Editing Raiderz (New Zealand Paintball Team)

'''Raiderz''' was a New Zealand tournament [[paintball]] team documented in national competition in 2003 and 2004. The team's name was printed as '''Raiders''' in a 2003 tournament report, while contemporary 2004 sources used the correct spelling '''Raiderz'''.[1][2][3]

Raiderz finished second at the 2003 Auckland Queen's Birthday Superball, third in the Cup at the 2004 edition and fourth in the Cup at the 2004 Rotorua tournament.[1][2][3]

== 2003 season ==

The first presently documented appearance of Raiderz was at the Auckland Queen's Birthday Superball in 2003. The contemporary report, which rendered the name as ''Raiders'', described the side as a new team composed primarily of former [[Kamo Karzi]] players.[1]

Raiderz placed third after the preliminary round, scoring 809 points and qualifying for the four-team finals. The team finished second overall behind Phoenix. A Raiderz player identified only as Jason was named player of the tournament; the source does not provide his surname.[1]

== 2004 season ==

Raiderz appeared in the published seeded draw for the [[2004 Wellington X-Cess]], held during Easter 2004.[4] A contemporary tournament report confirms that the team began strongly but did not reach the final placings. The report does not give Raiderz an overall finishing position.[5]

At the Queen's Birthday Superball at Kumeu, Raiderz qualified for the four-team Cup competition alongside Evil Factory NZ, Saints and Sleazy Weasel. Raiderz finished third, behind Evil Factory NZ and Saints.[2]

Raiderz later competed at the Rotorua International Stadium tournament during Labour Weekend. The team reached the Cup semi-finals, where it was defeated by Smash and Grab. Raiderz then finished fourth, behind Sydney SWAT, Smash and Grab and Menace.[3]

== Players and team activity ==

A contemporary account by John Egan identifies Tony "Skinny" Dickson and "Big Sy" as members of Raiderz. It also records that Raiderz helped Egan's newly formed team prepare for the 2004 Rotorua tournament.[6]

In a 2007 forum correction, Sy Galt, posting as "Big SY", stated that he was the sole former Raiderz player still playing with Legion. This documents Galt's connection with both teams, but does not establish that [[Legion (New Zealand Paintball Team)|Legion]] was a continuation of Raiderz.[7]

No complete Raiderz roster has been established from the surviving contemporary sources.

== Team identity ==

The 2003 Queen's Birthday report uses the spelling '''Raiders''', while the 2004 records use '''Raiderz'''.[1][2][3][5][6] These records refer to the same team; '''Raiderz''' is the correct spelling and '''Raiders''' is retained as a documented source variant.

== Tournament results ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Date
! Tournament
! Location
! Result
|-
| June 2003
| [[2003 Auckland Queen's Birthday Superball]]
| Auckland
| 2nd[1]
|-
| 9–11 April 2004
| [[2004 Wellington X-Cess]]
| Wellington
| Did not reach the final placings[5]
|-
| 5–6 June 2004
| [[2004 Auckland Queen's Birthday Superball]]
| Kumeu, Auckland
| 3rd, Cup[2]
|-
| 23–24 October 2004
| [[2004 Rotorua Paintball Tournament]]
| Rotorua
| 4th, Cup[3]
|}

== See also ==

* [[Kamo Karzi]]
* [[Legion (New Zealand Paintball Team)]]
* [[Paintball in New Zealand]]

== References ==

# [https://web.archive.org/web/20041011120622/http://www.paintball.co.nz/articles/2003/qbw.htm Rob Maddox, ''Superball 2003 "Queens Birthday" Tournament'', New Zealand Paintball, June 2003.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20041012125821/http://www.paintball.co.nz/articles/2004/qbw2004.htm Rob Maddox, ''The 2004 Queens Birthday Event'', New Zealand Paintball, June 2004.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20051218174533/http://www.paintball.co.nz/articles/2004/roto2004.htm Rob Maddox, ''The Rotorua Event: 2004'', New Zealand Paintball, October 2004.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20060117132820/http://p069.ezboard.com:80/fnzpaintballfrm30.showPrevMessage?topicID=38.topic ''draw for easter'', NZPaintball forum, 5 April 2004. Archived seeded draw.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20051218181156/http://www.paintball.co.nz/articles/2004/wgtn2004a.htm Rob Maddox, ''The Wellington X-Cess Event 2004'', New Zealand Paintball, April 2004.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20051218194156/http://www.paintball.co.nz/articles/2004/rotonewb.htm John "Hellraiser" Egan, ''From Bush to Air: A new team's review of Rotorua'', New Zealand Paintball, October 2004.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20130218070622/http://paintball.net.nz/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=703 "Big SY", correction in ''Auckland Super 5's Series Thread'', NZ P8NT, 31 August 2007.]

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