Memories

[Robbo]

Good post Al, an enjoyable read mate .....

 

[Al Woods]

Weeeell, I got all emotional last night then came on here and saw this old post so couldn't help it.

 

[Robbo]

It's ok Al, no need to justify it mate, we all get emotional at times

 

[tiger jedi]

I went to the recent UKPSF thingy a few days back and saw a bunch of people I hadn't seen for ages.
One face loomed larger than most and not just because this guy is bigger than most but because his achievements in paintball dwarf the vast majority of others, and I mean Dwarf with a capital fackin 'D'.

Ged Green

I don't suppose there are many reading this post who haven't at least heard of his name, and just in case you haven't, or indeed, are not aware of what this man did, I'll give you a brief summary:-

He, along with his brothers, Matt and John, Owen Ronayne and Bart Walkerdine spearheaded arena paintball, the first electronic marker - the Angel, Hyperball and finally the breakaway NPPL that manifested itself as the first Huntington Beach in 2003.
That's one kick-ass CV for anybody, let me tell ya.

I was lucky enough to go to this inaugural event in HB with the team I had just created, called Nexus.
And this tournament blew the frikkin lid off of event paintball across the world, it really did.
This is the reason I wrote this post.

Although Ged had many able people around him with Owen Ronayne being his right hand man and certainly one of the most able and focused, it was Ged who provided the inspiration and direction, he was the powerhouse.

Now, I can't remember if it was 2003 HB or 2004 but I can remember a quite surreal moment, I don't often get them in my life, and they are even rarer when it happens to me in paintball, they normally happen in some bar somewhere when it's just about to kick off.

I was standing on the main walkway that runs along HB, on the left of the walkway were all the myriad of paintball vendor booths threading their way up the beach, on the right, the fields and stands.
The stands (bleachers) at HB were massive, enough to hold 5,000 people I think, maybe more I dunno, but they were impressive.

It was about 3pm in the afternoon and kinda hazy with all the sand dust being kicked up from the games drifting everywhere.
It looked kinda surreal but a little later, was gonna feel even more surreal as a stretch limo pulled up .....and then another.....

I don't even know who was in them, I could just make out the huge figure of Ged making his way toward the limos followed by what looked like a gang of cameramen and their associated sound men.

They were all scurrying for position as the doors of these limos opened up like the legs of a pregnant woman giving birth to whoever was inside.
The first limo had triplets, all of whom were greeted by Ged, a no doubt daunting, if not intimidating spectacle as he assumed the role of the welcoming midwife into the world of paintball.
I think it was me who needed smacking at that point actually...

Anyway, I suppose the bit that really got to me was, witnessing this unloading of dignitaries and media bustling, and then trying to reconcile it with the game I so loved; this was paintball for god's sake, not Hollywood, not the FA Cup or the Superbowl, it was my beloved paintball.

It seemed in those few seconds, we really were at the beginning of a new dawn, and this dawn was being ushered in by Ged Green - It was like witnessing the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly, it truly was a weird-ass couple of seconds for me.

This game of paintball I had so loved , and had been so much of my life, was slipping away from me ...and for those of you who understand what I am truly saying here, you will know what I mean by that.
I had always been lucky enough to be able to talk to and influence people in our sport no matter who they were, but looking at what was unfolding before my haze-ridden eyes, I realized, or so I thought then, it was gonna be a different era, an era where I was gonna be redundant and nothing more than a has-been from yesteryear.
But that's not really the point here, the point is...we seemed to have it all...it was in our grasp, but did we ignore the beach-side omens?
We let it all slip from our grasp like sand through a fist so tightly clenched .....

Did we go too fast?
Did we never have a real chance anyway?
Did we make a tactical mistake?

WTF happened to destroy us so efficiently when everything seemed soooo fackin good????????

It seems more appropriate now, somebody needing to write an epitaph for paintball as against a eulogy ...... we need Ged back, UK paintball needs him back, world paintball needs him back ..... please, pretty please !

I think for me, you and many other old school players this was truely start of a new era and exciting times indeed and I have been asking myself the same question "what happened"

I also think we are now coming into a new era and could actually end up smaller and less significant than ever before and I just dont see it getting better and Ged and WDP even if they wanted to could not fix the massive problems that have now set into tournament paintball.

