7 man is both boring to play and watch in my opinion compared to x-ball. Pretty much everyone i've talked to agrees. Except Wee Dave.
Oh well,
not to say that playing and watching 7 man can't be enjoyable, but X-ball is just so much better...
We placed X-ball on the main pitch, because the best teams were playing x-ball, and people would rather watch good teams play rather than lower ranked 'less agressive' teams. Attending Millennium events isn't just about competitng, it's also about watching really good teams play, something that you wouldn't get from a local event.
There's been a few people take a dig at the event, comparing it to M25 or the PA league. Although both series are well run, this really isn't a fair comparison. The main thing is the level of teams you get to compete against, and the level of teams at the tournament. I mean when was the last time a foregin Pro team played a local event? When else are you going to see the Russian Legion play, against two of the best NXL teams?
The other thing i've noticed is a lot of complaints made by teams who don't play any other events other than Campaign Cup. None of the things you complained about were an issue for Millennium teams, because that's the way we do things in the Millennium series. X-ball is the main show, it's what the Pros play! We actually require you to set your gun up LEGALLY, and check for trigger bounce. We regulate players with a players card that is used at every event across the whole series. The judging is strict, sometimes subject to mistakes, but much better than you get at your local events. The fields are very well set up, set to a standard size of 30 m by 55 m, with the latest designs in bunkers. You get a trade show that consists of more than an easy up and some t-shirts sold out of the back of a transit van!
The nature of Campaign cup is that we're not going back to Major Stadiums like Crystal Palace. Paintballs make too much mess. Right now Esher rugby club is pretty pissed off with what we've done to their first XV pitch. Paintballs kill grass, players wear the grass out, it's just not worth the hassle. You can't hold paintball events on someone's nicely manacured rugby pitch. Crystal Palace is an anomoly, they don't play football on the main pitch, so they didn't care too much about the grass, they just replanted it. But getting a place to hold an event that isn't a grassy field, is impossible in Surrey / London, without paying a fortune for the venue and the clean up. We are litterally going to have to go onto the pitch at Esher and pick the excess paintballs up by hand! It's mad.
I worked very hard with Niall to design a tournament that i would have been happy with as a player to have participated in. Everything (bar the toilets) was exactly where i would have wanted it. Of course i'd taken on board everything that has been said, but frankly i don't see how people can be dissapointed with the event! I would have certainly have loved to play Campaign cup, to get all the Millennium Goodness without having to travel across Europe.
BTW, i'd like to point out, the toilets at Crystal Palace were further away than the toilets at Esher. It's funny how certain things are forgotten so quickly.
And the security this year was very effective, not a single gun was stolen and players passes were checked before going into the players area.
Anyhow the clean up is almost over, and we're gearing up for Malaga beach. If you're not going... well sucks to be you. I'll post up how good it is, and you'll all be wishing you were there!
