Editing Comic Relief (New Zealand Paintball Team)

'''Comic Relief''' was a New Zealand competitive [[paintball]] team based in Wellington, with documented tournament activity from 2001 to 2002. Contemporary forum discussion also shortened the name to '''Comic'''.[1][2]

The team competed in the 2001 and 2002 [[Wellington Cup]] tournaments and the 2002 Hawke's Bay Triples.[1][3][4]

== History ==

=== 2001 Wellington Cup ===

Comic Relief's first recovered tournament record is the [[2001 Wellington Cup]], held at Thunderball Adventure Games in Wellington during August. The five-player centre-flag event attracted ten North Island teams.[1][2]

Comic Relief finished ninth with 152 points. Contemporary forum replies referred to the entry as both Comic and Comic Relief and described it positively as a newcomer team.[1][2]

The October 2001 [[Valhalla National Rankings]] placed Comic Relief fourteenth in the five-player standings with 21.7 ranking points, derived from its Wellington Cup result.[5]

A November 2001 team-contact discussion listed '''Tim Simpson''' as the contact for Comic Relief.[6] The source does not explicitly identify him as captain.

=== 2002 season ===

Comic Relief competed at the Hawke's Bay Triples at Stoney Creek Ranch, Hastings, on 2–3 February 2002. Seventeen teams played three-player centre-flag games, with each player limited to 100 paintballs per game.[3]

The team recorded −34 preliminary points and did not advance to the final. The report does not explain the negative total. Comic Relief received the tournament's “Most Stand-Out Team” award.[3]

Later in 2002, Comic Relief returned to the [[2002 Wellington Cup]] at Thunderball Adventure Games. Six teams competed after a scheduled seventh entry did not attend. Comic Relief finished sixth with 104 points.[4]

=== Relationship with Wellington Phoenix ===

A former participant recalls that Comic Relief later became connected with [[Wellington Phoenix (paintball team)|Wellington Phoenix]]. The available contemporary results show that Comic Relief and Phoenix were separate entries at the 2002 Wellington Cup, where Phoenix finished fifth and Comic Relief sixth.[4] The relationship should therefore not be presented as a simple change of name at that time.

The recollection may describe a later movement of Comic Relief players into the existing Phoenix organisation or a later organisational succession. No contemporary source establishing the date, transferred players or precise form of that transition has been recovered.

== Documented personnel ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Person
! Documented association
|-
| Tim Simpson
| Listed as the Comic Relief contact in November 2001; the source does not establish that he was captain.[6]
|}

== Tournament results ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Tournament
! Format
! Result
|-
| 2001
| [[2001 Wellington Cup]]
| Five-player
| 9th of 10; 152 points[1]
|-
| 2002
| Hawke's Bay Triples
| Three-player
| 17th in the preliminary table; −34 points; Most Stand-Out Team award[3]
|-
| 2002
| [[2002 Wellington Cup]]
| Five-player
| 6th of 6; 104 points[4]
|}

== See also ==

* [[Wellington Phoenix (paintball team)]]
* [[Wellington Cup]]
* [[Paintball in New Zealand]]

== References ==

# [https://web.archive.org/web/20020817070604/http://www.paintball.co.nz/wgtn2001.htm Martin Dannefaerd, ''The 2001 Wellington Cup'', Paintball.co.nz, 2001.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20020115004837/http://pub73.ezboard.com:80/fnzpaintballfrm6.showMessage?topicID=3.topic Wellington Cup discussion, NZ Paintball Message Forum, June–August 2001.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20021025162718/http://www.paintball.co.nz/hb3man2002.htm Dazz Marshall, ''Hawkes Bay 3-Man 2002'', Paintball.co.nz, February 2002.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20051218182846/http://www.paintball.co.nz/articles/2002/wellingtoncup.htm Peter Hamilton, ''Wellington Cup 2002'', Paintball.co.nz, August 2002.]
# [https://www.oocities.org/mercstar_nz/VALHALLA/2001Hall.htm ''Valhalla National Rankings'', Mercenaries Star, October 2001.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20020102013147/http://pub73.ezboard.com:80/fnzpaintballfrm2.showMessage?topicID=101.topic ''Team Captain Contact Details'', NZ Paintball Message Forum, November 2001.]

[[Category:New Zealand paintball teams]]
[[Category:Paintball in Wellington]]
[[Category:2000s in New Zealand paintball]]