We need new blood injected into the tournament scene (just like any sport does) and that can only happen at grass roots i.e walk-on's, cheap fun woodland tournaments and a national league with prizes etc etc the later being played in millenium format and I know there are peeps in this country at least trying to do this but it will take the full industry and I dont believe this will ever happen.

I know that Matt has written a report for the millenium before the start of this season recomending only 3 events and with the current turn-outs that is exactly what they will need to do if they want to survive with team numbers nearly halfed and trade pulling out of sponsorship commitments the profits just aint there to run in its current format.

Maybe im wrong and just being typically english with the negative vibes but I think it is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better!!!

 

[Robbo]

I think for me, you and many other old school players this was truely start of a new era and exciting times indeed and I have been asking myself the same question "what happened"

I also think we are now coming into a new era and could actually end up smaller and less significant than ever before and I just dont see it getting better and Ged and WDP even if they wanted to could not fix the massive problems that have now set into tournament paintball.

We need new blood injected into the tournament scene (just like any sport does) and that can only happen at grass roots i.e walk-on's, cheap fun woodland tournaments and a national league with prizes etc etc the later being played in millenium format and I know there are peeps in this country at least trying to do this but it will take the full industry and I dont believe this will ever happen.

I know that Matt has written a report for the millenium before the start of this season recomending only 3 events and with the current turn-outs that is exactly what they will need to do if they want to survive with team numbers nearly halfed and trade pulling out of sponsorship commitments the profits just aint there to run in its current format.

Maybe im wrong and just being typically english with the negative vibes but I think it is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better!!!

Warren, the reason we ended up where we did with teams dropping off the end of the paintball wagon like lemmings was because the product we were serving up wasn't good enough ... teams /players elected not to come to events because they felt they weren't getting value for money.

At our first meeting, Matt suggested more regional events that would have significantly increased the numbers of events overall and we didn't think this was the way to go.
Matt hasn't come to a meeting since !

As far as your suggestion of not being able to succeed with the board members we have, this is absolute rubbish; if any board is likely to succeed then it will be the one we have now.
Who else would you suggest Warren?
I mean, you seem to be suggesting we need more board members, who???
And what exactly is the area of capabilities we lack???

The board isn't lacking in any area and this is the FIRST time the industry has been so heavily represented and for some of us, we ain't gonna let this opportunity slide to do something about it.

We will always attract people who like to sit on the sidelines and criticise but luckily for us, they are in the minority, a very small and insignificant minority.

jeff abbott and andy sable are the only two people I have heard saying negative things but that has more to do with personal problems they have than anything substantial in their thinking.
I have seen emails from abbott and his concerns are about me and therefore he can be totally ignored for obvious reasons.
sable's problems seem to be similarly focused.

You are right in one area, but this didn't require rocket science to work out, the lack of new blood...we need it.

The lack of new blood we had been experiencing was, in our opinion, partly due to the product on offer (tournament events) and this is exactly what we are addressing in terms of sanctioning events that uphold our safety/quality requirements.

At the moment, we are trying to find our feet and I think we will make mistakes at some point but we will learn from that; our intentions are good, it just remains to be seen if we are successful but I tell ya one thing Warren, we don't need anybody else, and I cannot think of one person who would bring to the table anything we need..maybe Ged could but nobody else.
I have personally invited Ged but as of yet, he hasn't been able to commit.

 

[tiger jedi]

Warren, the reason we ended up where we did with teams dropping off the end of the paintball wagon like lemmings was because the product we were serving up wasn't good enough ... teams /players elected not to come to events because they felt they weren't getting value for money.

At our first meeting, Matt suggested more regional events that would have significantly increased the numbers of events overall and we didn't think this was the way to go.
Matt hasn't come to a meeting since !

As far as your suggestion of not being able to succeed with the board members we have, this is absolute rubbish; if any board is likely to succeed then it will be the one we have now.
Who else would you suggest Warren?
I mean, you seem to be suggesting we need more board members, who???
And what exactly is the area of capabilities we lack???

The board isn't lacking in any area and this is the FIRST time the industry has been so heavily represented and for some of us, we ain't gonna let this opportunity slide to do something about it.

We will always attract people who like to sit on the sidelines and criticise but luckily for us, they are in the minority, a very small and insignificant minority.

jeff abbott and andy sable are the only two people I have heard saying negative things but that has more to do with personal problems they have than anything substantial in their thinking.
I have seen emails from abbott and his concerns are about me and therefore he can be totally ignored for obvious reasons.
sable's problems seem to be similarly focused.

