I'll be honest - I don't think it is possible.
The only way it would be possible would be if it were forced upon us.....and that means some kind of regulation.
I'm no fan of regulation, government interference and the red tape and additional costs that comes as part of that, but, there is an argument that says that it would be the only way that the game could start with a clean slate.
Its ridiculous that at the moment that anyone with £500 in their pocket, access to a scrap of land and a transit van can operate a 'paintball site' and take money off customers and the public. Loads of sites operate like this, they pay no taxes, often have appalling safety systems and leave Joe Public feeling underwhelmed by their paintball experience, never to return to the game again.
We recently had a situation on the UK Scenario forum whereby a 13 year old launched a paintball event. It was only because something smelled wrong (spelling mostly) that we did a bit of digging and got to the bottom of it. In what other industry can a 13 year old get to the point where they launch an event and are in a position to take money off people? Crazy.
At the moment, someone can buy a gun today for fifty quid and play a walk-on. Tomorrow set up a team and the next day be a professional event organiser taking money off players. Again - mental.
It's like me watching Rocky IV and deciding I like boxing, tomorrow going out and hiring my local village hall and charging guys £50 to turn up and fight each other with no checks, balances or safeguards to find out if I know what I'm doing.
In an ideal world, the UKPSF would be placed smack in the middle of the entire game and be properly funded. Local sites would have to be UKPSF members, meet the minimum operating standards and those standards be enforced by the local authority like they are for most other businesses. If a site is operating without UKPSF membership, they could be shut down, in the same way that a restaurant can be if it fails it's Health and Hygiene inspections.
To play a tournament, scenario game or Big Game, a player would have to belong to a local paintball club and to join that club they'd pay £25, £15 of which goes towards them becoming a UKPSF player member and £10 goes towards properly funding the UKPSF. This would mean that all players (excluding rental players) in the UK would be a UKPSF member.
All events (tournament, scenario or Big Game) would also need to be UKPSF accredited and pay a membership fee for that. Again, events would be subject to the local authorities enforcing the minimum event standards set by the UKPSF.
In one fell swoop, all sites, all events and all players would be UKPSF members and would be subject to minimum standards (for sites and events) enforcible by law by the local authorities and all players would also be members providing additional insurance cover. As part of the player membership, a proper educational program (could be a booklet) would be received by each player detailing HPA safety, advice on transporting markers and various other important educational points relating to the game which new players can currently only get by searching around on forums etc.
With the UKPSF as the central hub for sites, tournaments, scenario and also players - the game would then have a rallying point and a beefed up single voice.
A properly funded UKPSF could then take on additional roles, like properly promoting paintball as a game on a national basis to improve the image and bring in new players. A central UKPSF calendar would help to avoid event clashes and could even help promoters pool resources by negotiating as a single body for infrastructure like the provision of HPA, toilets, catering etc.
I could go on and on.......but it comes back to one thing........most of our problems exist because we all float around in isolation, the industry is completely fragmented. Sites do what sites do, tournament does what tournement does, scenario does what scenario does, teams do what teams do.....Every now and again there'll be an initiative set up (in scenario it was the UKSPC, there is the Federation in tournament) by guys who can see that something needs to be done - but all too often they grind to a bit of a halt because it can be hard to achieve anything in isolation. Added to that is the natural tendency of many within paintball (I include players, event organisers and site owners in this) to denigrate what others are doing and undermine anything that they themselves are not controlling. However, these same people never get off their backsides to do anything themselves. They are a natural hand break for the game and don't deserve to be breathing the same air as some of the guys who selflessly give their own time and money to help improve things, only to have their integrity questioned by these vermin.
There can only be one rallying point and in my opinion that's the UKPSF. Beef it up, properly fund it and place it at the heart of the game. Have a 3/5 panal of advisors from the site network, another panel from the manufacturers/trade, a panal from tournament and another panel from the scenario side and a panel from the players/teams. These panels each have one person who filters all the advice down from their side of the game and gives that to the UKPSF as part of an action plan. The UKPSF has additional manpower to help Bully out (via the additional funding as part of the compulsory membership of sites, events and players enforced by local government) and to act on the recommendation of each of the panels from the different areas of the game. The people sitting on each of the panels are voted onto the panel every 2 or 3 years to give them time to properly formulate a plan for their area of the game. The UKPSF takes the action plans from each of the panels, stitches them together as an overall action plan for UK Paintball PLC (for want of a better name) and hey presto, what we have is a joined up industry with a direction and 'business plan' for the next 3 years covering all the different sides and sectors of our game in a coordinated and organised fashion.
But that would only every happen if we were forced to do it - and by the time we get to that point.......it would probably already be too late.
There's plenty of people out there who have similar or the same ideas, or other ideas that we no less valid. But pretty much nobody has any confidence that a top to bottom restructuring could ever take place without us being compelled to do it.
