How many players..... in the UK...

[shiftizzle]

Ahh numnbers why do they allways gogle everyone as the extract says we have bbigger mouths so even if there is 10 times more woodsballers we as a minority still make them look small and insufficient because us as supair ballers are just obviusly better

 

[Dark Warrior]

"So it had nothing to do with mass cheating, intimidation, illegal guns and an un-policeable playing field?"

People still cheat at sup air, but they are much more likely to get caught these days. Supair has levelled the playing arena, and provided a game that may just be workable one day when we get our s##t together and stop bickering amongst ourselves as to whose rules we are going to use, and to who takes all the profit etc etc

You actually missed the point - i was not talking about why they switched, but the speed of the switch and the void that put between Woodland and SupAir

 

[Russell Smith]

But the speed of the switch, the cause of the resentment (still not sure if its a valid point) was driven by those and other facts.
It was not a rejection of the crop of organisers around at the time.


Russ

 

[Dark Warrior]

When the likes of the Banzai's etc jumped to SupAir
What happened to Woodland Tournies and to some extent own gunners walk ons?
They died due to lack of support

How much clout do we as SupAir Ballers have in the UK compared to the likes of Site owners.

 

[Russell Smith]

When the likes of the Banzai's etc jumped to SupAir
What happened to Woodland Tournies and to some extent own gunners walk ons?
They died due to lack of support

No Eric,

They died because because a better alternative was offered, just like supair will if another more attractive version is created.


Russ

 

[Robbo]

The guy who composed that load of sh!t masquerading as an 'informed' collection of data and opinion is a '.......' (rhymes with Mick)

It might seem rude or maybe even inappropriate for me to dismiss him like this but hey, his data and especially his conclusions deserve disdain.
They smack of agenda and of ignorance, some of the very things I hate the most in Paintball.

 

[Robbo]

If there is a decrease in the number of Sup'AIr players (and I think there probably is) I think Markie has gone some way in answering it.

Just over a year ago, I posted on this site the reasons why i thought our tourney performances were so bad and an integral part of my proposed explanation was that I believed a large part of our tourney demographic was made up of displaced walk-on's.
And these displaced walk-ons had migrated to our tourney circuit basically because they had nowhere else to go.
Our average site owners hadn't catered for them and so the majority of guys who wanted to play more seriously either had to play tourney or stay in the woods.

And so......Sup' Air is becoming more and more demanding especially as it moves towards XBall type formatting and as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the displaced walk-ons naff off ....Hardly surprising really when we try to understand why these displaced walk-ons play.
These guys pay their money not to compete, they play for fun and maybe it ain't so much their type of fun doing circuit training, playing XBall and so on.

As competitive paintball consolidates itself around an XBall ethos, it will begin to weed out the less committed and I'm afraid a contraction is inevitable in this present climate.

 

[Gadget]

I think the rush by established players and teams to sup air had a lot to do with it being new and sexy. Woodland tournaments became hugely unfashionable in a short period of time.

In the past the transition from rec player to walk-on to woodland tournament was fairly straightforward, none of the steps required a huge leap. Since the widespread adoption of sup air it seems that the tiers have drifted further apart - with tournaments being mainly sup air based and the focus being on winning at a sport, rather than enjoying a game (although the two are not mutually exclusive), making progression for newbies more challenging.

I think we're starting to see the way forward with the gradual re-introduction of woodland tournaments. It offers an easier progression for rec players and also allows dissatisfied sup air players an alternative.

There is no 'best' type of paintball, it's all down to individual preference.

 

[Robbo]

I think the rush by established players and teams to sup air had a lot to do with it being new and sexy. Woodland tournaments became hugely unfashionable in a short period of time.

In the past the transition from rec player to walk-on to woodland tournament was fairly straightforward, none of the steps required a huge leap. Since the widespread adoption of sup air it seems that the tiers have drifted further apart - with tournaments being mainly sup air based and the focus being on winning at a sport, rather than enjoying a game (although the two are not mutually exclusive), making progression for newbies more challenging.

I think we're starting to see the way forward with the gradual re-introduction of woodland tournaments. It offers an easier progression for rec players and also allows dissatisfied sup air players an alternative.

There is no 'best' type of paintball, it's all down to individual preference.

Gadget, going back to the woods is not the way forward, it's a step back and one that should be avoided at all costs.
The reason Sup 'Air isn't growing is because our frikkin site owners suck and can't see past the depth of their back pocket ....end of !!!

The woodland game has a natural threshold of growth and it's reached that point far too many times before and that's because only a certain number of people wanna play at being Rambo.

It has long been acknowledged that to progress paintball it has to be promoted and regarded as a sport, you can't do that with the woodland game.
You can however do it with Sup' Air (XBall) but you need site owners to invest in it and therein lies our problem.

 

[Steve Hancock]

I mean, i've don't see much more than 150 players at a single UK event (CC is an exception obviously)

I've been to PA events with 40 teams each with a minimum of 7 players. That is nearly double 150.

But anyway, to the point at hand. I don't agree with the commments in the quote. Paintball isn't any one thing. To say real paintball is woodland or tourney is pointless. It is both. Yes the bulk of people who play are rental customers, but that will always be the case. Admittedly we do need to grow the tourney scene. There has been many comments passed on how this could be done, but it certainly would not be detrimental to woodland sites or paintball as a whole.