You are right in one area, but this didn't require rocket science to work out, the lack of new blood...we need it.

The lack of new blood we had been experiencing was, in our opinion, partly due to the product on offer (tournament events) and this is exactly what we are addressing in terms of sanctioning events that uphold our safety/quality requirements.

At the moment, we are trying to find our feet and I think we will make mistakes at some point but we will learn from that; our intentions are good, it just remains to be seen if we are successful but I tell ya one thing Warren, we don't need anybody else, and I cannot think of one person who would bring to the table anything we need..maybe Ged could but nobody else.
I have personally invited Ged but as of yet, he hasn't been able to commit.

LOL Once again you totally misunderstand me I am not in anyway having a dig or suggesting I should want or need to be a part of the board. I am not in anyway having a dig at this new board either I am sure everything you say is exactly correct and I agree if we ever want to get (uk paintball) better these are the people to do it but I was talking about world paintball ie nppl, psp, millenium which is what your thread was about not UK paintball.

Just to clarify I dont believe the people in the board are in a position to want or be able to fix for example the Millenium or get HB back on (world paintball) You may be able to fix the UK scene (which is currently 1 of the worst in Europe for teams) then roll out the format accross Europe for other like minded boards to copy thus fixing european paintball back on track to where we once were (team number's wise) but even if this works relisticly how long will it take to make significant gains?

So my point still stand even if it is an obvious 1 that we are gonna get a lot worse before we get better on a European tornament level at least. As far as Jeff Abbott goes maybe its becouse he is a stupid jumped up guttless little **** that thinks hes something he aint, or maybe, it was that other thing you said???

p.s I just love the way you insult me nowdays its all done so nicely!!!! lol

pps sorry bout the spelling!!!!

 

[Robbo]

LOL Once again you totally misunderstand me I am not in anyway having a dig or suggesting I should want or need to be a part of the board. I am not in anyway having a dig at this new board either I am sure everything you say is exactly correct and I agree if we ever want to get (uk paintball) better these are the people to do it but I was talking about world paintball ie nppl, psp, millenium which is what your thread was about not UK paintball.

Just to clarify I dont believe the people in the board are in a position to want or be able to fix for example the Millenium or get HB back on (world paintball) You may be able to fix the UK scene (which is currently 1 of the worst in Europe for teams) then roll out the format accross Europe for other like minded boards to copy thus fixing european paintball back on track to where we once were (team number's wise) but even if this works relisticly how long will it take to make significant gains?

So my point still stand even if it is an obvious 1 that we are gonna get a lot worse before we get better on a European tournament level at least. As far as Jeff Abbott goes maybe its because he is a stupid jumped up guttless little **** that thinks hes something he aint, or maybe, it was that other thing you said???

p.s I just love the way you insult me nowdays its all done so nicely!!!! lol

pps sorry bout the spelling!!!!

Warren, there was absolutely no intention of insulting you whatsoever, I think you know me well enough now to also know I don't have to mask anything, least of all insults.
That said, if I got the wrong impression re your post then there is a reason; I'm not a stupid man.
There is absolutely no mileage whatsoever in me misreading you, it just makes no sense.
There is nothing in your post that tells me you are talking about the wider scene, in fact, you make mention of the UK and characters within the UK scene which tends to support the notion your post was UK centric.
No matter, let's put that down to a 'misunderstanding'.

The following gave me the impression you were saying the present board would be unable to fix our problem :

'I know there are peeps in this country at least trying to do this but it will take the full industry and I don't believe this will ever happen'.

The above seems to suggest the board are lacking in somebody and you not believing any salvation can be achieved unless we get certain people on board.
If I misread this then you can maybe understand why I may have thought otherwise.

I do agree it's probably gonna get worse before it gets better, and that means both sides of the Atlantic.
I speak to a lot of guys Stateside as you know and none of them are too optimistic re the short to mid terms...
Our situation is similarly bad but for different reasons, you are well aware of our national lethargy when it comes to commitment and also well aware of the declining number of pro teams about ....

As you suggest, new blood is the answer but we also need better marketing of our sport; there are a lot of retail companies who have a vested interest in the growth of tournament paintball but I wonder how many of them market their sport like Delta Sports markets their rec games ..... not many.

