UK Disgrace

[Robbo]

I disagree with you there Pete.

We players may not be able to do everything that is required to raise the profile of paintball here, but we can do a lot.

Disagree all you like Andy, the fact remains we can do jack-shiit in real terms.
We can all spout idealistic rhetoric such as, 'we can do this, we can do that, blah, blah, blah', but in reality you will be able to do .....nothing !!!!

And when I mean nothing - I mean not being able to create a sea change in attitude which is exactly what we need to remedy this situation.
Any notion that you can is more akin to sixth form naivety.

The momentum has to now come from the industry, they have the resources but lack direction and need convincing.
When financial imperatives finally make them sit up and listen, if in fact that happens, then and only then might they begin to address the situation.

This is the real world Andy .... join it mate !

 

[Robbo]

The idea is that 'outsiders' don't get to know about the sh1t already going on with the so-called 'high-ups'.

.

Raff, with no disrespect mate, that statement is a tad naive.......just a tad ....

 

[Raffles]

...We can all spout idealistic rhetoric such as, 'we can do this, we can do that, blah, blah, blah', but in reality you will be able to do .....nothing !!!!...

Is it time for us to simply give up then? If we can do nothing - then why try?

I'm sorry - but I am not going to give up that easily. Now you know I have lots of respect for you and your achievements in the paintball world - but what if people had said 10 or even 20 years ago "this is going nowhere - let's give up!"?

I know it's going to be a hard slog to change public opinion - but if we don't even try....

EDIT : Just noticed your repsonse... Yes - maybe it is - but unless I try - I'll never know (and no offence taken or implied ).

 

[Dusty]

don't take this as a belligerent remark, but Pete, if you know how you want to see it done, why don't you go and do it? who else has the contacts and the knowledge to make it happen?

there is always someone who has to be a pioneer for everything.

i think what you want to see is the perfect paintball site, enticing people in with rambo ball, and gradually but progressively leading them to hyper ball, then on to supair ball. thats a basic analysis anyway................

 

[mikey601]

don't take this as a belligerent remark, but Pete, if you know how you want to see it done, why don't you go and do it? who else has the contacts and the knowledge to make it happen?

there is always someone who has to be a pioneer for everything.

i think what you want to see is the perfect paintball site, enticing people in with rambo ball, and gradually but progressively leading them to hyper ball, then on to supair ball. thats a basic analysis anyway................

Why...Why not introduce them into supair, forget rec'ball. If a dealta force stand was in town selling there paintball day at £6 a 100 and the rest of what goes with it but then joe bloggs has a stand next to it advertisiing paintball at £30 for 2000 and a new ''sporty'' style of paintball, i wonder what the general perception would be then. Put it this way, advertising around here for supair is nothing....ive never seen anything, when i open mine it will be everywhere, stands in town, shop windows the lot. Cant speak for anywhere else but has anyone else see a sup air stand like the delta force ones?

 

[Dusty]

Why...Why not introduce them into supair, forget rec'ball. If a dealta force stand was in town selling there paintball day at £6 a 100 and the rest of what goes with it but then joe bloggs has a stand next to it advertisiing paintball at £30 for 2000 and a new ''sporty'' style of paintball, i wonder what the general perception would be then. Put it this way, advertising around here for supair is nothing....ive never seen anything, when i open mine it will be everywhere, stands in town, shop windows the lot. Cant speak for anywhere else but has anyone else see a sup air stand like the delta force ones?

simply because rec ball is Joe Publics preconceived idea of what paintball is. you are more likely to get people in to feel like rambo for a day than to run around a field full of bouncy castle things..............

the tournament base comes from somewhere. where did most tourney players have their first paintball experience? how did they end up being tourney ballers as opposed to commando types?

 

[mikey601]

simply because rec ball is Joe Publics preconceived idea of what paintball is. you are more likely to get people in to feel like rambo for a day than to run around a field full of bouncy castle things..............

the tournament base comes from somewhere. where did most tourney players have their first paintball experience? how did they end up being tourney ballers as opposed to commando types?

I agree with what your saying, yes majority of players did come from rec'ball, but why do they need to now?

Why cant we bring people straight into our lil world...?

 

[Dusty]

I agree with what your saying, yes majority of players did come from rec'ball, but why do they need to now?

Why cant we bring people straight into our lil world...?

because they aren't aware of it. once more people are aware of tournament paintball, then we can start to bring people in.

can you imagine turning up for your first ever experience of paintball and getting pasted by a load of ego's/dm?'s/insert high end marker here?? would exactly endear you to the sport.

however it is a lot easier to go up against someone else with a tippy or whatever and mot get totally wiped out.

slow and easy wins the race................

 

[Raffles]

Exactly.

Perfect example here (ignore the online games bits).

Anyone see "sup'air" mentioned?

This actually proves Pete's point.

I remember posting a 'question' a while back (over a year ago I think) regarding Tournament Paintball being given a name other than simply 'paintball'.

There is quite an active thread at the moment about 'what do people do when you tell them you play paintball'. Maybe a name change would go hand-in-hand with an image change.

Tell people you play paintball - and watch the smirk appear on their face - tell them you play 'speedball' (for eg.) and watch a puzzled look appear instead.

Don't get me wrong - I don't have the answers - I'm just trying to find the right questions...

 

[KitsuneAndy]

Disagree all you like Andy, the fact remains we can do jack-shiit in real terms.
We can all spout idealistic rhetoric such as, 'we can do this, we can do that, blah, blah, blah', but in reality you will be able to do .....nothing !!!!

And when I mean nothing - I mean not being able to create a sea change in attitude which is exactly what we need to remedy this situation.
Any notion that you can is more akin to sixth form naivety.

The momentum has to now come from the industry, they have the resources but lack direction and need convincing.
When financial imperatives finally make them sit up and listen, if in fact that happens, then and only then might they begin to address the situation.

This is the real world Andy .... join it mate !

We may not be able to do a huge amount, or influence vast amounts of people but there ARE things we can do to help. I wasn't disagreeing with the notion that it will take a lot more than the passion of a few 'ballers. Just with the statements that we can do 'nothing'. As you've expanded on what you meant by "nothing", I would say that I'd agree.

However, if enough players try to change things hard enough then maybe atleast some of the industry might sit up and take notice. Even if it is out of the embarassment that some of the players are doing more than they are!

We can let people know that we exist, that paintball is more than just an event used for stag do's or once a year rec ballers. It's not much, but it's a start. Right now, I bet 90% of the people who play paintball, even regularly play rec ball, dont even know we (or tourney ball at all) even exist. That is something that could be changed without getting any of the major players involved.