The only way it would be possible would be if it were forced upon us.....and that means some kind of regulation.
I'm no fan of regulation, government interference and the red tape and additional costs that comes as part of that, but, there is an argument that says that it would be the only way that the game could start with a clean slate.
Its ridiculous that at the moment that anyone with £500 in their pocket, access to a scrap of land and a transit van can operate a 'paintball site' and take money off customers and the public. Loads of sites operate like this, they pay no taxes, often have appalling safety systems and leave Joe Public feeling underwhelmed by their paintball experience, never to return to the game again.
We recently had a situation on the UK Scenario forum whereby a 13 year old launched a paintball event. It was only because something smelled wrong (spelling mostly) that we did a bit of digging and got to the bottom of it. In what other industry can a 13 year old get to the point where they launch an event and are in a position to take money off people? Crazy.
At the moment, someone can buy a gun today for fifty quid and play a walk-on. Tomorrow set up a team and the next day be a professional event organiser taking money off players. Again - mental.
It's like me watching Rocky IV and deciding I like boxing, tomorrow going out and hiring my local village hall and charging guys £50 to turn up and fight each other with no checks, balances or safeguards to find out if I know what I'm doing.
In an ideal world, the UKPSF would be placed smack in the middle of the entire game and be properly funded. Local sites would have to be UKPSF members, meet the minimum operating standards and those standards be enforced by the local authority like they are for most other businesses. If a site is operating without UKPSF membership, they could be shut down, in the same way that a restaurant can be if it fails it's Health and Hygiene inspections.
To play a tournament, scenario game or Big Game, a player would have to belong to a local paintball club and to join that club they'd pay £25, £15 of which goes towards them becoming a UKPSF player member and £10 goes towards properly funding the UKPSF. This would mean that all players (excluding rental players) in the UK would be a UKPSF member.
All events (tournament, scenario or Big Game) would also need to be UKPSF accredited and pay a membership fee for that. Again, events would be subject to the local authorities enforcing the minimum event standards set by the UKPSF.
In one fell swoop, all sites, all events and all players would be UKPSF members and would be subject to minimum standards (for sites and events) enforcible by law by the local authorities and all players would also be members providing additional insurance cover. As part of the player membership, a proper educational program (could be a booklet) would be received by each player detailing HPA safety, advice on transporting markers and various other important educational points relating to the game which new players can currently only get by searching around on forums etc.
With the UKPSF as the central hub for sites, tournaments, scenario and also players - the game would then have a rallying point and a beefed up single voice.
A properly funded UKPSF could then take on additional roles, like properly promoting paintball as a game on a national basis to improve the image and bring in new players. A central UKPSF calendar would help to avoid event clashes and could even help promoters pool resources by negotiating as a single body for infrastructure like the provision of HPA, toilets, catering etc.
I could go on and on.......but it comes back to one thing........most of our problems exist because we all float around in isolation, the industry is completely fragmented. Sites do what sites do, tournament does what tournement does, scenario does what scenario does, teams do what teams do.....Every now and again there'll be an initiative set up (in scenario it was the UKSPC, there is the Federation in tournament) by guys who can see that something needs to be done - but all too often they grind to a bit of a halt because it can be hard to achieve anything in isolation. Added to that is the natural tendency of many within paintball (I include players, event organisers and site owners in this) to denigrate what others are doing and undermine anything that they themselves are not controlling. However, these same people never get off their backsides to do anything themselves. They are a natural hand break for the game and don't deserve to be breathing the same air as some of the guys who selflessly give their own time and money to help improve things, only to have their integrity questioned by these vermin.
There can only be one rallying point and in my opinion that's the UKPSF. Beef it up, properly fund it and place it at the heart of the game. Have a 3/5 panal of advisors from the site network, another panel from the manufacturers/trade, a panal from tournament and another panel from the scenario side and a panel from the players/teams. These panels each have one person who filters all the advice down from their side of the game and gives that to the UKPSF as part of an action plan. The UKPSF has additional manpower to help Bully out (via the additional funding as part of the compulsory membership of sites, events and players enforced by local government) and to act on the recommendation of each of the panels from the different areas of the game. The people sitting on each of the panels are voted onto the panel every 2 or 3 years to give them time to properly formulate a plan for their area of the game. The UKPSF takes the action plans from each of the panels, stitches them together as an overall action plan for UK Paintball PLC (for want of a better name) and hey presto, what we have is a joined up industry with a direction and 'business plan' for the next 3 years covering all the different sides and sectors of our game in a coordinated and organised fashion.
But that would only every happen if we were forced to do it - and by the time we get to that point.......it would probably already be too late.
There's plenty of people out there who have similar or the same ideas, or other ideas that we no less valid. But pretty much nobody has any confidence that a top to bottom restructuring could ever take place without us being compelled to do it.
