UK Meeting

[size 6 feet]

even though i dont play anymore paintball has been a major part of my life over the past 18yrs on and off i would like to give all those involved in this meeting a huge pat on the back for finally tryin after so many attempts to save uk paintball for the players of today ,tomorrow and the future
and doesnt jimmy frensham think his a scottish george clooney?

all the best

 

[Lucky]

It would certainly seem to make sense ....... because, look where we are without one .... we need to do things differently.

Finally some great news, Pete.
Little steps at first until this baby can walk on it's own, and then we may get somewhere.

To show a comparison, a group of individuals in my trade set up something called the Fork Truck Association, at first company's thought "why should i bother joining" but then the association started gathering pace and power and everyone realised that they needed to be included, now every company that's worth a wink has joined and the Trade now has a representative voice to be reckoned with.

Hopefully if this co-operation continues our sport will survive.

So a big thank you to all concerned.

 

[tiger jedi]

Today, we have our first meeting with a view to putting the UK scene back on its feet.
The problem we face isn't gonna be sorted out in just one meet, far from it.
This is a process we are embarking upon, and it's a process that has all the right people involved.
Never before have so many influential paintball people in the UK met up with a mind to trying to put us on the right road, that in itself is encouraging.

The industry is comprehensively represented with all the big hitters in attendance, the leagues are well represented with Syd and Wendy and we have a proxy appearance from Steve Bull who although on holiday, gave me and Ledz a run down on what he thinks.

I think any meeting that has people like Ledz (Planet), Ellcie (Dye), Kee, Webby (SP), Piper (kingman), Barry Fuggle (Millennium), Jim Frensham (Warped), Spike (Draxxus), Gill (Just Paintball), Matt Green and a whole host more sends out a signal to UK ball that there is now a serious initiative to try and put things right.

We are gonna need expertise, experience, brains, money, compromise and comonsense...and we have those in abundance attending this meeting.

I'm attending because there is an apparent need for 'eye candy' (this mob ain't really been blessed in the 'good looks' department) and also to prevent any arguments from escalating

If this meeting doesn't become the genesis of our sport's revival in the UK then we are well and truly fcukaroonied.

Cross your fingers guys.

Hey Guys,

Great news this does need sorting a lot and its a shame it didnt happen when the Euro 5 Man and other promising events were still going, it just seems a little late to try and fix now and the answer is simple get the site owners to run walk on days thus promoting the sport not only the pastime (which is were the money is). I have as you know tryed for years to get the UK paintball sport up there inc Tigers, Stealers, SC Village, and Euro 5 Man, Walk-on Days all which have taken way more than 100k to set up and run and all which failed for whatever reason maybe my fault but defo the industrie has some blame as they just never gave the support (for me at least).

I am pretty gutted that nobody invited me as i feel i am 1 of the only people left =in the UK that tryed for the sport NOT for the money now there are lots of people wanting a look in cos they aint making the money which is why they turned there back in the first place. I would be interested to see who you have at these meetings that are gonna do so much. Good luck with whatever you do and i will support you all 100% but let me have a look in would be nice unless you think i have nothing to bring to the table???

Plaese please dont take this as an insult in any way as its not and you know i dont want to upset you or rock the boat at all anymore soo peace and i hope you and Debs have a great xmas and new year.

P.S Sorry had to rush a liitle !!!

Regards

Warren

 

[Devrij]

Can you vote us in a paintball national anthem to sing while we hold hands in brotherly harmony?

Being serious now, this is awesome to see happening and I hope like f*ck that it works out, as I can only imagine the kind of tensions arising in that room y'all are meeting in. Can't wait to play and support whatever league(s) comes out of this. Good luck in the next talks

 

[Robbo]

Hey Guys,

Great news this does need sorting a lot and its a shame it didnt happen when the Euro 5 Man and other promising events were still going, it just seems a little late to try and fix now and the answer is simple get the site owners to run walk on days thus promoting the sport not only the pastime (which is were the money is). I have as you know tryed for years to get the UK paintball sport up there inc Tigers, Stealers, SC Village, and Euro 5 Man, Walk-on Days all which have taken way more than 100k to set up and run and all which failed for whatever reason maybe my fault but defo the industrie has some blame as they just never gave the support (for me at least).

I am pretty gutted that nobody invited me as i feel i am 1 of the only people left =in the UK that tryed for the sport NOT for the money now there are lots of people wanting a look in cos they aint making the money which is why they turned there back in the first place. I would be interested to see who you have at these meetings that are gonna do so much. Good luck with whatever you do and i will support you all 100% but let me have a look in would be nice unless you think i have nothing to bring to the table???

