Editing Northland Open (section)

=== Origins ===

The Northland Open developed during the expansion of organised tournament paintball in New Zealand in the 1990s.

Before the establishment of a coordinated national league, competitive paintball largely consisted of independently organised tournaments hosted by commercial fields and regional clubs.

Teams travelled between competitions in Auckland, Northland, Wellington, Rotorua and other regions.

The Northland Open became one of the principal tournaments on this calendar.

A historical account of the original National Paintball League describes the Northland Open as a new tournament included alongside the New Zealand Nationals and Queen's Birthday competition when the league was established in 1997.[4]

This provides evidence that the Northland Open was part of the original NPL programme, although its exact inaugural date has not been independently established.