The Federation was formed in 2009 with a single goal, to improve the UK paintball tournament scene.
With this single goal in mind the UK’s industry leaders put in their time, effort and money to try and reverse the growing trend of an increasing number of events and an ever shrinking number of teams. It is a sad fact that every event series was becoming less well attended every year. Evidently, the ‘paintball event’ as a product had to change.
Initially, progress at Federation meetings was understandably slow with a whole host of issues being put forward for consideration. There were a considerable number of topics requiring attention and with limited time available it was necessary for the Federation to prioritise. A systematic approach had to be adopted to ensure we were able to address them all.
The main focus of The Federation for 2009 was to make tournament paintball in the UK, safe, entertaining, competitive and accountable. This could only be achieved if The Federation were able to implement a UK-wide co-ordinated event structure. The Federation determined to focus attention on specific events in the north and south of the UK.
Below are some of the points that The Federation endeavoured to tackle:-
a) Too many poorly attended events.
b) Too many tournaments with too many legs to play.
c) Too little support from the Industry (due mainly to point one).
d) Our sport was losing teams faster than new ones were forming.
e) Encouraging event organisers to follow European rules and formats.
f) To create a ‘Minimum Event Standards Criteria’.
g) Ensuring value for money.
h) Giving the players and teams an accountable structure in which to play.
As previously stated, integral to our strategy was the sanctioning of two tournament series, one in the north of the UK and one in the south. The Federation were attempting to put an end to the dwindling number of teams attending too many different events. The Federation hoped to consolidate existing tournament teams in the UK across two flagship series which would set a benchmark for quality and value for money. This seemed to be the commonsense approach that was needed.
The Federation wanted as many teams as possible to attend the two ‘sanctioned’ series so that both series could grow, creating a much shorter and therefore more affordable tournament calendar. It was hoped that the new format would in turn encourage paintball retailers to attend and thus create a more professional paintball environment for the participants. This was the strategy that The Federation adopted for 2009 and it was a strategy that was agreed upon unanimously by the Federation members.
Limiting the number events across the season allowed The Federation to optimise and focus support and it was hoped that this would create the necessary environment for growth.
In 2009 The Federation sanctioned The UK Masters in the North of the UK and the NSPL in the South. The strategy displayed signs of success as team numbers at both these series were either increased or maintained, a considerable achievement bearing in mind the general economic downturn in the UK.
September 2009, the inaugural Federation Cup was held at Ancaster Paintball with a prize package the scale of which has not been seen in the UK for many years, a prize package to even rival The Millennium Series; a bigger and better Federation Cup is planned for 2010, details of which will be released soon.
The goals for 2010 are to build on this solid foundation and to further improve Federation sanctioned events. With increased services and accountability it is hoped that team numbers will continue to increase in response to the improvement of standards and quality being offered to the UK players and teams.
Unfortunately as many of you will be aware, the Midland Masters has recently withdrawn from its position as the Federation sanctioned event covering the North of the UK. The Midland masters will not represent The Federation in 2010.
The Midland Masters have decided to expand their operation and now wish to run and promote their own events in the south of the UK; This decision runs against the strategy of The Federation and conflicts with the centralised Federation support of the NSPL in the south of the UK.
The Federation respects the decision of the Midland Masters and recognises they are entitled to formulate their own plans for their future on a commercial basis.
The board members of the Federation are unanimous in their disappointment that the UK Masters has chosen to relinquish its membership in favour of a decision that we feel will ultimately weaken and dilute the tournament circuit in the UK. The Federation will now look at other UK tournament series in the hope that it is able to find a new partner to develop tournament paintball in the north of the UK.
There is no doubt that an idealistic Federation will always find it difficult to contain the plans of an ambitious tournament organiser. The Federation understandably has the development of paintball across the entire UK as its goal whereas an individual event provider will of course need to focus on its own expansion and profitability.
The Federation remains committed to raising the standard of UK tournament paintball and also creating a structure that will promote new players, new teams and a higher level of service supplied by UK tournament organisers.
The Federation board members are keen to encourage a uniform structure to formats, rules and a minimum level of requirements that a paying customer can expect at any Federation sanctioned event. It is hoped that success in this goal will encourage smaller UK tournaments to aspire to a similar level of facilities and service that will encourage new players into the sport and help build a solid base for the future growth of all competitive paintball in the UK. Once an acceptable benchmark is set, it is hoped that more events will be sanctioned as they reach the level of expected requirements.
The Federation will be assessing alternative events and promoters in the UK over the coming weeks and we hope to be in a position to make an announcement in relation to a new Federation sanctioned event series covering the North very soon.
The Federation would like to make it clear that neither the UK Masters nor The Federation have ruled out working together in the future providing sufficient common ground can be found and The Federation is happy the interests of the individual UK paintball player are sufficiently protected
The situation remains unchanged in the south with the NSPL continuing to build on its Federation associated success in 2009. The NSPL will initially be sanctioned on a provisional basis pending an inspection of its facilities and formats for the 2010 season.
