Clash

A clash refers to a core disagreement between opposing teams that is important for dictating who will win the round. Teams will often disagree about many things, but often only a few such disagreements are discussed in sufficient depth to be designated as clashes and thus, become decisive to the outcome of the round.

• Example: In “This House would ban zoos”, teams may disagree on whether chihuahuas are kept in zoos, but that is a minor disagreement. A decisive clash would be: Does banning zoos improve the overarching welfare and conservation of animals?
• A clash can be a disagreement about whether a specific outcome occurs OR whether that outcome is good or bad.

Later speakers in the round tend to organise debates under the central clashes so it helps the judges to understand how the two team’s cases interact with one another, and explain why it is that they both win the clash and the other team loses the clash. Clashes are often presented in a variety of ways; most commonly, it will tend to be a theme title or a question on that important issue, but speakers may break clashes down using disagreements about the effects upon certain actors. Finally, while clashes may follow a similar order as the teams’ arguments, particularly when they naturally clash, clashes can encompass multiple arguments and pieces of rebuttal.