Every now and again as I pass through paintball’s unfolding pages, I have occasion to meet many different types of people, some of whom are really cool and others ..... well, not so cool.
And on this occasion, I am gonna highlight one individual, who in my opinion, scrapes the bottom of the paintball barrel when it comes to integrity, or in his case, complete lack of it.
His name is terry botterill, he owns unique pursuits up Northampton way; so far so good, but let me flesh this tale of woe out a little more.
During last Tuesday’s federation meeting, one of our members had suggested a venue that seemed perfect for our end of year event.
We were in negotiation with this guy called botterill because he was the person who was making himself out to be the middle man on the deal; we didn’t know who the owners of this venue were and so were basically forced to go through botterill to try and secure the site.
No real problem there as a lot of these type deals are done this way.
During the meeting, our board member was continually trying to contact botterill to get some sort of dialogue going because of the time-line we had to work with in terms of an early October commitment.
I ended up calling botterill during the meeting (I knew him of old and didn’t much care for him then) and discussed the possibility of the federation hiring this new venue.
His tone was somewhat evasive but he assured me he would get back to me to finalise details should the costings seem reasonable.
I certainly did not detect anything personal or negative toward the idea of helping out the federation.
Once again....so far so good ....
Over the next day or so, I received two texts, one from a board member and another from an associate member, telling me that botterill’s venue was a ‘no go’ because he had a ‘problem’ with the federation.
Lord knows what it could be considering what we were trying to do (for UK paintball) but I have been in this game long enough to realise, the truth is always at a premium when people ain’t got a pair of bollocks in one hand and an agenda in the other.
I duly called botterill and endeavoured to discover his problem.
He begun by categorically denying he had any such problem whatsoever with the board and his reluctance to help us secure the new venue was for other reasons.
I obviously wanted to know what these other reasons were and during his rambling and somewhat nervy account of an answer, the following words were uttered by him, (not verbatim, but close enough) ‘Pete, I can’t see how there will be anything left for me after all you guys on the board have taken everything you want out of the event’.
In other words, and in my opinion, botterill, was stating, the board were using this event to screw money out of you guys and he wasn’t sure there would be much left over for him .... thus making him somewhat reluctant to go through with the deal.
To say I was angry with this is an understatement but at the very least, it did reveal to everybody just what sort of person this man was.
I immediately asked for clarification of what he meant and once again he repeated his belief the people on the board were in it for themselves and he wasn’t able to see how he could get anything out of it after we had had our fill.
The fact that not one of the board had earned one dammed penny from our federation seemed to have escaped botterill, in fact, we all have to pay a fixed sum into the federation every month to try and provide a healthy prize fund for the Federation Cup.
I took real offence at being accused of using the federation to line my own pockets and so I called him back and informed him that next time we meet, we would have a very real problem because he would need to apologise to me personally for accusing me of being on the take, but that’s another story.
As for what being a board member entails, I ain’t even gonna go into the cost and time of attending these meetings and the time talking on the phone and emailing etc ....... I wouldn’t normally do this but I will make an exception in this case, I swear on my kids, this federation has already cost me hundreds of pounds...and this is money I haven’t really got.
I’m not a rich man, far from it, very far from it.
I ain’t earned and won’t earn one frikkin penny from this federation.
I never intended to, I never wanted to and all I’ve ever wanted to do was, put my beloved sport of (tournament) paintball back on its feet again.
All the other members are a lot better off than I and yet I am still willing put my hand in my pocket to try and put UK ball back on its feet.
It can also be said, the other board members have committed a lot of time and money to do the same thing as me and their time is a lot more precious than mine I can tell ya.
The other board members run much bigger and more important businesses than mine and yet those guys still turn up and I have an enormous amount of respect for that ...and they do this why???
For exactly the same reasons as myself, the majority of those guys are old ballers like myself and remember what it was like; they want the modern baller to enjoy paintball again, that’s why they give their time and money up.
I am extremely proud to be a part of a body that puts UK paintball first and not their wallet, I am also extremely lucky to be voted chairman of this board because it allows me to work with some of the most professional and well-meaning group of individuals I have met in paintball ...... unlike botterill.
I am acutely aware that all the board members are also well aware of an extended time-line that may or may not prove beneficial for their sales.......... that’s a gamble, a big gamble but it’s one they are willing are to take because they love this game.
In my opinion, scum like botterill tend to judge people by their own behaviour and so it should come as no suprise he came out with this outrageous and fallacious claim; I don't like people like botterill, he smells of deceit and self interest, in fact, he reeks of it.
