This event sure was an odd one - of the 10 millennium I have gone to till now BY FAR the worst one ! Do not compare Madrid to this one, that one was way way better!!! 
The Millennium board KNOW they messed up - had quite a few talks with one of them during the weekend, and they weren´t at all happy with the outcome of this.... A lot of unfortunate events made it much worse than they had ever expected.
The fields were not just crappy but dangerous to play on - I´m suprised not more people got injured during this weekend....
Reffing was actually alright - only one field was at times somewhat controversial (Tomahawk - don´t know who reffed it ?), a lot of odd calls there!!!!
Players area - well it does say something that they had to use the turf in there instead of on the fields? Could simply not have people walking around in there all weekend without a "solid" surface! Also inside certain trade stands the turf had been used instead of the normal surface/flooring as it was impossible to lay out !
Food/drinks was alright - and not too expensive - BUT only 1 tent with about 6 tables/benches.... what would they have done if it had been solid rain all weekend?
The Millennium staff - well at least 1/2 hour late every single day, people standing around getting more and more stressed and frustrated needing to registrate, getting armbands etc. etc. - maybe they themselves had trouble finding the site ?
Hotels up to 1 hour away (and the first day getting there up to 3 hours since it was so hard to find!)??? We were lucky to have done some detective work and gotten rooms at the hotel close by - fact is, that hotel was booked but lack of confirmation messed it up.... That is one thing that would have made it a lot more acceptable for the teams, if at least the accommodation had been close by - and not at worst in another country !
Captains meeting - well there wasn´t any - the Millennium Board forgot about it ?!!!
On the good side - luckily enough it didn´t rain much and the field wasn´t totally washed away... AND for the first time this season there was actually score boards inside the pit - that´s an improovement at least.
The whole issue about the roads being closed on sunday - well that wasn´t actually the Millennium Board´s fault, they got that information on monday, and actually did the best they could fixing the problem - I didn´t at least see less people on the site on sunday due to that or heard about anyone having direct problems due to it ?
All in all - the event worked out in the end... But wasn´t at all impressing - far from ! With the money the Millennium get´s from teams for entry fees they should be able to do better than this, we should be getting better events !
Let´s see if the turf is getting used again for the last event in Paris - it is totally messed up by now, and the fact they this weekend had to plug all bunkers to make them stay in place only make it worse - no way that will be any good for another event ?
/Freddie
The Millennium board KNOW they messed up - had quite a few talks with one of them during the weekend, and they weren´t at all happy with the outcome of this.... A lot of unfortunate events made it much worse than they had ever expected.
The fields were not just crappy but dangerous to play on - I´m suprised not more people got injured during this weekend....
Reffing was actually alright - only one field was at times somewhat controversial (Tomahawk - don´t know who reffed it ?), a lot of odd calls there!!!!
Players area - well it does say something that they had to use the turf in there instead of on the fields? Could simply not have people walking around in there all weekend without a "solid" surface! Also inside certain trade stands the turf had been used instead of the normal surface/flooring as it was impossible to lay out !
Food/drinks was alright - and not too expensive - BUT only 1 tent with about 6 tables/benches.... what would they have done if it had been solid rain all weekend?
The Millennium staff - well at least 1/2 hour late every single day, people standing around getting more and more stressed and frustrated needing to registrate, getting armbands etc. etc. - maybe they themselves had trouble finding the site ?
Hotels up to 1 hour away (and the first day getting there up to 3 hours since it was so hard to find!)??? We were lucky to have done some detective work and gotten rooms at the hotel close by - fact is, that hotel was booked but lack of confirmation messed it up.... That is one thing that would have made it a lot more acceptable for the teams, if at least the accommodation had been close by - and not at worst in another country !
Captains meeting - well there wasn´t any - the Millennium Board forgot about it ?!!!
On the good side - luckily enough it didn´t rain much and the field wasn´t totally washed away... AND for the first time this season there was actually score boards inside the pit - that´s an improovement at least.
The whole issue about the roads being closed on sunday - well that wasn´t actually the Millennium Board´s fault, they got that information on monday, and actually did the best they could fixing the problem - I didn´t at least see less people on the site on sunday due to that or heard about anyone having direct problems due to it ?
All in all - the event worked out in the end... But wasn´t at all impressing - far from ! With the money the Millennium get´s from teams for entry fees they should be able to do better than this, we should be getting better events !
Let´s see if the turf is getting used again for the last event in Paris - it is totally messed up by now, and the fact they this weekend had to plug all bunkers to make them stay in place only make it worse - no way that will be any good for another event ?
/Freddie