Plaese please dont take this as an insult in any way as its not and you know i dont want to upset you or rock the boat at all anymore soo peace and i hope you and Debs have a great xmas and new year.

P.S Sorry had to rush a liitle !!!

Regards

Warren

Warren, when the original list of people were asked to contribute, it was felt they should represent particular areas of our sport, and these were the industry, the leagues and the existing federation (Bully).
I was one of those asked (it wasn't me doing the asking by the way) but if I were to compile a list of people tasked with sorting UK paintball out, I doubt it would have differed that much from the one already mentioned.

I have no doubt you have something to bring to the table, as have another 100 people in this sport but a line had to be drawn somewhere and it made sense to try and cut down on numbers for obvious reasons.

You are not a retailer or wholesaler, you do not run a league series and you do not run a federation and so your exclusion isn't personal at all.

If you take a look at who was there, all of those people, except myself, represent one of those areas just mentioned.

We have more than enough expertise at that table, more than enough experience, we also have the financial clout to actually make a difference and all we need now is a plan of action, and people to effect and oversee that plan.

I am not a wholesaler/retailer or a league owner or anything like that but I own a website site that is the lubricant of UK and European paintball and as such will be an extremely useful vehicle from which to launch any new initiatives.

I also think I was asked because they knew I had no business tie-ins with anybody, I don't stand to benefit financially from anything going on, they knew my feelings on UK paintball and for some reason trusted my integrity.

I have also spent many years on these boards trying to do what's right for UK paintball ...maybe that also made an impression, I don't know.

This new board has no intention of excluding anybody arbitrarily or for the wrong reasons, it's all about getting the right people to do the right job and that is exactly what was done mate.

We knew we would attract some flack, and understandably so, it's par for the course when anything new is attempted, especially something of this nature.

We don't wanna pis$ anybody off or exclude anybody out of hand .... on that you have my word but we cannot include everybody or it would all end up in tears as I'm sure you'd agree.

Have a great Xmas Warren and say 'hi' to her indoors for me.

 

[Robbo]

................as I can only imagine the kind of tensions arising in that room y'all are meeting in.

Actually, it wasn't the hotbed of tension you might imagine, well for the most part it wasn't anyway.
I think it was pretty much 5 hours of thrashing things around and trying to make some semblance of order out of chaos.
I quite enjoyed most of it and it was kinda fun to be part of something that was attempting something so ambitious.
The trick is....to keep the momentum going ...

 

[Grumpy]

I think this is a Great idea and I will Support it fully,

Well Done Guys

 

[jitsuwarrior]

Can't wait to see how this will pan out. Good Luck to all involved

 

[Raffles]

Was there any talk of a players membership scheme again (a bit like the ill fated PA/UKPSF tie-up) as I think it's a good idea - as long as it doesn't hit players pockets too hard?

 

[Robbo]

Was there any talk of a players membership scheme again (a bit like the ill fated PA/UKPSF tie-up) as I think it's a good idea - as long as it doesn't hit players pockets too hard?

First up, there are two initiatives merging here, one is the more parochial concern of UK Paintball and its need for reorganization, and secondly we have the 'new world order' emerging that has as its main aspiration, the notion of a world body being made up of national federations.

The former concern is what myself and the other UK guys are dealing with but we are also overseeing the integration of this reorganized UK body with the New World order that is to be known as the UPBF.

I think I mentioned before somewhere that Europe and the US will take up equal positions in this new world federation.

I think the best way to appreciate this is, we are trying to to create an accountable structure and to achieve that, everybody has to be sanctioned in one form or another.
This means league promoters have to be sanctioned before they can run UPBF derivative events, companies have to be sanctioned before they can support / sponsor and players and teams have to become members to take part in a UPBF derivative event.
I doubt any player membership fees are gonna be unreasonable because it makes no sense in making them too high when you are trying to attract new members coz remember here, it goes nowhere without you guys.
We have to make membership accessible to all

The hierarchy will have the UPBF at the head with, the European PaintBall federation (EPBF) alongside the corresponding American federation.
We as the UK, will have the UKPSF sitting underneath the EPBF.

This last point has to be talked about with Bully but in essence, I think he is OK with this structure proposal.

Now, none of this is cast in stone and there is room for maneuvre as and when things begin to get going but the basic proposals are as I have just mentioned.

I hope this answers your question Raff.