And on this occasion, I am gonna highlight one individual, who in my opinion, scrapes the bottom of the paintball barrel when it comes to integrity, or in his case, complete lack of it.
His name is terry botterill, he owns unique pursuits up Northampton way; so far so good, but let me flesh this tale of woe out a little more.
During last Tuesday’s federation meeting, one of our members had suggested a venue that seemed perfect for our end of year event.
We were in negotiation with this guy called botterill because he was the person who was making himself out to be the middle man on the deal; we didn’t know who the owners of this venue were and so were basically forced to go through botterill to try and secure the site.
No real problem there as a lot of these type deals are done this way.
During the meeting, our board member was continually trying to contact botterill to get some sort of dialogue going because of the time-line we had to work with in terms of an early October commitment.
I ended up calling botterill during the meeting (I knew him of old and didn’t much care for him then) and discussed the possibility of the federation hiring this new venue.
His tone was somewhat evasive but he assured me he would get back to me to finalise details should the costings seem reasonable.
I certainly did not detect anything personal or negative toward the idea of helping out the federation.
Once again....so far so good ....
Over the next day or so, I received two texts, one from a board member and another from an associate member, telling me that botterill’s venue was a ‘no go’ because he had a ‘problem’ with the federation.
Lord knows what it could be considering what we were trying to do (for UK paintball) but I have been in this game long enough to realise, the truth is always at a premium when people ain’t got a pair of bollocks in one hand and an agenda in the other.
I duly called botterill and endeavoured to discover his problem.
He begun by categorically denying he had any such problem whatsoever with the board and his reluctance to help us secure the new venue was for other reasons.
I obviously wanted to know what these other reasons were and during his rambling and somewhat nervy account of an answer, the following words were uttered by him, (not verbatim, but close enough) ‘Pete, I can’t see how there will be anything left for me after all you guys on the board have taken everything you want out of the event’.
In other words, and in my opinion, botterill, was stating, the board were using this event to screw money out of you guys and he wasn’t sure there would be much left over for him .... thus making him somewhat reluctant to go through with the deal.
To say I was angry with this is an understatement but at the very least, it did reveal to everybody just what sort of person this man was.
I immediately asked for clarification of what he meant and once again he repeated his belief the people on the board were in it for themselves and he wasn’t able to see how he could get anything out of it after we had had our fill.
The fact that not one of the board had earned one dammed penny from our federation seemed to have escaped botterill, in fact, we all have to pay a fixed sum into the federation every month to try and provide a healthy prize fund for the Federation Cup.
I took real offence at being accused of using the federation to line my own pockets and so I called him back and informed him that next time we meet, we would have a very real problem because he would need to apologise to me personally for accusing me of being on the take, but that’s another story.
As for what being a board member entails, I ain’t even gonna go into the cost and time of attending these meetings and the time talking on the phone and emailing etc ....... I wouldn’t normally do this but I will make an exception in this case, I swear on my kids, this federation has already cost me hundreds of pounds...and this is money I haven’t really got.
I’m not a rich man, far from it, very far from it.
I ain’t earned and won’t earn one frikkin penny from this federation.
I never intended to, I never wanted to and all I’ve ever wanted to do was, put my beloved sport of (tournament) paintball back on its feet again.
All the other members are a lot better off than I and yet I am still willing put my hand in my pocket to try and put UK ball back on its feet.
It can also be said, the other board members have committed a lot of time and money to do the same thing as me and their time is a lot more precious than mine I can tell ya.
The other board members run much bigger and more important businesses than mine and yet those guys still turn up and I have an enormous amount of respect for that ...and they do this why???
For exactly the same reasons as myself, the majority of those guys are old ballers like myself and remember what it was like; they want the modern baller to enjoy paintball again, that’s why they give their time and money up.
I am extremely proud to be a part of a body that puts UK paintball first and not their wallet, I am also extremely lucky to be voted chairman of this board because it allows me to work with some of the most professional and well-meaning group of individuals I have met in paintball ...... unlike botterill.
I am acutely aware that all the board members are also well aware of an extended time-line that may or may not prove beneficial for their sales.......... that’s a gamble, a big gamble but it’s one they are willing are to take because they love this game.
In my opinion, scum like botterill tend to judge people by their own behaviour and so it should come as no suprise he came out with this outrageous and fallacious claim; I don't like people like botterill, he smells of deceit and self interest, in fact, he reeks of it.
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