campaign was an immense tourney, the organisation was superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
big respect to Niall and his team who obvously put a lot of work in to make sure it was a success.
The standard of games was great and it was good to see so many teams there.
what was a shame was the behaviour of some of the players on the pro teams who really should have known better. One example involves LaSoya, who on the Smartparts field was showing off to the crowd (which was large) his shooting techniques, he was chatting to rich Telford from SC Ironmen through the net as the game had yet to start. Telford had his face right against the netting and without warning LaSoya raised his gun and shot telford in the face from two feet!!!!!!!!!!!!! . The ball went through the net and exploded on the metal railing an inch from Telford's eyes and Telford got shell and paint all over his face and in his eyes!!!!! LaSoya did not seem overly fussed or concerned that he had nearly blinded a fellow player. I cant help but feel that this projects a bad omage of the sport to outsiders, an image that Niall and the Millenium commitee had wotked so hard to promote. the work of SO MANY could easily have been ruined by the stupidity of one man who really should know better. thankfully Telford was ok, but it could have been far worse!
The attitude of some LaSoya on the field at times was awful! On the Angel field he was shot out by a novice team, and when the player who shot him cheered (as did the crowd) LaSoya screamed something along the lines of " yeah...your laughing now fu*kers" as Avalanche then tore through them. firstly laSoya was signalling to hios team that he had been shot, which i believe is not allowed and is a 1 for 1 offence and secondly what kind of image does this present to spectators and the watching media????
Another complaint was the attitude of some of the judges to the prop teams, on the Tomahawk field Dynasty were playing when Alex Fraige slid into the T-Bag on the left tape and blatantly slid over the line and out of bounds, the marshall who was 3 feet away did not pull him and and Fraige brilliantly shot out two players. This would not have been a problem but when i played on the field earlier that day we were told by the marshalls that we would be eliminated if we went out of bounds. It is this lack of consistency that is becoming a major problem.
Simirlarly on the Angel field again with Dynasty, Loughran in the snake was hit and the judge came to pull him out, the player argued with the judge for a good 25 seconds and refused to come out of the game, in this situation the judge should have 1 for 1 the player but he just explained for 25 seconds then removed his arm band. This distraction to the opposing team allowed 2 other Dynasty players to move up and then win the game. players should be treated the same whether they are nov, am or pro, it is dissapointing to see that this is not the case.
The Dynasty v Malera game was another game that annoyed me. On THREE occasions when a Malera player was hit and walked away, had his armband removed and had his hand in the air, a Dynasty player then lit him up (Greenspan twice!) and drilled him in the back (Friage). This was unnecessary lighting up was not punished by a 1 for 1 and left Dynasty to win the game. If the judges had 1 for 1'd both instances then it would have left Dynasty with one player and Malers with 3. The result may have been totally different. It is the equivalent in Boxing of punching when the bell has gone and in Football ackling after the whistle has blown, and would NEVER go unpunished.
For me, despite the fact that it was an incredible tourney, one that the organisers, the millenium commitee and English paintballers as a whole should be proud of, i cant help but think that the behaviour of those who should know better has spoilt the atmosphere slightly. This behaviour cannot continue if paintball is to be taken seriously as a sport.
Sam
big respect to Niall and his team who obvously put a lot of work in to make sure it was a success.The standard of games was great and it was good to see so many teams there.
what was a shame was the behaviour of some of the players on the pro teams who really should have known better. One example involves LaSoya, who on the Smartparts field was showing off to the crowd (which was large) his shooting techniques, he was chatting to rich Telford from SC Ironmen through the net as the game had yet to start. Telford had his face right against the netting and without warning LaSoya raised his gun and shot telford in the face from two feet!!!!!!!!!!!!!
. The ball went through the net and exploded on the metal railing an inch from Telford's eyes and Telford got shell and paint all over his face and in his eyes!!!!! LaSoya did not seem overly fussed or concerned that he had nearly blinded a fellow player. I cant help but feel that this projects a bad omage of the sport to outsiders, an image that Niall and the Millenium commitee had wotked so hard to promote. the work of SO MANY could easily have been ruined by the stupidity of one man who really should know better. thankfully Telford was ok, but it could have been far worse!The attitude of some LaSoya on the field at times was awful! On the Angel field he was shot out by a novice team, and when the player who shot him cheered (as did the crowd) LaSoya screamed something along the lines of " yeah...your laughing now fu*kers" as Avalanche then tore through them. firstly laSoya was signalling to hios team that he had been shot, which i believe is not allowed and is a 1 for 1 offence and secondly what kind of image does this present to spectators and the watching media????
Another complaint was the attitude of some of the judges to the prop teams, on the Tomahawk field Dynasty were playing when Alex Fraige slid into the T-Bag on the left tape and blatantly slid over the line and out of bounds, the marshall who was 3 feet away did not pull him and and Fraige brilliantly shot out two players. This would not have been a problem but when i played on the field earlier that day we were told by the marshalls that we would be eliminated if we went out of bounds. It is this lack of consistency that is becoming a major problem.
Simirlarly on the Angel field again with Dynasty, Loughran in the snake was hit and the judge came to pull him out, the player argued with the judge for a good 25 seconds and refused to come out of the game, in this situation the judge should have 1 for 1 the player but he just explained for 25 seconds then removed his arm band. This distraction to the opposing team allowed 2 other Dynasty players to move up and then win the game. players should be treated the same whether they are nov, am or pro, it is dissapointing to see that this is not the case.
The Dynasty v Malera game was another game that annoyed me. On THREE occasions when a Malera player was hit and walked away, had his armband removed and had his hand in the air, a Dynasty player then lit him up (Greenspan twice!) and drilled him in the back (Friage). This was unnecessary lighting up was not punished by a 1 for 1 and left Dynasty to win the game. If the judges had 1 for 1'd both instances then it would have left Dynasty with one player and Malers with 3. The result may have been totally different. It is the equivalent in Boxing of punching when the bell has gone and in Football ackling after the whistle has blown, and would NEVER go unpunished.
For me, despite the fact that it was an incredible tourney, one that the organisers, the millenium commitee and English paintballers as a whole should be proud of, i cant help but think that the behaviour of those who should know better has spoilt the atmosphere slightly. This behaviour cannot continue if paintball is to be taken seriously as a sport.
Sam
