Millenium should just scrap 7-man, and run 5-man on the same field setups as the new M5 format. Get players used to the same number of bodies on the field, get in line with the various leagues feeding you teams, and get players used to playing the right field setup. Then the jump to M7 becomes a simple matter of how often you play games and how many subs you have instead of a matter of 7-man games vs 5-man games.
I completely agree!
It would also create the tie in I want with the minor leagues, and make transition through the entiry system much smoother for all teams, at all levels.
One of the big hopes I had for this season, which I discussed at length with Laurent in Madrid (I guess he disagreed
) - was that I felt it was really important to remove the artificial barrier there is between all the minor 5-man leagues and then playing 7-man in the major league.
This keeps a lot of teams from venturing to more than 1-2 (in many cases none) MS events per year, simply because their team is not geared towards 7-man, and going to the MS requires them to loan players.
Some may think the new Division 4 takes care of that - but that is very far from the truth.... the fact of the matter is that the huge potential for growth in the MS is not Division 4 teams - but all the Div. 1, 2 and 3 teams around Europe that are organised for 5-man formats in their local leagues.
What many people may have missed completely, is that leagues like the Centurio and NES (and probably others too - for example in Germany and France) have a huge number of extremely dedicated tournament teams, that take the sport seriously, but that (for various local reasons), are unable to sustain a viable 7-man roster.
There IS a reason that the majority of tournament teams you have seen in the MS so far, come from greater metropolitan areas... and moving to 5-man across the board would change that demographic, because a lot of teams that have so far been unable to focus on the MS, will suddenly be able to do so.
Not to mention the fact that the whole UPBF idea becomes stupid, if the federation cannot even tell the outside world that paintball has "x" numer of players on field for a game.....
Personally I find it weird that there is a call for european federations to join up at the moment - when by far most of the teams in those federations are geared towards 5-man - and the major events series and flagship of the european federation, runs 7-man - apparently for those selfsame teams
Nick
