General

[going_home]

Wakeup call for the NPPL....hello.... anybody home ?

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EDIT: Why the heck do the links keep going wonky in this forum ??????

[wolf13]

i expect this won't be the last major team to walk in the near future.

[mike31c]

Although I don't believe it is any worse than it was in 2006 I do know it has not gotten better.

Mr Walker, with all due respect, you, the NPPL, and some of the member teams has had your collective heads in the sand for far longer then the 2006 season.

This has been an issue that has been brewing far longer then most are willing to admit and although there has been improvements over previous reffing arrangements, there still has not been in place measures to prevent abuses from occurring in the first place.

When issues do pop up, you and the rest of the NPPL decide not to enforce the rules that you already have put into place, thereby giving your so-called "Rule Book" almost a laughing-stock quality we see in elementary school yard rules and not in the so-called "Professional" level you keep saying that we long time players have come to the conclusion a long time ago that you are being ignorant.

There is also the lack of vision on your part of what the NPPL is supposed to represent and what the team members want out of this sport and your meddling has only made the situation only worse.

This becomes evident when you had chosen to use in indoor facility at Kansas City with a Jumbotron and no one in the NPPL staff considered the fact that players could use that as their personal tracking screen.

Mr Walker, do you even PLAY the sport? Do you know what and how the players are playing out there on the fields? Do you even go out to these fields just to see how well some of the refs that are out there in Commercial Fields are doing? Do you even see or hear about players that are NOT part of the NPPL crap that you keep pushing?

Perhaps it's time that the NPPL actually did that instead of just blaming the poor quality of the refs that you yourself created.

[stevedavidson]

I know Shawn and believe that his thoughts and statements are sincere.

I just wish that they would finally figure out a way to get the funding for a professional crew.

[Dylan6-0]

If after SD you still feel like you would like to take Joy out of the NPPL I
will help you through the process.
What a Fing Prix. Joy Division is one of the coolest teams that plays the
NPPL. There wicked nice guys. At Boston after there games that just chilled with the fans for an hour.This is pretty sad thing for American paintball.

[sdawg]

Probably not going to help the NPPL get more referees for the president to publicly deride them.

I wonder what kind of incentive is given to the people who do agree to referee?

EDIT: stevedavidson, I thought I recognized your name. If I'm correct, you're one of the authors of my beloved 2nd edition of the Complete Guide to Paintball, and on page 17, adjacent to your interview, the book notes that you organized the NPPL in 1992.

That said, I am curious as to what you think about how referees and the rules in the tournament-version of the game have been developed over the past 15 years and how the NPPL can improve its admitted issues and challenges with officiating?

Of course, I'm interested to hear the opinions of other MCBers, although I'm not interested in hearing "those tourney players are all whiney cheaters" on repeat.

[kodiak61]

There is actually some pretty good discussions going on right now on PBN about this. About the only intellegent thread on the entire site. With some of the refs and pro players getting involved in the thread.

One of the things that we keep saying is pay the refs more and put more funding into the reffing program. And no this does not mean make us players pay more for entry.

This mean adjusting your budget. You dont need all those eye candy girls sitting around looking busy and sometimes doing nothing. You dont need tshirts to throw to the crowd or posters of the NPPL all over the place. And the money they spend on advertising the event to non paintballers locally is wasted in my opinion.

The ONLY event that draws outside traffic is HB and thats because they are comming to the beach already anyways. I know some say that the advertising helps, but seriously look around. Its paintballers and family members at events. The advertising isnt working.

So take all that money and dump it into the reffing program and get the players happy with the league. Happy players create more happy players. Which brings larger crowds and more money.

Unhappy players look for alternatives.

[Cunha]

Ref's should be full time employees of the NPPL, trained experts, professionals. It should be a ref's dream to get to be a ref for them, it should be a full time job one way or another.

[Mr. Furious]

I think some other teams need to nut up and do the same and their sponsors need to support them in their efforts. If the NPPL had no one to play their tournaments they would have to do something to get the teams back.

[Dylan6-0]

Almost any ref really doesn't do it for the money, unless you really young. You do it to help the sport. They just need better classes, and people that actually care.