All these ideas about how to improve the safety especially for the netting, but have any of you thought just how much it might cost? There's a big difference in say, telegraph poles holding 6m netting and something with a canted over top (any practical ideas on how to do this?) and netting across that. It's not just the cost of materials but also the labour involved in putting it all up to a decent standard.
We can all come up with ideas on how to improve events, and many of these in themselves cost comparatively little to implement, but when you get round to adding them all up it starts to get awfully expensive.
So John Payne & Bully implement all the safety suggestions, and put the prices up to cover them - how many teams will turn up if the game fee goes from £30 per player to around £45 for a one day event? And as Bully says, a change in venue would also increase the price. Somehow I don't see well over 60 teams attending if these happen, and part of the appeal of STB is the size of the event.
Ballers can be among the best people in the world, but they can also be the worst. I was told after a recent event "we pay the game fee, we shouldn't be asked to clear up our own mess". Well the £30-35 per player also has to pay for the site, infrastructure, refs, officials etc etc etc...... adding a clean up crew for a further 2-3 days just because some of the players can't be bothered to put their cr*p into the nearest bin or a dustbin bag just isn't covered. I'm not talking about a few bits & pieces here, but stuff like half eaten rotting food trodden into the grass, half a ton of used kitchen roll strewn about, plastic bags blowing around, broken bottles and booze cans left in the long grass where children can injure themselves, paint emptied out of pots not into the nearest rubbish bin but straight onto the ground....... I could go on for much longer but I think you get the idea. Even if there isn't a bin handy, and you haven't brought dustbin bags (as I always do) then at least put it into empty paint boxes!
I think the 2 words missing from some player's vocabulary are "respect" and "consideration". No consideration for the people who have to clean up after them, no respect for the site owner or organiser who's put on the event for little or no profit for the sake of the sport. I don't know for sure, but I would guess than John LOST money on this year's STB, especially when you consider the regular business he would have turned away so WE could have fun. And how do we repay him? Pi$$ing in the kiddies pool, and throwning bottles in it. Cr@pping on the toilet FLOOR for goodness sake - can't even have the excuse of being desperate & having a long walk in that case. Not bothering to clear up mess from your FREE overnight camping.
I can't blame John for his decision, though I will miss Elsham (mud and all!). When I spoke to him on Sunday after it was all over he seemed very depressed about the lack of respect for his site, and I can completely understand him deciding it really isn't worth the hassle any more. I DO blame the few people who have spoiled it for the rest of us fgor next year
We can all come up with ideas on how to improve events, and many of these in themselves cost comparatively little to implement, but when you get round to adding them all up it starts to get awfully expensive.
So John Payne & Bully implement all the safety suggestions, and put the prices up to cover them - how many teams will turn up if the game fee goes from £30 per player to around £45 for a one day event? And as Bully says, a change in venue would also increase the price. Somehow I don't see well over 60 teams attending if these happen, and part of the appeal of STB is the size of the event.
Ballers can be among the best people in the world, but they can also be the worst. I was told after a recent event "we pay the game fee, we shouldn't be asked to clear up our own mess". Well the £30-35 per player also has to pay for the site, infrastructure, refs, officials etc etc etc...... adding a clean up crew for a further 2-3 days just because some of the players can't be bothered to put their cr*p into the nearest bin or a dustbin bag just isn't covered. I'm not talking about a few bits & pieces here, but stuff like half eaten rotting food trodden into the grass, half a ton of used kitchen roll strewn about, plastic bags blowing around, broken bottles and booze cans left in the long grass where children can injure themselves, paint emptied out of pots not into the nearest rubbish bin but straight onto the ground....... I could go on for much longer but I think you get the idea. Even if there isn't a bin handy, and you haven't brought dustbin bags (as I always do) then at least put it into empty paint boxes!
I think the 2 words missing from some player's vocabulary are "respect" and "consideration". No consideration for the people who have to clean up after them, no respect for the site owner or organiser who's put on the event for little or no profit for the sake of the sport. I don't know for sure, but I would guess than John LOST money on this year's STB, especially when you consider the regular business he would have turned away so WE could have fun. And how do we repay him? Pi$$ing in the kiddies pool, and throwning bottles in it. Cr@pping on the toilet FLOOR for goodness sake - can't even have the excuse of being desperate & having a long walk in that case. Not bothering to clear up mess from your FREE overnight camping.
I can't blame John for his decision, though I will miss Elsham (mud and all!). When I spoke to him on Sunday after it was all over he seemed very depressed about the lack of respect for his site, and I can completely understand him deciding it really isn't worth the hassle any more. I DO blame the few people who have spoiled it for the rest of us fgor next year
