Flashpoint (New Zealand Paintball Team)

Flashpoint, also recorded as Flash Point, was a New Zealand tournament paintball team based in Dunedin. A contemporary team directory dates its beginnings to 1994 and records members living in both the North and South Islands.[1]

The team competed nationally from at least 1997 through 2011. Its documented results include winning the 2001 Invercargill three-player tournament and the Plate competition at the 2004 Rotorua event, finishing second in Division One at the 2009 Christchurch Easter tournament, and placing third in the round-robin stage of the 2011 Southern Series II event.[6][13][16][19]

History

Beginnings

The Paintball.co.nz South Island team directory states that Flashpoint began in 1994 and was based in Dunedin, with members in Tauranga, Christchurch, Dunedin and Tapanui. It describes the team as playing together only once or twice a year while regularly travelling to the Auckland Nationals.[1]

This is the directory's contemporary account; a separate formation record has not been recovered.

1997–2000

Flashpoint attended its first documented Auckland tournament at the New Zealand Paintball Nationals on 25–26 October 1997. It finished eighth overall and fourth in Division Two with 602 points. Its classification was discussed during the weekend, but the report records the final ruling that Flashpoint would compete in Division Two.[2]

At the 24–25 October 1998 Nationals, Flashpoint finished tenth with 455 points.[3] It again finished tenth at the 23–24 October 1999 Nationals, scoring 475 points.[4]

Flashpoint also played at the Easter 2000 tournament at Thunderball Adventure Games in Wellington on 22–23 April. A contemporary Phoenix account confirms its participation but does not provide an exact placing.[5]

At the 21–22 October 2000 Nationals, Flashpoint competed in the First Division and recorded 560 preliminary points. It did not reach the divisional finals.[7]

2001–2004

Flashpoint won the 2001 Invercargill three-player tournament, defeating Damage Inc 49–4 in the final. Four teams competed over two days on the Hill and Moat fields.[6]

Mark Abbott's report describes Flashpoint as defending its previous year's title. This attributes a 2000 Invercargill victory to the team, although a separate 2000 result sheet has not been recovered.[6]

At the 2001 Nationals, Flashpoint reached the First Division final and finished fourth with 30 final-round points. The report identifies Brian “B2” Thornley as captain.[8]

Flashpoint finished seventh among eight teams at the 2002 South Pacific Championships, held at Thunderball on 30–31 March.[12]

At the October 2004 Rotorua tournament, Flashpoint defeated Menace Blue to win the Plate competition. The event had 23 entries divided into Cup and Plate competitions after pool play.[13]

Later competition

In a retrospective Facebook post, Thornley identified footage of Flashpoint playing Blindboyz at Grenada Field in Wellington in 2007. He described Flashpoint as his former team. The post does not identify a tournament, result or complete roster.[14]

At the 2008 Wellington Easter tournament, the preliminary table recorded Flashpoint with 416 points. The final overall results used the spelling “Flash Point” and placed the team ninth among 13 entries.[15]

Flashpoint finished second in Division One at the 2009 Christchurch Easter five-player tournament with 1,222 points, behind SCK Factory and ahead of STK.[16][17]

At the Christchurch Easter event in 2010, a contemporary results post placed Flashpoint third among seven teams. The accompanying figure of 70 was an unofficial ranking allocation calculated by the poster rather than a raw tournament score or an adopted season total.[18]

Flashpoint competed at Southern Series II in Ashburton in 2011. The organiser's results placed the Dunedin team third in the double round robin with 1,668 points. Flashpoint subsequently finished fourth in the separate Ashburton Cup play-off.[19]

Team organisation and players

Brian Thornley's On The Road Again, listed among Paintball.co.nz's 2002 articles, describes arranging Flashpoint's flights, accommodation and transport for North Island tournaments. He names Tofty, Mark, Alic and Tekky as North Island players arriving at the team's accommodation.[11]

The account documents a geographically dispersed team but does not provide a complete event roster or surnames for those four players.[11]

Published name	Documented association	Source context
Brian “B2” Thornley	Flashpoint captain	2001 Nationals report.[8]
Brian “B2” Thornley	Identifies Flashpoint among his paintball roles	Individual profile preserved in April 2002.[9]
James “Tekno” Archibald	Flashpoint player; described his role as a designated runner	Individual profile preserved in April 2002.[10]
Tofty; Mark; Alic; Tekky	Identified as North Island players in Thornley's travelling-team account	Article listed under 2002.[11]

The capture dates of the individual profiles do not establish joining dates or membership throughout a particular season. The name Tekky in the travel account is not expanded to James Archibald solely from its similarity to Tekno.

K.S.B. entry

Ken Ryder's report of the June 1998 Invercargill triples lists a Dunedin entry named K.S.B., comprising captain Kerry Brooks, Steve Sharpe and Brian “B2” Thornley. The report prints Thornley's forename as Bryan, while his own profile uses Brian.[9][20]

K.S.B. finished third. Thornley's participation connects the event entry with Flashpoint personnel, but the surviving source does not establish that K.S.B. was a formal alternative name for the full Flashpoint team. It is therefore treated as a linked event entry rather than replacing the published K.S.B. name.[20]

Recorded tournament results

Year	Competition	Classification	Recorded result	Points	Source
1997	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Overall / Division Two	8th overall; 4th in Division Two	602	[2]
1998	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Overall	10th	455	[3]
1999	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Overall	10th	475	[4]
2000	Wellington Easter tournament	Open	Participation confirmed; exact placing not established	Not supplied	[5]
2000	Invercargill three-player tournament	Open	Winner, as reported retrospectively in the 2001 event account	Not supplied	[6]
2000	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	First Division preliminary round	Did not reach divisional finals	560	[7]
2001	Invercargill three-player tournament	Final	1st; defeated Damage Inc	49–4	[6]
2001	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	First Division final	4th	30	[8]
2002	South Pacific Championships	Overall	7th	Not supplied	[12]
2004	Rotorua tournament	Plate	1st; defeated Menace Blue	Not supplied	[13]
2008	Wellington Easter tournament	Overall	9th	416 in preliminary table	[15]
2009	Christchurch Easter five-player tournament	Division One	2nd	1,222	[16][17]
2010	Christchurch Easter tournament	Overall	3rd	Raw score not supplied	[18]
2011	Southern Series II, Ashburton	Round robin / Ashburton Cup	3rd in round robin; 4th in Cup	1,668 in round robin	[19]

Preliminary totals, final-round points and individual match scores are identified separately. Paid-entry lists and planned attendance without corresponding participation evidence are excluded.

National rankings

Season	Ranking category	Position	Ranking score
1997	Combined	Equal 7th	55
1998	Combined	13th	35
1999	Combined	6th	74.5
2000	Combined	Equal 24th	46
2001	Seven-player	14th	77.9
2001	Five-player	13th	24

Sources: Mercenaries Star's Valhalla standings.[21][22][23][24][25]

The 2001 tables are dated October. Their accumulated scores are not directly comparable with the averaged values used in earlier seasons. Valhalla positions are calculated national rankings rather than placings at individual tournaments.[25][26]

References

External links

Flashpoint: On The Road Again — Brian Thornley's contemporary team account