hi robbo been trying to track you down .your old mate from nwc steve Sampson .hope all well with you . be great to meet up with you . send me contact details if you can .cheers me old mate .samo
The Saviours of UK Paintball ?????
- Thread starter Robbo
- Start date
I've actually seen Geo 3.1 go back up to the £350 mark and even the old gen 3 rotor can still be found for £70 despite the new budget Dye LTR coming out at £85 new. The problem with rising costs on new items is people want more the their old kit.
Frikkin eck Steve, it's been a loooooong time, well over 20 years I think?
I'll message you my mobile number.
A rather humbling read.......one that makes me think that I need to pull my finger out and do some more work 
I think more than ever we need unity in our sport. WPBO was a massive step forwards, but I sense that for whatever reason (more from outside Europe) that it is becoming more fragile by the day. The last thing we need to be doing is looking back to "glory" days, and whilst we all need to learn from our mistakes of old, sometimes we just need to look at the bigger picture and what's good for the players looking forward........which in turn, should benefit the industry.
I'll reply properly when I have more time, but thank you for the kind words and advice all Pete, it means a lot.
I think more than ever we need unity in our sport. WPBO was a massive step forwards, but I sense that for whatever reason (more from outside Europe) that it is becoming more fragile by the day. The last thing we need to be doing is looking back to "glory" days, and whilst we all need to learn from our mistakes of old, sometimes we just need to look at the bigger picture and what's good for the players looking forward........which in turn, should benefit the industry.
I'll reply properly when I have more time, but thank you for the kind words and advice all Pete, it means a lot.
But you will see there is a difference in what people expect and what they get. I bought a 3.1 last week for £260, and have my eye on another for £280. You will find there are a quite a few people quitting paintball and just want shut of their kit.
The only reason I haven't bought a CS1 - which can be had for £450 - is that they run on LP.
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Ainsley, I'm ain't in the business of brown-nosing, blowing smoke etc ... I leave that to others who are much more adept at such weaknesses.
I wrote the initial post so we, as ballers, rec/scenario and tournament players alike, realise what we've had, what we've lost and what we need to do to succeed.
I agree that indulging in the past isn't the best way forward but I think we need to learn from the mistakes everyone made, none more so than myself.
I'm pretty sure had you been around at the creation of the Federation and taken the position as Chairman instead of me then we would be in a much better place now.
Unfortunately, timing wasn't on our side back then but we can take this opportunity to put things right and you'll have my support, for what it's worth.
I obviously know that Ledz thinks the same about you as I do, and so, I really couldn't think of a better set of circumstances to guide UK paintball into the next decade.
It's not a poison chalice Ainsley, it's a golden opportunity mate ... we need you to don that mantle !!
PS Ainsley, try not to be so humble mate - I never suffered from such an affliction, I worked on the premise that if you got it, flaunt it !
And look where that got me
I wrote the initial post so we, as ballers, rec/scenario and tournament players alike, realise what we've had, what we've lost and what we need to do to succeed.
I agree that indulging in the past isn't the best way forward but I think we need to learn from the mistakes everyone made, none more so than myself.
I'm pretty sure had you been around at the creation of the Federation and taken the position as Chairman instead of me then we would be in a much better place now.
Unfortunately, timing wasn't on our side back then but we can take this opportunity to put things right and you'll have my support, for what it's worth.
I obviously know that Ledz thinks the same about you as I do, and so, I really couldn't think of a better set of circumstances to guide UK paintball into the next decade.
It's not a poison chalice Ainsley, it's a golden opportunity mate ... we need you to don that mantle !!
PS Ainsley, try not to be so humble mate - I never suffered from such an affliction, I worked on the premise that if you got it, flaunt it !
And look where that got me
I should think the only reason for Steve, Laurent et al. to step aside from the running of the Millennium is if it were making a loss, they had a serious cash offer for their share or forced personal circumstances! EPBF is a different kettle of fish,
My 'poison challenge' comment was mostly tongue in cheek, I'm sure Ainsley is smart enough to step aside should things not work in the proper manner and that his appointment to the post is based on the rest of the board's confidence in him based on what he has done with the CPPS.
Hopefully, with Ainsley at the helm, the EPBF will be able to continue to steer the course for European tournament paintball as an umbrella organisation unifying the various national and regional leagues in Europe with the Millennium.
The creation of the WPBO was a massive step forward in unifying the game format on the two sides of the pond, I'm not surprised it's withered a little, after all, there is still too much influence on the major leagues from the industry. Interestingly though, NXL seems to have broken from the unified yellow and black bunker set and reverted to red, which makes much more sense from my media perspective, I would like to see the MS revert to blue.
My 'poison challenge' comment was mostly tongue in cheek, I'm sure Ainsley is smart enough to step aside should things not work in the proper manner and that his appointment to the post is based on the rest of the board's confidence in him based on what he has done with the CPPS.
Hopefully, with Ainsley at the helm, the EPBF will be able to continue to steer the course for European tournament paintball as an umbrella organisation unifying the various national and regional leagues in Europe with the Millennium.
The creation of the WPBO was a massive step forward in unifying the game format on the two sides of the pond, I'm not surprised it's withered a little, after all, there is still too much influence on the major leagues from the industry. Interestingly though, NXL seems to have broken from the unified yellow and black bunker set and reverted to red, which makes much more sense from my media perspective, I would like to see the MS revert to blue.
Pete, we [European Paintball] have been here before mate, as has the US. The primary requirement of a unified body has to be the union of the US and Europe - we've only ever achieved a loose paper association that should really have been a formal union of play formats and rules etc.
We seem to have these periodical opportunities for consolidation every now and then but we never seem to make it over the next fence which begs the question, 'WTF is getting in the way'?
The answer is an indictment of our sport rather than providence playing its hand out.
We can't make the next fence because the political initiatives/will aren't yet fully developed in the other member nations - basically, it runs out of steam because not everyone is pushing the agenda along with the same degree of enthusiasm and/or sense of responsibility.
And the required enthusiasm and sense of responsibility is an emergent property of the maturation of our sport in these countries, not just the US and a slim down version of Europe ..... basically, all the ducks have to be in a row and not just a piecemeal appearance of satellite nations like we have in Europe.
Richmond has provided the backdrop for a consolidation with the acquisition of several major companies along with the NXL but he can only push it along so far otherwise cries of 'vested interest' are gonna be ringing out from concerned parties who are worried about the independence of any unified body, political or otherwise.
And I'm not altogether sure if we can ever consolidate especially when we factor in the financial situation our industry/sport find ourselves in at the moment.
I hope I'm wrong Pete.
The market is healthiest when both sides of paintball are firing properly. Recreational and competitive. We have fallen into the trap of pushing one at the exclusion of the other (again). There was a time, not so long ago, that it was totally uncool to play in the woods. Now, everyone wants to play the woods and the arena-events are suffering...