What a bunch of tossers.
let me tell you why it was mainly the top teams at the event that were squealing about the refs. Its because those were the guys acting up the most. Playing on, bxtching, and generally trying to make it as difficult as possible for the refs to do their jobs. The fact that refs were threatened with physical abuse astounds me, and in this one case I totally agree with shorty-salon-pete, in that the refs didn't do a good job. That player should be black-balled, and his team should be penalised severely, even suspended. If that didn't happen, and that fool is still playing paintball in the UK, then the refs and he Fed dropped the ball. Actions like that are simply inexcusable. How is anyone expected to supply good reffing from quality people if they can look forward to 2 straight days of abuse & threats. How can anyone complain about the refs if this is how they act.
'Professional' teams are expected to behave more 'professionally' than any others. Clearly this was not the case. For a 'Pro' team to come on here & slate the reffing is also unacceptable. Pro players should be more in favor of supporting competitive paintball than anyone else. You would have to be an idiot to shoot the goose that laid the golden egg, wouldn't you?
I am reminded of when the National Tournament Fields (NTF) opened in 1994. It was the first event, and everyone was there. The quality of the venue was a threat to the status quo, as until then people generally just played at Hook Wood, at events hosted by the Monkman-Farmers. Their team, 'Demolition', came to play the event, and then set about breaking every rule in the book. I mean they did everything. They even asked the refs "what do I need to do to get the maximum penalty?" They snorted blow offa the staging tables, then ran around without masks on, overshot, shot themselves, ran onto other fields and shot other teams, and started as many fights as they could. Their purpose was to try to ensure that the event was a joke, because they felt threatened. They were banned, the NTF went on to run 3-4 successful events per month, recreating tournament ball in the UK through their limited paint series, and strangely enough the Monkman-Farmers turned out to be pretty cool guys once they realised they were not going to push the brummies off the ball.
