Is Paintball a growing sport in the UK

[SPARKLIE CHICK]

I don't know if it's 100% official but bulley is planning to put the UKPSF in every phone book in england>

Now thats Cooking.

 

[PaintballBudgie]

I think Rancid said it all earlier. What we need is decent toilet facilities for both sexes.

My missus is happy to come and watch me play, (and pot up if I can persuade her) what puts her off though is the (generalisation coming up, apologies to anyone with a decent sh#t#r) really horrible standard of toilet facilities at most sites.

I have a strong stomach but some of the things i have seen in portaloos have made me think twice before going again.

Winge over, bye

 

[SPARKLIE CHICK]

Ian

I think I have got it out of my system now don't laugh have announced nice toilets I will get you a photo strangly my web guy did not understand the toilet issue so no piccy as yet

 

[Tortoise-Licker]

Well, the two biggest barriers aren't field numbers, public image, or even perception, but much simpler but much deeper, far reaching, and difficult to solve in the UK:

Prices and longevity.

Paint prices really are at a level that cannot encourage expansion and barely affords existing levels of play. What?!? I can pretty much guarantee any company within the industry would read that last sentence and wonder how I dare question companies from manufacturing to importing to fields on their business decisions, but it's the truth really. When it costs as much as ten meals eaten out a pub to pay for one day's worth of paint, exactly who can afford to and is willing to spend that kind of money on it who isn't already playing? Nearly no one. Paintball expenditure falls in an odd demographic that lies in a very delicate balance: people who have enough money and are young enough, whether by age or just at heart, to want to play a sport like paintball and old and/or successful enough to make enough money to pay for it but aren't too old or too wealthy to want to do something else like say watch expensive sporting events, travel around a lot, buy a bigger house, or have kids or another kid if they already have some. The first mentioned will say they can't afford paintball because they don't have enough money to do anything like it, and the second will say they don't have enough money to play paintball because they already spend that much money or more on other things and don't have that much money left over, or consider themselves above something like paintball.
I don't think anyone that knows much about paintball will tell you otherwise. And what's worse, other than politely asking certain companies to stop charging $1 for an 8 cent screw or $50 for a $5 bar of aluminum that happens to resemble a mount for a nitrogen tank that would cost $5 for anything else other than paintball, there aren't many solutions. That, lobbying efforts to lower taxes on paintball expenditures, and heavy recruiting efforts are what must be done before paintball will ever grow in the UK. You can take that to the bank.

This is not the main problem, the prices are such because the manufacturers need to make a profit and due to the small numbers of ppl who play the fledging sport, there are less potenial customers. this means the cost of the part has to increase to cover the costs of design, R&D, tooling, advertising e.t.c. and thus their 'Breakeven' is higher. The true problem lies with us players. We need to get more noobs involved with the game. This will cause an increase in more potential customers as noobs turn to experianced players and start getting their own gear. (who can remember the early 90's when it cost us a quid for 10 paintballs, and now more players are about and thus the price of paint has dropped)
Where I work we arrange rec days 2 or 3 times a year for ppl who want to go and experiance the sport. Three years ago when we started we only got 12 ppl interested but they all went and had a whale of a time. when they got back to work with big smiles on their faces (and bigger welts on their fleshy bits) they started talking about what a great day they had. this got more ppl interested and now when the poster goes up on the notice board at work we get more and more players ( the next one has 63 ppl signed upwhich isn't bad from a company who has only 240 ppl on site). Another problem is ppl see paintballing as an expensive sport but you pay about £50 for a days rec balling and i know i'll spend more then that on a night out on the town!!

If you do try to get ppl interested let them know what its going to cost and how much fun you have, perhaps lend them a few copies of PGI to browse through and then see what response you get!!

And before I forget::
"DON'T BASH NEWBIES!!!"