UK Meeting

[Raffles]

Certainly does mate. It'd be great to see Mr Bull running something along the lines of the original PA/UKPSF idea.

For those that don't remember - you had to be a UKPSF registered player to play in the PA. Every player I spoke to back then was more than willing to sign up and get their membership card (it was worn with pride - usually dangling from your gog strap - agg or what ) - and it was only a fiver (I think) - bargain.

I know that Steve does more than enough for the UK scene already (we wouldn't really have UK paintball without him and his colleagues) but I really hope he can take this forward.

I, also, know that there have already been lots of attempts to create some sort of players union - most of which fell foul of the usual players apathy. Hopefully, this time (with someone steering the ship) it will work and become the norm for UK ball.

As I don't play any more (but my son now does) I am more than willing to help where I can (and I only live about 10 miles from Steve). You both have my moby number - so make sure you shout me if you need me (no matter how small the task).

cheers

 

[Robbo]

I know that Steve does more than enough for the UK scene already (we wouldn't really have UK paintball without him and his colleagues) but I really hope he can take this forward.

cheers

Actually, Steve Bull is one of our game's unsung heroes because it's true to say, without Steve working tirelessly in the background, there is no way we could even get a foothold in the creation of this new federation initiative.

Steve has done so much work in terms of getting our sport formalised, recognised and accepted and I for one, have been negligent in giving him due credit.
Hopefully I will get an opportunity to redress that and I think this new opportunity will give Steve the necessary financial clout and gravitas to take his organisation forward when it's aligned itself with this new federation.
But make no mistake, none of what us guys are proposing or doing would be possible had it not been for Steve Bull.
And he did all that for what exactly????
Not for money I can tell ya that much... he is probably out of pocket to the tunes of thousands of pounds, and to my knowledge, has never really come knocking for money but he has kept going when the vast majority of others would have given up the ghost long ago.

He's one of our sport's good guys.

I think it's time the rest of the industry gave him some help.

 

[Raffles]

Seconded (or have I just thirded my post?).

 

[obladeo]

Sounds like a really good step. I know i'm new and i'm going to my first walkon on sunday but I had allot of problems finding information.

e.g.
Walkons in my area
When they are
Still haven't found teams in my area

I also noticed there’s allot of hostility between woodsball and other types of paintball. E.g. people calling my tippmann and stuff like that which tbh some people might have been knocked back by this (I’m not saying on this site just on others).

Tis life tho

 

[Hoodless ECI]

Sounds like a really good step. I know i'm new and i'm going to my first walkon on sunday but I had allot of problems finding information.

e.g.
Walkons in my area
When they are
Still haven't found teams in my area

I also noticed there’s allot of hostility between woodsball and other types of paintball. E.g. people calling my tippmann and stuff like that which tbh some people might have been knocked back by this (I’m not saying on this site just on others).

Tis life tho

You'll have trouble finding much around our area. This has a knock on effect to the amount of teams here.

Last season i was travelling to and from east London on a weekly basis to train.

Saying the above, Chris Pelling (NSPL) runs a fantastic event in twyford. Definitely worth a trip down if you're new to the scene when its in town.

 

[Raffles]

...I also noticed there’s allot of hostility between woodsball and other types of paintball....

This has always been a problem - certain types of ballers thinking they are above the rest. Every version of our hobby has it's place (even Airsoft). Not much will change in the UK paintball scene until everyone (players and providers etc) realise this.

Actually, this poses another question - does this 'NWO' cover every aspect of UK paintball - or is it just tourney based?

 

[Robbo]

This has always been a problem - certain types of ballers thinking they are above the rest. Every version of our hobby has it's place (even Airsoft). Not much will change in the UK paintball scene until everyone (players and providers etc) realise this.

Actually, this poses another question - does this 'NWO' cover every aspect of UK paintball - or is it just tourney based?

The line of accountability has its roots firmly based in tourney ball for obvoius reasons but one of the reasons we decided to try and do something is because all of us on this board realised a holistic approach was needed to get our game back on its feet and this meant looking at what feeds into the tourney circuit.