The primary focal point of tournament paintball are the events themselves and we are trying to refocus them toward putting the buzz back in events rather than just turning up.

You made one awful mistake in your post and that was capitalising jeff abbott's name, he doesn't deserve such respect. I have no idea what he's done to pis$ you off but I keep hearing from people about how important he thinks he is when we both know he has achieved nothing in our sport apart from the label of a 'lowlife thief'.
It always makes me giggle when I ponder why he felt the need to tell everyone he was a pro when in fact, he is no such thing ... i suppose liars/thieves just can't stop lying and stealing, it's in their nature.

 

[tiger jedi]

Warren, there was absolutely no intention of insulting you whatsoever, I think you know me well enough now to also know I don't have to mask anything, least of all insults.

Yes correct and on the same note you know if I had a problem with the board or anyone else then also I would not mask it!!!


That said, if I got the wrong impression re your post then there is a reason; I'm not a stupid man.
There is absolutely no mileage whatsoever in me misreading you, it just makes no sense.
There is nothing in your post that tells me you are talking about the wider scene, in fact, you make mention of the UK and characters within the UK scene which tends to support the notion your post was UK centric.
No matter, let's put that down to a 'misunderstanding'.

Yes lets do that or at least talk in person about it so we are both clear what we are getting at.

The following gave me the impression you were saying the present board would be unable to fix our problem :

'I know there are peeps in this country at least trying to do this but it will take the full industry and I don't believe this will ever happen'.

The above seems to suggest the board are lacking in somebody and you not believing any salvation can be achieved unless we get certain people on board.
If I misread this then you can maybe understand why I may have thought otherwise.

Yes I can see why you did but I actually was saying the oppisite that we have a board in this country that is at least capable of sorting UK paintball out but as I said we were both refering to the bigger picture i.e HB, Millenium etc and as far as I know there is no like minded boards sitting down to try and get top end paintball back to where it was. In fact if there was a board made up to deal with that very problem it would actually have a least half of the UK board involved. Please forgive me if im wrong but I dont think this board has a great deal of power over the millenium, nppl or psp desisions becouse they are affectivly all businesses and are there to make money.[/B]

We will have to just hope that the millenium, nppl & psp can offer a more attractive package to get teams back and that every country and state pull togeather boards similar to the one you are part of and im sure if this happens we will be better than ever at some point but as I said it will effectivly take the whole world industry to work together and get along for one comman goal but we both know there is more chance of pigs flying than that happening.

I do agree it's probably gonna get worse before it gets better, and that means both sides of the Atlantic.
I speak to a lot of guys Stateside as you know and none of them are too optimistic re the short to mid terms...
Our situation is similarly bad but for different reasons, you are well aware of our national lethargy when it comes to commitment and also well aware of the declining number of pro teams about ....

As you suggest, new blood is the answer but we also need better marketing of our sport; there are a lot of retail companies who have a vested interest in the growth of tournament paintball but I wonder how many of them market their sport like Delta Sports markets their rec games ..... not many.

Spot on there!!!

The primary focal point of tournament paintball are the events themselves and we are trying to refocus them toward putting the buzz back in events rather than just turning up.

Good luck and I mean that, I really hope it works its exactly what I tried to do with the Euro5Man!!!!

You made one awful mistake in your post and that was capitalising jeff abbott's name, he doesn't deserve such respect. I have no idea what he's done to pis$ you off but I keep hearing from people about how important he thinks he is when we both know he has achieved nothing in our sport apart from the label of a 'lowlife thief'.
It always makes me giggle when I ponder why he felt the need to tell everyone he was a pro when in fact, he is no such thing ... i suppose liars/thieves just can't stop lying and stealing, it's in their nature.

Lets just say I would love to be locked in a room with him and his silly brother. Maybe we should have a meeting to decide which is the best way of disposing of them??? lol

 

[Robbo]

Lets just say I would love to be locked in a room with him and his silly brother. Maybe we should have a meeting to decide which is the best way of disposing of them??? lol

If only ... and I'll take a wild stab in the dark as to the identity of the two who emerge from that fracas.
By the way, you can have abbott minor ... I want the thief all to myself.

 

[tiger jedi]

If only ... and I'll take a wild stab in the dark as to the identity of the two who emerge from that fracas.
By the way, you can have abbott minor ... I want the thief all to myself.

It's a deal!!! LOL