First PA sour point

[Collier]

Quick Point!

Originally posted by Burb
Hatts are you the chap who orders teams to get to fields?

If so, you owe me a new pair of underpants.

Man you're scary.........buy a Megaphone and speak softly

No, Hatts had the red scarf on.

Paul

 

[JoseDominguez]

I thought we had ample refs.................. some of them looked very big boned

 

[WKD]

Oooo Hatts your so touchy lol

Hey fella you know your doin the best damn tourney at the mo (pity i aint play it) but this is a forum and i think the critisms are constructive (altho some are mis- guided or mis-interpretated) i think all the players are only voicing their opinion too make the event even better and not shoot it down in flames!!

Keep the faith my friend if you improve it more will come lol

 

[Baca Loco]

Originally posted by Hatts
1--Indeed their was netting on all sides...until around 3pm on Saturday when gale force gusts of wind brought it down on 2 sides. Alas time and resources dictated that there was insufficient time to reinstate it before Sunday, but as the gales continued throughout the weekend it would have been rather pointless anyway...the area was however cordoned off from spectators for safety reasons.

2--Ample refs to do the job properly? Hmmm...and what do you consider "ample refs"? Unfortunately there were not as many referees as we would have liked, however I consider that given the experience of the referees available, yes there was.

3--Ample space for the attending crowds ...plus acess to trade food & toliets so they could eat, drink, deficate, urinate, play with nice shiny toys and even watch some paintball to boot...

4--For info Sky Sports are pretty much the top of the Christmas tree as far as the UK goes...

5--I have no objection to being "questioned" on results...and I read your post several times before I responded...I've also read it again several times since...and it doesn't come across any different now to the first time I read it....focusing on the problems and loaded with sarcasm...

6--perhaps I have misinterpreted the spirit with which it was intended...although I suspect not. Perhaps I might have taken your post more seriously if you had balanced your "line of questioning" by also asking about some of the more positive aspects, but then I also suspect that either they weren't reported or were perhaps tactfully omitted from the report ...

7--I'm flattered that you consider the PA League to be one of the biggest tourneys...we're certainly aiming to be...ahhh..."significant" and the concept behind the PA is not simply to host yet another paintball tournament...there is an awful lot more to it and behind it...

8--You can ask me some questions about the good stuff now if you like...and then I'll see that in a positive light...and it'll restore my Chi or Karma or whatever the hell it's called.

9--You know I often wonder that with paintball having such a hard time already why it is that when someone comes along who tries to do something good, our own community starts slating it, pulling it to bits and focusing on the negative. I'm sure glad the people we're working so hard to sell paintball too don’t know about this forum…because I am strongly of the opinion that if they read your “questions” they’d come away with an impression that we’re a nothing more than a bunch of amateurs dicking about in a field with toy guns. I just can’t get my head round exactly the point of your “questions”? In what way should I take them in a positive light?

Told you you'd have been disappointed

1--excepting of course the event was played on Sunday so Saturday's configuration isn't terribly relevant, is it? I realize the weather wreaked havoc with the set-up--these things do happen--but ultimately it's not really an excuse, is it? "Mr. Jones, the plumbing is tip top though there's that leak in the shower and the cold and hot water taps are backwards." Some things simply have to done right or they can't very well be considered professional.
2--4 per field ain't ample unless you're playing 3-man. Doesn't matter how good they are. This is one of the hardest issues for even the biggest promoters to deal with. Players recognize this but from your position you ought to simply own up and move on. Put a happy face on it if you want but it isn't what you believed necessary prior to the event so how can it be okay after the fact?
3--Now you're doing it.
4--so if you pull it off it's a major coup.
5--as a promoter it's your job to focus on the problems, isn't it? My asking the questions, regardless of tone, gives you a chance to respond positively. I'm actually doing you a favor here.
6--as you've already pointed out--I'm not reporting on the event. If you want a pat on the head for what worked out well read the other posts in the thread--there's quite a few of them.
7--See, you're mis-reading me again. My point was, that by your own admission your goal is to be significant, and as that is the case you must be prepared for a higher degree of scrutiny--just like the big boys. (Who, as a general rule, don't like it any more than you do.)
8--see responses 5,6 and 7
9--for the most part pball IS a bunch of amateurs dicking around in a field with toy markers. As soon as somebody starts offering and delivering something in the neighborhood of a truly professional product it will be trumpeted to the rafters. See Huntington Beach. Everyone in the business of promoting pball deserves respect for putting in the time and effort but it isn't a free license to fall short. Trying is one thing and succeeding something else again.

 

[Mak D - Nexus Eclipse]

all in all the event was top, need more refs on each field though for sure

 

[stongle]

The number of Refs you consider to be "ample", may not necessarily be the same as the paying customer. Is it "ample" that the result of games hinged on the already stretched referees missing hits? With single games and in some cases even eliminations separating teams placings, the number, impartiality and skill level of the referees is of paramount importance. With some divisions best described as mixed ability, marshalling makes a massive difference to teams final placings, especially if your end result is to help teams winner sponsorships, results WILL matter. Is it not the right of the "paying" customer to voice his opinion - after all it was nobody connected to PGI who raised it.

