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SabreWolf

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Jan 25, 2005
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my view is that both sides of the arguement are valid in the respect that you can define tournyball as a sport because of its nature but the game as a whole is not.
 

SabreWolf

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Jan 25, 2005
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perhaps if they marketed it as the sport of supair ball on its own and not as paintball basically something totally new, maybe the public might look at it differently? just a thought
 

Biscuit

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Mar 21, 2006
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it,s not down to joe public to look at it and decide that it`s a sport.
It`s down to the sports council.
Know if by some miracle they decided to class sup-air as a sport then this would open up the flood gates for investment in new sites, clubs etc ,etc as we could apply for lottery funding and grants:) so until that day happens
we will not be classed as a sport till the sports council decide we meet their terms and conditions ,we can argue till we are all blue in the face but the sad fact is we are not a recognised sport in this country
 

SabreWolf

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Jan 25, 2005
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but isnt the aim to bring recognition? the biggest problem we have isnt that people dont know what paintball is, cause most people do.

but how many people know about tourny ball and that it even exists?
thats where the prpblem lies and a a massive reason why it isnt being seen as a sport. his is why i made the above suggestion
 

john251282

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2005
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Thats the message im trying to get across to you, why does there need to be a "governing sporting body" to define the notion of a sport? As ive stated earlier in my posts, that "sport" is to complex a subject to label by giving it a list of requirements.

Im not trying to create definitons and fit paintball into them to justify my postion, wether or not paintball has the label of a "sport" by some governing body ditached from the world of paintball, it wont change the current climate in paintball. im saying that in a sociological context, paintball economical, socially and culturally all fit into the same development patterns as other sports.
A governing body does not define a notion. It defines specifics, that specific in this case is, what is a sport. This needs to be defined so that the governing body only gives support to the people that meet the criteria. In our case a very clear definition is available and we do not meet it. Simple as that.

They are not "just some governing body" they are the people that are basically responsible for sport in the UK. We are detached from them because in comparison to some of the other sports that they deal we will look not even close to becoming a sport. There are no governing bodies anywhere in the world(as far as I know), there are lots of different versions of the game (not always bad for example skiing and swimming have variations, however they are specifically defined in rulebooks, which are controlled by governing bodies) and the VAST majority of paintball players do what most people would describe as a military simulation.

Compare that to other sports, with national and international governing bodies.

These bodies have definitions for all the equipment, the techniques, safety standards, for all the different defined types of a specific sport they allow. They are the ones that allow the teaching of official coaching/reffing qualifications. If new technology came out they are the ones that will say if it is allowed or not in competition. They are the ones that change the rules if they think it benefits the game. In paintball this is all determined by individual event organisers, who can do almost anything they want.

Just in case you think it is because I am just not passionate about playing. I have played numerous tournys nationally and internationally over many years, I have spent many thousands on paintballs, transport to events/training, entry fees and gear. Then due to a severe eye accident at a paintball event when unsuitable safety precautions had been taken by the event organiser, I needed surgery, months of trips to doctors and even now it is not perfect. After all that I still play as much as I can.


If you want to try to keep to some subjective opinion on what a sport is fine, BUT every recognised sport in the world works with governing bodies, objective rules, definitions and minimal if any subjective opinions, e.g. degree of severity of a tackle.
 
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Soul Doubt

Bhood!
Jul 7, 2009
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A governing body does not define a notion. It defines specifics, that specific in this case is, what is a sport. This needs to be defined so that the governing body only gives support to the people that meet the criteria. In our case a very clear definition is available and we do not meet it. Simple as that.

They are not "just some governing body" they are the people that are basically responsible for sport in the UK. We are detached from them because in comparison to some of the other sports that they deal we will look not even close to becoming a sport. There are no governing bodies anywhere in the world(as far as I know), there are lots of different versions of the game (not always bad for example skiing and swimming have variations, however they are specifically defined in rulebooks, which are controlled by governing bodies) and the VAST majority of paintball players do what most people would describe as a military simulation.

Compare that to other sports, with national and international governing bodies.

These bodies have definitions for all the equipment, the techniques, safety standards, for all the different defined types of a specific sport they allow. They are the ones that allow the teaching of official coaching/reffing qualifications. If new technology came out they are the ones that will say if it is allowed or not in competition. They are the ones that change the rules if they think it benefits the game. In paintball this is all determined by individual event organisers, who can do almost anything they want.

Just in case you think it is because I am just not passionate about playing. I have played numerous tournys nationally and internationally over many years, I have spent many thousands on paintballs, transport to events/training, entry fees and gear. Then due to a severe eye accident at a paintball event when unsuitable safety precautions had been taken by the event organiser, I needed surgery, months of trips to doctors and even now it is not perfect. After all that I still play as much as I can.


If you want to try to keep to some subjective opinion on what a sport is fine, BUT every recognised sport in the world works with governing bodies, objective rules, definitions and minimal if any subjective opinions, e.g. degree of severity of a tackle.

Now that is an answer :) wether i agree with it or not, from the social theorists i have read, i tend to agree with their principles on how sport has developed across the world, and how it continues to do so. In 500 years time people will be debating over the legitimacy off "galatic hover laser-ball" as a sport :D overall this debate has been great. ive got some great new topics and avenues to go down with my dissertation now aswel!

:thumb:
 

SabreWolf

Active Member
Jan 25, 2005
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I think paintball cant be a sport, i think if there is to be any definition of the sport, then supair ball needs to move away from the notion of paintball completely and move forward alone, it is really now the only part of paintball that is competative and pretty much the only marketable part of the industry as far as public and commisions and ideas of a sport can go.
When you say paintball to someone that doesnt have our knowledge, they automatically say, "oh yea i went once it was fun running around the woods", that is what the word "paintball" says to joe public, or any tv producer or investigator.

If you get a good marketing team to go out there with the words supair ball, the new sport.... see where im going with this?

It is no longer assotiated with the rambo woods rental days that everyone one DOES know about.

Food for thought....
 

Biscuit

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Mar 21, 2006
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sabrewolf i believe the guys that ran the pa tournies tried to get sup-air recognised as a sport,they came very close but the last couple of criteria beat them but only just
That and the ukpba getting involved and scuppering the work that they did:(