I think paintball will never be as popular as football, and i dont want it to be. If everyone suddenly started buying gear and started playing, the sport would then become less special, we then have nothing to brag about becuase everyone else does it too! and youve got to admit, bragging plays a small part in wanting to play, becuase its not a "normal" thing to do.
With the whole " Guns are Bad " thing, i think thats actually promoting it somewhat. most of the lads i know play games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo. you know why? they like the guns, all my mates would jump at the chance to fire any sort of gun, be it paintball or not.
i think public misconception is to blame here. i ask anyone in school if they want to go paintball if they havnt been before, and the reply i get ( most often than not ) " nah **** that man if i get shot it'll kill me! " sure, it stings quite abit when you get shot, but its not that bad, not like getting shot by any semi-lethal.
Also, if you first hear about people running around in the woods with "guns" shooting each other, the first you will think of is " army rambo nutters "and becuase woodsball, and this steriotype people conjure up in there heads, is the first type/time they get introduced to paintball, they dont see the bigger picture, sup-air tournements. i actually had expeirnce with that, going down to npf. as we walked down to our first game we passed NPF's airball section, and my friends were like " what the hell is that?" and i replied " its speedball, well not strictly, but its basically tournement paintball" then i got a load of " oohs" and "aahs"
Paintball does not have the media expourse that football does, so therefore not as many people find out about it. with the realise of the new paintball channel in october, im hoping a few more people take notice of what they are missing.
Little essay there
Will