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Heaven's Gate V - 23rd-24th June

JosheyB

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Feb 8, 2007
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Well, I don’t really post up much but what the hell!

We brought up all our camping gear on the Saturday but were unsure what we'd feel like at the end of the day, eventually deciding not to camp due mainly to the weather, but toilets and showers had something to do with it.

I only had the odd burger here and there which seemed pretty uncooked but to be fair there was quite a bit on offer and wasn’t ridiculously priced, so that was alright.

There were quite a lot of questionable calls and incidents with ‘reffing’ but I think everyone did their best and some people over reacted big time. I do understand the shortage of refs on the fields, some of whom had little experience but honestly there wasn’t that much to complain about.

The nspl scoring seemed to work quite well too as everyone could relax a little on the Sunday as points didn’t contribute to the league, and also battle it out against teams of a similar level and although the times on fields changed from the sheet, Saturday was pretty good too.

I don’t know why I’m posting, as no one probably cares what I thought and I've written so much, anyway this years Heavens Gate seemed to have a lot to live up to, although things weren’t perfect, I had a great time, hopefully the nspl will only improve in the future.
 

Magic_8ball

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Sep 24, 2005
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I think it all depends what expectations people had of the tournament. I've never played HG before, so cant compare it to previous years at the original venue.

If people went to the event with expectations of some kind of "Campaign Cup Lite" then they were always bound to be disappointed I feel. However, if people arrived expecting a weekend long version of a standard NSPL event, then I think they would have been satisfied; I know I was.

From a spectator's point of view, only fields 1 and 3 were readily visible from the side lines and there wasn't any seating or anything like that. Whilst this is understandable, it is perhaps something to be considered for next year, as HG is supposed to be the NSPL Showcase event is it not?

Marshalling is always a contentious issue, they can never do anything right by everyone. I think under the circumstances of having only 5 refs per field all the refs did pretty well. Obviously there are decisions that I feel should have been called differently, as well as some dodgy instances (eg, the Samurai/Storm scandal on Field 3 :rolleyes:), but all this again is largely down to the shortage of marshalls in my opinion. Aside from the lack of marshalls in general, many of the regular refs seemed not to be there. Most notably Pinki who I would rate alongside Kitch as one of the top refs in the NSPL. I think its also worth pointing out that in the majority of cases the players were very sporting and this helped to compensate.

I didnt get to sample much of the catering, but the food looked of quite good quality and reasonably priced. The lack of bar was sorely felt by many though I think :p

The lack of showers was definately a problem for those camping at the site (not me :D Cheers J :p), but the lads from Demolition Squad seemed to make the most of a large puddle just behind Field 1, whilst more people washed in the fjord and lake... Seriously though, with weather like that, on a grass (aka, Mud) site showers are really essential. Same goes for quality toilets, though I appreciate all the problems associated with Glastonbury and the last minute change of venue etc, just an area that needs improvement for next year in my view.

The one thing that really confused me (and everyone else i spoke to) was the format. To this minute I'm not sure how it worked. The first day's games were used to seed Sunday morning's games? then they were used to decide play offs? then the play offs decided the overall standing? I really don't know. Somehow we came 2nd in div 2, having entered div 3 :confused: I think next year a simpler format might be a better option, or at least make sure that it is explicitly and clearly explained.

As most people have said, this is definately not an attack on Syd or the NSPL. Just my thoughts on the event :)

PS - next year, try and book a bit more sunshine Syd ;)
 

HPUKer

Entity / Shootrtv
Jan 25, 2005
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Sat D1 was so close at the top, Storm, Outrage and Cyn all tied on 18 points, ED made the difference.

Cyn ended up 3rd, in div2 on sunday, having only dropped 1 of 4 sunday prelim game, and 1 in the best of 3 vs Stealers AM :)
 

walker

MK Storm
Apr 28, 2004
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(eg, the Samurai/Storm scandal on Field 3 :rolleyes:),
the only problem with that game was at the end when the guy mugged me he was already shot, the marshall ran over and called him out and pulled a 1 4 1. the problem with the 1 4 1 was that he pulled a mk storm player not a samurai player.

the 2 on 2 was fun tho:D
 

Magic_8ball

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Sep 24, 2005
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the only problem with that game was at the end when the guy mugged me he was already shot, the marshall ran over and called him out and pulled a 1 4 1. the problem with the 1 4 1 was that he pulled a mk storm player not a samurai player.

the 2 on 2 was fun tho:D
I know mate, I watched the whole thing, especially the 2 on 2 ;) Nice gun fighting there mate. Poor Lee didn't get a chance to do anything :p
 

walker

MK Storm
Apr 28, 2004
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thanks dude. i do feel sorry 4 lee. other than that and the toilets was a good weekend. oh and the weather but cant be helped.
 

webby

University Barbarians
I personally had a great time playing HG, but had never played an NSPL tournament before. Reffing was ok, some dodgy one for one calls on players with no visible hits, but we just took it in our stride as we were there to play ball and have fun.

My major gripes are with the facilities provided. The porta-loos actuall said in them that each should serve no more than 10 people for hygeine reasons. There were probably over 200 people there, a large number of who camped out and thus 5 toilets was not adequate.

The lack of showers when promised was also annoying, but we made do with baby wipes and pub toilets!

These are my only gripes, other than that I had a wicked time so have to thank everyone that was there, including the organisers, marshalls, trade stands and other teams. And thanks to Dyslexic Brians for the kind mention during the prize giving, had some great games against you and was happy to see another scratch team do so well.
 

DANIEL

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Jun 25, 2002
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we came 1st on the wrong day!!


I didn't play this weekend but was there for the whole tournament with MK Storm, we had a great time, the team got to play paintball to help us get ready for campaign.

From the Samurai game, it was very unfortunate but the refs admitted their mistake and gave us a chance to put things right. I have a lot of respect for that as most marshalls would have just said they had made a call and couldn't change it or have made something up.

there may have been a few things missing but to be honest we didn't camp, didn't need a bar etc.

the set up was fine for us, a staging area, a few marshalls, fields and teams to play. We don't need much more.


thanks to the marshals, syd, all the teams we played and congratulations to outrage.