That of course is the domain of the woodsballer, rec player and punter.
You guys know full well what I think of the average site owner but there are some site owners who do try to stimulate the transition from woodsball toward tourney ball and it is these guys we must work with.
The likes of Barry Fuggle, Jon Payne, Russell Steele, Matt Green, Steve Bull, Tim Taylor and so on ....
These guys will be at some stage be asked to align themselves in the NWO but we haven't yet got around to developing a comprehensive structure whereby these guys will be formally integrated.
In this sense, we have to play it by ear and trust the people we have on the board to make the right decisions.

I don't think we will be looking toward having anything to do with the Airsoft guys mainly because I don't really like the idea of activities where the ethos seems to be wrapped around wannabee Rambos, that won't do us any good whatsoever.

 

[Raffles]

...because I don't really like the idea of activities where the ethos seems to be wrapped around wannabee Rambos...

So the MilSim paintballers (and some woodsballers/rec-ballers) aren't included then?

This has always been an 'issue' of mine - the term 'paintball'. With the inception of a NWO - is time for a name change?

To repeat myself (again) - tell someone you play Paintball and they say 'oh, OK, bye' and have preconceived ideas of fat men running around the woods playing Rambo. Tell someone you play 'Spheresome' (as an off-the-top-of-my-head example) and they are more likely to say 'what is that then?' - and have no preconceived ideas - as they've never heard of it!

I agree with your comment about certain site owners, but we must remember that they are running a business - and, as such, have to make money. This money comes from punter-ball and their £10/100 'bullets'. Without the stag-do brigade, these sites will die - along with the UK tournament scene (as punterball is indeed the main feeder for tourneyball).

Please note - I'm not trying to make waves here as I know we have to grow legs before we can even crawl (let alone walk), I'm simply playing Devil's thingy again.

 

[Biscuit]

it would be nice if the tournie scene would get it,s self sorted first by not putting events on the sameday like last year and maybe fewer events.we all know this sport is not cheap but a team trying to attend every event just ends up folding under the pressure of finances.less events but better run events would be better,they would attract more teams,we don,t want it like last year were teams had to decide which tournie to goto because there was 2 on the sameday ,all this did was split the teams ,so we got events with fewer teams so the standard of competition was diluted.so hopefully the event organisers can work together this time .

 

[Robbo]

So the MilSim paintballers (and some woodsballers/rec-ballers) aren't included then?

This has always been an 'issue' of mine - the term 'paintball'. With the inception of a NWO - is time for a name change?

To repeat myself (again) - tell someone you play Paintball and they say 'oh, OK, bye' and have preconceived ideas of fat men running around the woods playing Rambo. Tell someone you play 'Spheresome' (as an off-the-top-of-my-head example) and they are more likely to say 'what is that then?' - and have no preconceived ideas - as they've never heard of it!

I agree with your comment about certain site owners, but we must remember that they are running a business - and, as such, have to make money. This money comes from punter-ball and their £10/100 'bullets'. Without the stag-do brigade, these sites will die - along with the UK tournament scene (as punterball is indeed the main feeder for tourneyball).

Please note - I'm not trying to make waves here as I know we have to grow legs before we can even crawl (let alone walk), I'm simply playing Devil's thingy again.

'Paintball' is a generic umbrella term and because most people's knowledge of the word is restricted to punterball in the woods, then it should come as no surprise we get included.
However, I'm not so sure re-branding is gonna be high on anyone's list in the industry because the big guys are in the business of supplying the 'paintball' market.

I like the idea of re-branding so as to rid ourselves of that 'Rambo' connection because it has always embarrassed me but to make any re-branding effective, a few hundred thousand dollars would be needed to just scratch that surface and nobody's got the money or the inclination at the moment.


I am fully aware of the role site owners play in our sport and most transitions from woodsball to tourney are in spite of the site owners and not because of them.
I have also no problem in these site owners making money, tho I will add, with the mark-ups they command, loyalty to their suppliers is about as rare as rocking horse cr@p as a lot of them would switch paint suppliers in a twitch of an eye to save a tenth of penny on a ball .... and yes, a lot of them are that fackin greedy, and this is one of the reasons why the UK market has problems, the paint companies have no real margins to work with.
And don't look toward the majority of site owners to put any money back in the sport in terms of tournaments.

And to conclude, nobody who picks up a paintball marker will be precluded from joining, whatever format they play, the door is open to all paintballers.