The Federation
With this single goal in mind the UK’s industry leaders put in their time, effort and money to try and reverse the growing trend of an increasing number of events and an ever shrinking number of teams. It is a sad fact that every event series was becoming less well attended every year. Evidently, the ‘paintball event’ as a product had to change.
Initially, progress at Federation meetings was understandably slow with a whole host of issues being put forward for consideration. There were a considerable number of topics requiring attention and with limited time available it was necessary for the Federation to prioritise. A systematic approach had to be adopted to ensure we were able to address them all.
The main focus of The Federation for 2009 was to make tournament paintball in the UK, safe, entertaining, competitive and accountable. This could only be achieved if The Federation were able to implement a UK-wide co-ordinated event structure. The Federation determined to focus attention on specific events in the north and south of the UK.
Below are some of the points that The Federation endeavoured to tackle:-
a) Too many poorly attended events.
b) Too many tournaments with too many legs to play.
c) Too little support from the Industry (due mainly to point one).
d) Our sport was losing teams faster than new ones were forming.
e) Encouraging event organisers to follow European rules and formats.
f) To create a ‘Minimum Event Standards Criteria’.
g) Ensuring value for money.
h) Giving the players and teams an accountable structure in which to play.
As previously stated, integral to our strategy was the sanctioning of two tournament series, one in the north of the UK and one in the south. The Federation were attempting to put an end to the dwindling number of teams attending too many different events. The Federation hoped to consolidate existing tournament teams in the UK across two flagship series which would set a benchmark for quality and value for money. This seemed to be the commonsense approach that was needed.
The Federation wanted as many teams as possible to attend the two ‘sanctioned’ series so that both series could grow, creating a much shorter and therefore more affordable tournament calendar. It was hoped that the new format would in turn encourage paintball retailers to attend and thus create a more professional paintball environment for the participants. This was the strategy that The Federation adopted for 2009 and it was a strategy that was agreed upon unanimously by the Federation members.
Limiting the number events across the season allowed The Federation to optimise and focus support and it was hoped that this would create the necessary environment for growth.
In 2009 The Federation sanctioned The UK Masters in the North of the UK and the NSPL in the South. The strategy displayed signs of success as team numbers at both these series were either increased or maintained, a considerable achievement bearing in mind the general economic downturn in the UK.
September 2009, the inaugural Federation Cup was held at Ancaster Paintball with a prize package the scale of which has not been seen in the UK for many years, a prize package to even rival The Millennium Series; a bigger and better Federation Cup is planned for 2010, details of which will be released soon.
The goals for 2010 are to build on this solid foundation and to further improve Federation sanctioned events. With increased services and accountability it is hoped that team numbers will continue to increase in response to the improvement of standards and quality being offered to the UK players and teams.
Unfortunately as many of you will be aware, the Midland Masters has recently withdrawn from its position as the Federation sanctioned event covering the North of the UK. The Midland masters will not represent The Federation in 2010.
The Midland Masters have decided to expand their operation and now wish to run and promote their own events in the south of the UK; This decision runs against the strategy of The Federation and conflicts with the centralised Federation support of the NSPL in the south of the UK.
The Federation respects the decision of the Midland Masters and recognises they are entitled to formulate their own plans for their future on a commercial basis.
The board members of the Federation are unanimous in their disappointment that the UK Masters has chosen to relinquish its membership in favour of a decision that we feel will ultimately weaken and dilute the tournament circuit in the UK. The Federation will now look at other UK tournament series in the hope that it is able to find a new partner to develop tournament paintball in the north of the UK.
There is no doubt that an idealistic Federation will always find it difficult to contain the plans of an ambitious tournament organiser. The Federation understandably has the development of paintball across the entire UK as its goal whereas an individual event provider will of course need to focus on its own expansion and profitability.
The Federation remains committed to raising the standard of UK tournament paintball and also creating a structure that will promote new players, new teams and a higher level of service supplied by UK tournament organisers.
The Federation board members are keen to encourage a uniform structure to formats, rules and a minimum level of requirements that a paying customer can expect at any Federation sanctioned event. It is hoped that success in this goal will encourage smaller UK tournaments to aspire to a similar level of facilities and service that will encourage new players into the sport and help build a solid base for the future growth of all competitive paintball in the UK. Once an acceptable benchmark is set, it is hoped that more events will be sanctioned as they reach the level of expected requirements.
The Federation will be assessing alternative events and promoters in the UK over the coming weeks and we hope to be in a position to make an announcement in relation to a new Federation sanctioned event series covering the North very soon.
The Federation would like to make it clear that neither the UK Masters nor The Federation have ruled out working together in the future providing sufficient common ground can be found and The Federation is happy the interests of the individual UK paintball player are sufficiently protected
The situation remains unchanged in the south with the NSPL continuing to build on its Federation associated success in 2009. The NSPL will initially be sanctioned on a provisional basis pending an inspection of its facilities and formats for the 2010 season.
The Federation