Europe Vs. America

[Tommikka]

9 hours ago, BigStew said:

I always wonder if airsoft sites should become sports clubs rather than business but could see it would be too easy for one team to muscle control if they were large enough. for now we are stuck in a twilight need the sport to be legit but being too legit could see every site under too many local councils/ civil servants with agendas and egos that either want any reason top shut sites down or bleed them dry ( the current model sites operate on are not a route to obscene wealth as many seem to think).  

Not for the running side (as dickheads will be dickheads) and what I would consider a ‘well run’ site should be on a business basis.

If an airsoft site is basically a local club for the local airsoft regulalars then why couldn’t it be on a ‘sports club’ basis?

(An element of business methodology will be required for using the venue/land, insurance, permission via the council etc)

 

When I refer to event organising we aren’t doing it as a business but as a ‘sports club’ style team 

 

But there is a point there ….. and the proof was shown when ‘COVID reopening dates’ happened / didn’t happen

Reopening included ‘sports clubs’ and the criteria needed to be Sport England (or equivalent) recognition, and council approval.

Council approval was pretty much rubber stamping of the Sport England recognition.

Sport England recognition has very specific criteria - paintball does not meet that.  But did get endorsed by Sport England for reopening.

 

Recognition includes many things such as a governing body, the scale of player membership, sites/venues operating under governing body standards etc

There has been work underway for many years pressing for that, the UKPSF exists and isn’t a compulsory governing body to operate, but is a recognised body across the industry and the home office
(Active) Player membership wasn’t sufficient.  This year they have passed the threshold

 

UKARA wouldn’t necessarily count as a governing body, but it is a representation for the trade community and is recognised as a way to establish ‘active player membership’ of something

(in the threads back at the time there were the other ‘body’s’ such as whatever the airsoft players Union is called.

A combination of those could make the way to a recognisable airsoft governing body

 

Come the day of opening being announced by government paintball & airsoft sites announced their first post COVID game dates.

Then read the small print.  
UKPSF cleared the criteria with Sport England paintball member sites read the UKPSF guidelines and were able to get a tick in the box from the council - even though paintball was not on the format sport ‘recognition list’ but did have confirmation of meeting the opening recognition criteria 

Non member paintball sites may or may not have just opened anyway

 

Airsoft sites then began to announce that they wouldn’t be opening,  some may or may not have opened anyway

 

Even with sites run purely as businesses the sports recognition would apply to the activity.

 

It is also not about the moaning every 4 years that dancing, gymnastics, chess, etc are in the Olympics then why can’t my hobby be a sport ?

But it opens the doors (literally during COVID) but also to council support, government grants, lottery grants and we’ve now missed the boat on EU grants

 

Got a little airsoft site? Struggling with the basics of running a safe chrono?

Talk to your governing body, set up a club with youth opportunities, get a grant to put in safe practices and fund some chronos ….

 

 

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, Tommikka said:

If an airsoft site is basically a local club for the local airsoft regulalars then why couldn’t it be on a ‘sports club’ basis?

 

That is an interesting suggestion, although rentals are such a big part of some sites that it might be a tricky one to argue if put on the spot by the Clipboard Stasi.

 

The Depot 1.0's Old Abandoned Furniture Factory was (notionally) owned and run by a local sports charity for local neds, thereby evadi- I mean, avoiding £180,000 a year in business rates.

[Tommikka]

11 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

 

That is an interesting suggestion, although rentals are such a big part of some sites that it might be a tricky one to argue if put on the spot by the Clipboard Stasi.

 

The Depot 1.0's Old Abandoned Furniture Factory was (notionally) owned and run by a local sports charity for local neds, thereby evadi- I mean, avoiding £180,000 a year in business rates.

Yes - rentals do mean you need a business

You can have a club element, but there’s no benefit to the way of running 

 

….. and of course the unknown element of random rentals off the street is a whole different ball game of consensual ‘player marshalling’

 

Run it properly

15 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

 

, avoiding £180,000 a year in business rates.

There are some fun ways of avoiding / minimising business rates

[Skara]

2 hours ago, Tommikka said:

If an airsoft site is basically a local club for the local airsoft regulalars then why couldn’t it be on a ‘sports club’ basis?

That is how airsoft is ran here in Italy.

We don't have sites, we have clubs (teams), each club has its own "field" either private or public, each club member pays for a yearly insurance fee (not much, about €23) + yearly club subscription fee.

Rentals are managed through one-time use insurance "cards" + whatever equipment the club has.

 

Treating airsoft as a business leads to very poor choices imo.

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, Skara said:

We don't have sites, we have clubs (teams)

 

It's an interesting model, but I can't say that I'm super keen on the sort of tribalism and over-competitive shenanigans that you've (occasionally) described.  I got out of historic re-enactment precisely because what should be a fun, casual hobby became a commitment to "support the club" at every event.

 

While I might grumble a bit - no, no, don't be shocked! - I'm actually pretty happy with the way airsoft operates at the local sites here.

[Leo Greer]

I spend about half my airsoft time at the field, but mostly I play on eight acres of woods with my "team" (friends). If you have enough buddies and enough space it's the best of all worlds: great players, create your own rulesets and game modes, and no worries about costs or insurance.

 

The biggest trouble is finding a place where its legal, or property owned by an acquaintance.