to seven.

"At this tournament, I am speaking to the spirit director and ensuring that we avoid that and put in place tools to improve," said Amoroso.

"It’s normal, we are human and it’s competitive.

"In the final, there is pressure which can be a factor, but we need to study more."

Amoroso said he was determined to promote the Spirit of the Game in other sports including football.

"In Portugal, we are trying to apply it in football, so until the age of 10 years old it should be self-refereed," said Amoroso.

"It makes them better players, respect the referees in the future and become better human beings.

"It’s impossible in football after a certain age but when we work with younger ages we can do some changes.

"Football is a big, big business.

"Even with VAR [video assistance referee] you have seven referees or more.

"The problem is you can have 20 referees but the issue is the behaviours in the beginning of everything.

"The gap between the competition and sports for all in football is really big whereas in disc sports it’s very close.

"There will be developments in flying disc.

"But I always hope that the Spirit of the Game and the way that players played today and in the past will be the same in the future."

Modifications have been made to ultimate flying disc with game advisors introduced in 2014 to provide assistance to players, but Gisel insists the move has been welcomed.

"As a sport, we are historically seen as different and that’s because we don’t have officials," said Gisel.

"It took a bit of time but when we got game advisors people came to us saying that it was great, liking the additional help and not thinking it is intrusive.

"The game advisors are akin to referees but aren’t.

"They are rules experts.

"They watch the play and will be giving players advice on what they see.

"They may say that from my perspective that person didn’t foul you, but it’s not binding so players themselves may look at that advice and say that they’re still right.

"The rules favour the offensive team."

The WFDF is campaigning to be an Olympic sport and is continuing to pursue its dream despite the disappointment of failing to make the cut for Los Angeles 2028.

During yesterday’s WFDF Congress, President Robert Rauch was asked whether the fact ultimate was self-officiated was hindering the sport’s hopes of gaining Olympic inclusion.

"We have demonstrated that it works without referees," said Rauch.

"It hasn't been raised as an issue.

"If anything, the feedback we get is that it is a positive and it is incredible that it works as well as it does.

"Everyone knows that a refereed sport is not perfect.

"It works darn well as everyone who plays knows."

Before arriving in Nottingham to see flying disc live for the first time, I was sceptical of how a sport – especially one that is seeking Olympic status - can be self-officiated.

But flying disc is proving that it can be done and playing with a good spirit can prevail in sport.