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Baldrick [Millennium] on the Rack !

Andy

F*ck Those Guys
Jul 6, 2001
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may seem stupid but a scoreboard on the majority of fields would be nice. i know its hard for M5 but down the other divisions should have one.

A few years ago entry increased so that there would be nice turf on the ground, 'xl turf' i believe? now that's not used anymore does anybody know why not?
 

Biscuit

Well-Known Member
Mar 21, 2006
1,438
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wakey
Visit site
why is cc played in london same with paris ,they are not the cheapest places to hold events
but also not the cheapest places to stay
there are other cities that have major airports for overseas flights i;e manchester,birmingham
these would be more central and probable easier to get to for local teams and cheaper all round,
why do the mills persist on putting events on ,in expensive venues when it,s not required
cheaper venues means they could pass the savings onto the players and still make the same profit.
biggest moan from most events is the standard and price of food on site
obviously mills are charging the earth for these people to be on site ,but they have got to think.
there are not the huge numbers of people like at an event such as the f1 gp so the food vendors
have to charge stupid prices to make a profit
why aren,t these events tied in with other extreme sports events ,thus getting a wider audience
than just paintballers (doesn,t have to be extreme sports events)
invite sites to these expanded events to publicise their venues thus getting more players into the game,which means possibly more customers for them
 

k4p84

Platinum Member
Oct 14, 2009
1,069
243
88
www.paintballskirmish.co.uk
may seem stupid but a scoreboard on the majority of fields would be nice. i know its hard for M5 but down the other divisions should have one.

A few years ago entry increased so that there would be nice turf on the ground, 'xl turf' i believe? now that's not used anymore does anybody know why not?
The turf was great but pricey, I believe they went bust too....
 

onasilverbike

I'm a country member!
why is cc played in london same with paris ,they are not the cheapest places to hold events
but also not the cheapest places to stay
there are other cities that have major airports for overseas flights i;e manchester,birmingham
these would be more central and probable easier to get to for local teams and cheaper all round,
why do the mills persist on putting events on ,in expensive venues when it,s not required
cheaper venues means they could pass the savings onto the players and still make the same profit.
biggest moan from most events is the standard and price of food on site
obviously mills are charging the earth for these people to be on site ,but they have got to think.
there are not the huge numbers of people like at an event such as the f1 gp so the food vendors
have to charge stupid prices to make a profit
why aren,t these events tied in with other extreme sports events ,thus getting a wider audience
than just paintballers (doesn,t have to be extreme sports events)
invite sites to these expanded events to publicise their venues thus getting more players into the game,which means possibly more customers for them
I'm not here to defend the Millennium, however, I have a few observations to make on your post:

CC Isn't held in 'that London', its been held since 2007 in Basildon in Essex. If there are major airports around then accommodation is likely to be pricey! I seem to remember when they did hold CC in Birmingham next to the airport (2005) a lot of the foreign teams complained about it, believe me, hotels around there, especially on the NEC complex are not cheap at all.
We have had some cheap arse venues, Toulouse 2008 for instance, full of holes and surrounded by Pikeys, security running a Taxi cartel as all the accommodation was miles away. Conversely, Toulouse has had some of the best venues. The grotty stadium in Madrid, Charleroi, aka Belsham, to name a few.

The food for at least 50% of the events is OK, Germany and Spain particularly, or so I am told, I do my best to avoid event food wherever possible on principle. OK, The Basildon event has come in for some criticism, I believe it was a little better this year, but yes, after paying pitch fees, the caterers have to make money or they wouldn't be there in the first place. Citing the F1 GP is a bit of a non starter, have you ever been? - The price of food from the caterers is astronomical, as it is at many, many events. As I have said before, nobody is forcing you to heat their wares.

However, your point about holding an event in conjunction with another event is a fair one.


The turf was great but pricey, I believe they went bust too....
Plus laying all those squares as opposed to rolling out turf was a royal PITA! Where there is a decent grassed surface why use artificial turf?
 

Biscuit

Well-Known Member
Mar 21, 2006
1,438
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wakey
Visit site
onasilverbike far comments mate:)
as for gp i get free ticket every year:):)
farther works for fia but prices of their food is on par with mills
as for the airport thing i can understand the birmingham NEC thing but as i said expensive venue:)
possible example ,superbikes at donnigton
east midlands airport just round corner plus food vendors on site etc etc saving these guys money
as said they have to look at collabarations with other events ,this will raise the bar at very little cost to them
as for basildon not being london anything south of the watford gap is london to us northerners:D:D:D
 
Yeah I agree on not holding the events at ridiculously expensive locations.
London is very expensive, the transport system is a joke and its a total crap hole in general.

If its being held at Crystal palace then I understand. But otherwise there is no reason to hold it in the south. One empty field is as good as any other.
 

Echowitch

Southern Pirates
ID badges
Fair enough if you're doing every event the cost of an ID badge rounds out to a fiver per event. But £30 for a piece of plastic if you are only doing one event is extracting the urine. Perhaps they can change that (at the very least) to a per event ID cost, or you pay full price for one for the year. It might entice more people to play their local event if they weren't paying £100+ a head plus a third again on a piece of plastic. The only ID badge necessary for UK local leagues (NSPL, Super5ives, Masters, CPPS, etc) is a UKPSF badge which costs £15 and gives you the benefit of insurance.

Food
I spoke to Barry Fuggle about this last weekend and raised it with the Millennium last year as well. The food vendors need to be dealt with and Barry has spoken with them and has said he will again. This isn't a case of we "think" they are ripping us off. We "know" they are. One of my guys is a Basildon Police Officer and recognised all the food vendors and pointed out to us that they have doubled their prices. On the Sunday there was a car boot sale at the end of Field 2, I asked a woman on the other side of the fence how much burgers were and she said £1.50 to £2.00, whereas we were being charged £4.50

The food vendors apparently claimed that they needed to make a profit. Fair enough, every business does, but with a captive market that ensures a steady income, you don't raise your prices high to gouge them as Tesco's is only down the road. (As a lot of people noted, and went to this year rather than pay for ridiculously overpriced and sub-standard food.)

Rulebook

As others have said, it needs to be updated.
 

k4p84

Platinum Member
Oct 14, 2009
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www.paintballskirmish.co.uk
If the Mill could could encourage local councils etc to back events to get the costs down do you think they would have paintballers back the following year?

We are horrendously messy, not only in the general clean up of the paint fill sense but generally we do generate a lot of waste for a 3 day event ?

How often do we hear of paintballers being kicked out of hotels for shooting lights (Bitburg), smashing paint (Bitburg), shooting wildlife and cars (Paris) etc.

Maybe it is the boys on tour syndrome or that we are Brits but we are invariably drunk in the evenings and making a scene and lots of noise.

Paintball tournaments are small, there are only a small number of players that do attend these events. Small turn out does mean the cost will have to be spread over fewer wallets. Without the financial backing of external sponsors this can not change.

Ed