Saints (New Zealand paintball team)
Saints, also known as Team Saints, was a New Zealand tournament paintball organisation active from at least 1995 into the 2000s. It fielded squads including Saints Gold, Saints Black and Saints Grey. Saints Gold led the independent Valhalla National Rankings in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and headed the published seven-player standings dated October 2001.[1][2][3][4]
History
1995 season
Saints won the 1995 New Zealand South Pacific Championships, held in Wellington over the Easter weekend.[5]
Later that year, the team competed in the Australian South Pacific Paintball Championships at Adventure Quest Games near Windsor, New South Wales. Saints did not advance to the finals.[6]
On 21–22 October 1995, Saints won a seven-player tournament at Tactics, Bethells Beach, Auckland. The team won nine of its ten games and scored 910 points. The contemporary report identified Rik Goldsworthy, recorded as Rick, as captain.[7]
1997–2000
Saints Black placed second in the 1997 Valhalla rankings with 79 points.[8]
Saints Gold led the rankings in 1998 with 92.5 points, followed by further first-place rankings in 1999 and 2000, both with 91 points. Saints Black and the separately listed Grey squad also appeared in the rankings during this period.[1][2][3]
2001 season
In the Valhalla standings dated October 2001, Saints Gold ranked first in seven-player competition with 400.5 cumulative points. Its recorded results came from the Northland Open, RotoVegas and New Zealand Paintball Nationals.[4]
Saints Gold also ranked second in five-player competition with 211 points and fourth in three-player competition with 152.5 points.[4]
These were independent rankings compiled from tournament results, rather than placings at a single championship.[4][9]
2004 Huntington Beach
Saints competed at the opening round of the 2004 National Professional Paintball League Super 7 Series at Huntington Beach, California, on 19–21 March.[10]
In an April 2004 interview with Rob Maddox for Paintball.co.nz, captain Rik Goldsworthy reported that Saints won three of its eight games.[11]
A photographic collection published through Martin Dannefaerd's Flickr account documents Saints at the event.[12]
Players
Rik Goldsworthy was identified as Saints captain in the contemporary report of the October 1995 Auckland tournament and in the April 2004 Huntington Beach interview.[7][11]
An undated photograph captioned Saints, Auckland, published by the House Steiner Facebook profile, contains tags identifying:[13]
- Amon Johnson
- Kane Anderson
- Paul Adams
A separate undated photograph captioned Saints Grey, Auckland (Lynx -Wellington) contains tags identifying:[14]
- Andrew Walbran
- Vanessa Page
- Wayne “Link” Hilliam
Hilliam was known as “Link”; Lynx Custom was his airsmithing business.
The photographs were uploaded on 18 August 2011, but their original dates have not been established. The tags identify people in the photographs and do not establish complete season rosters.[13][14]
Recorded rankings
| Season | Published entry | Format | Position | Ranking score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Saints Black | Combined | 2nd | 79 |
| 1997 | Grey | Combined | 5th | 71 |
| 1998 | Saints Gold | Combined | 1st | 92.5 |
| 1998 | Grey | Combined | 2nd | 78 |
| 1998 | Saints Black | Combined | 5th | 64 |
| 1999 | Saints Gold | Combined | 1st | 91 |
| 1999 | Grey | Combined | 4th | 77 |
| 2000 | Saints Gold | Combined | 1st | 91 |
| 2000 | Grey | Combined | Equal 2nd | 82.5 |
| 2000 | Saints Black | Combined | 23rd | 50 |
| 2001* | Saints Gold | Seven-player | 1st | 400.5 |
| 2001* | Saints Gold | Five-player | 2nd | 211 |
| 2001* | Saints Gold | Three-player | 4th | 152.5 |
Sources: Mercenaries Star's Valhalla tables.[1][2][3][4][8]
- The 2001 tables are dated October 2001. Their cumulative scores are not directly comparable with the averaged scores used in earlier seasons.[4][9]
References
- Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 1998. Archived GeoCities page preserved by OoCities.
- Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 1999. Archived GeoCities page preserved by OoCities.
- Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 2000. Archived GeoCities page preserved by OoCities.
- Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 2001. Standings dated October 2001. Archived GeoCities page preserved by OoCities.
- Australian Paintballer, June–July 1995, “Sydney HEAT Make Friends in High Places”.
- Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, “South Pacific Extravaganza”.
- Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, report on the Auckland seven-player tournament at Tactics, Bethells Beach.
- Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 1997. Archived GeoCities page preserved by OoCities.
- Mercenaries Star — Valhalla National Team Rankings: methodology. Archived GeoCities page preserved by OoCities.
- WARPIG, NPPL Huntington Beach 2004, contemporary tournament coverage.
- Rob Maddox, “Interview: Rik Goldsworthy”, Paintball.co.nz, April 2004.
- Martin Dannefaerd — Huntington Beach 2004. Flickr photographic collection.
- House Steiner — “Saints, Auckland” photograph. Facebook, uploaded 18 August 2011; original photograph undated. Caption and identification tags preserved in the supplied screenshot.
- House Steiner — “Saints Grey, Auckland (Lynx -Wellington)” photograph. Facebook, uploaded 18 August 2011; original photograph undated. Caption and identification tags preserved in the supplied screenshot.