Editing East Coast Paintball League (section)

== History ==

=== Establishment ===

On 8 February 2020, the league announced that it intended to fill a gap in the social paintball calendar following the cessation of NZLS. Its stated aims included growing regional participation and encouraging existing players to introduce newcomers.[1]

The announcement also stated that ECPL would follow the [[New Zealand Race Series]] in adopting X-Ball.[1]

=== 2020 season ===

The [[2020 ECPL Round 1|opening round]] took place on 23 February 2020. [[Surge (paintball team)|Surge]] won the event, receiving 100 championship points.[2]

The league's published Champions Division table recorded six entries after the opening round.[2]

{| class="wikitable"
! Team !! Round-one championship points
|-
| [[Surge (paintball team)|Surge]] || 100
|-
| The Ponies || 94
|-
| [[Ballistics Unit|Ballistics Unit 1]] || 88
|-
| [[Ballistics Unit|Ballistics Unit 2]] || 84
|-
| BOP Black || 80
|-
| IDK || 76
|}

The [[2020 ECPL Round 3|third round]] was held at TECT Park on 26 July. Bay of Plenty club entries finished first and fourth. The club described it as the first tournament since the COVID-19 lockdown for many participating players and teams.[3]

A further tournament was advertised for 22 November 2020.[3]

=== 2021 season ===

The advertised 2021 calendar comprised three rounds at TECT Park:[4]

* Round one — 2 May
* Round two — 5 September
* Round three — 28 November

[[Expendables Feilding|Expendables]] won [[2021 ECPL Round 1|the opening round]], with [[Surge (paintball team)|Surge]] finishing second. The league's contemporary report also acknowledged participation by [[Crisis Paintball Northland]] and [[Kaos Theory (New Zealand paintball team)|Kaos Theory]].[5]

The September and November dates formed part of the published programme; they do not independently establish that those events were held.[4]

=== 2022 programme ===

The league announced four rounds for [[2022 East Coast Paintball League|2022]], scheduled for 20 February, 1 May, 18 September and 27 November at Bay of Plenty Paintball Club.[6]