What off the injured player? Were all safety precautions adequately followed, what was the reason for his injuries (if it was due to head hits, were markers re-chrono'd to check that no ramping guns / bonus balling were the culprits, or merely a very freak unfortunate incident), has he made a full recovery? Paintball is a non-contact sport, and any injury is potentially serious. Accidents happen and no-one is suggesting the PA is liable, but again player safety is paramount (and that is not deserving of a facetious response).

The netting, as you say subject to weather on Saturday, got torn down. This did severely limit access for spectators, and as such were they then allowed into the playing / staging area? At the beginning of the day it was 2 additional people per team.

So often it is the contingency planning, disaster recovery and unseen arrangements that determine the success of a tournament event. For all the good ideas and there are plenty (that are oft mentioned here by yourself and others), having some issues raised is par for the course. As a paying customer of the event, I raise these for both myself and the enjoyment of others there. All in all I thought it one of the better UK tournaments I'd attended, despite a few unavoidable events. There was a lot of good points, although still a couple of issues I personally feel need to be addressed to raise the event to the level it is being pitched (i.e. TV viewable). I don't believe there is a weather, God and PGI conspiracy in place to ruin your series (although if Baca turns up smoking a cigarette outside my gaff tonight I'll happily let you know).

I'll leave any sarcasm out of this post, as the threads laden already.

 

[Liz]

Stongl - as mere staff and not one of the organisers I can't answer many of the questions raised, but there are a couple I can comment on. The injury was simply one of those freak accidents; the player was shot at quite close range and was hit right in the centre of his throat. This is one of the very few areas on the body where any shot is going to cause quite a bit of damage and breathing problems, though last I saw of the player in question (the Red Cross treated him in my admin tent) he was being told firmly that no, however much he wanted to he wasn't going to be allowed to play the next game!
Regarding the security, one of the big issues this year has been kit including markers going missing at tournaments. One marker went missing on Sunday as well, though the team in question was staging outside the players only area. We've even seen calls for tournaments to supply staff to patrol the car parks at many events this year (though of course no-one has offered to pay for this extra cost ). Yes, it was unfortunate that the weather gods decided to come out to play last weekend but can you imagine the screams if more kit had gone missing because we let all and sundry into the players area? A line had to be drawn somewhere - at Crystal Palace it's been players ONLY in the staging area - and the organisers felt 2 people per team was sufficient to give them help with getting ready.

 

[Russell Smith]

The next time I am let down by refs at the last moment I will send everyone home and stop the event.
We had "ample" refs booked and confirmed for this event and it was on the sunday we found ourselves short.
Baca myself along with 10 other PA referees are coming over the pond to ref a little event you are holding in Orlando at the end of this month, Now the flights and hotels are booked and paid for but lets say we change our mind and don't bother to attend and also decide not to tell anyone - Will it be cancelled ?, Of course not they will rearange the attending refs and hope it works - Just what we did funny enough.
And untill we had the teams from divisions 1 and 2 in the afternoon it worked a treat.
So why is that maybe they just cheat more or maybe when then lose they need to blame someone and the refs are as good as anyone.

Come and find me in Orlando and you can buy me a beer and we will both put the paintball world to rights .

 

[Profphil]

As a member of Bracknell Shadow, I would first like to say that I am gutted that I will no longer be playing in the PA league, however I believe that my captain has nade the correct desicion, and myself and the rest of the team back him 100%.

Hatts- I really do think that you should be taking any criticism in a constructive way, as has already been said in the threads most people only offer the criticism in the hope of making better an already progressive event.

My personal feelings are that the PA league is a move in the right direction, but still falls way short of anything that should be shown on TV. Netting, lack of and attitude of refs etc (i do not feel the need to go over already discussed issues). These are all issues that can and should be addressed, without excusses regarding the wheather, three refs not showing up etc. In a truly well organised and proffesional environment this type of thing would have been thought about in advance. Regardless of how you look at things players are your customers, and playing is not cheap. You cannot excuse refs for being abusive physicaly or verbaly, you cannot hide behind the wheather, this is the UK, what do you expect.

All that said, well done for trying!! many others have and not done anywhere near as well. Please keep it up and don't get too fed up with taking the knocks, if your going to succeed then there are going to many more on the way.

Once again gutted not to be playing, but after Sunday we were not left with a choice. Our captain should not have been put in the position he was!!

 

[Amy]

excepting of course the event was played on Sunday so Saturday's configuration isn't terribly relevant, is it? I realize the weather wreaked havoc with the set-up--these things do happen--but ultimately it's not really an excuse, is it?

Our "excuse" is that we were on the fields at nine o'clock on friday morning (which meant setting off from home at 5 o'clock btw), we worked all day friday - from nine o'clock to ten at night with less than an hour for lunch in between. Then up again on saturday and on the fields for half past eight. This is JUST on the netting, ignoring all the other things we had to take care of like setting up the chrono, digging stones out of the fields so no-one breaks ankles and setting up barricades.

The netting blew down at about 3 o'clock on saturday afternoon so our "excuse" for our obviously poor performance in not getting it back up is that it took us the best part of two days to get it up in the first place and there was no way that we were going to be able to fix it in time for the tourney.

Although on a slightly more cheerful note, thank you to the four or five players from Lincoln Storm and Nottingham Tremmor who did help us to stop it ripping to peices on the barbed wire fence and to Jose for his pike-work.