Northland Open

Northland Open is the name of a New Zealand paintball tournament documented in the National Paintball League programme of 1997 and in subsequent tournament reports. Early editions took place in Whangārei, while later events bearing the name were held in Auckland and Northland.[1][2][7][9][11]

History

National Paintball League

The Northland Open formed part of the National Paintball League's First Division programme in 1997, alongside the New Zealand Paintball Nationals and Queen's Birthday tournament.[1]

The league was developed during 1996 by Ian Southern and Dave Pellet, with support from Splatman, Strategy Tag and Actions Paintball.[1]

2000

The 2000 tournament took place in Whangārei on a rugby ground converted into a temporary speedball field. The contemporary Mercenaries Star calendar noted that earlier editions had used different venues.[2]

2001

The 2001 Northland Open was held on 25 February at Jubilee Park, Whangārei. Ten teams played seven-a-side, two-flag games on a rugby ground. Rob Maddox's event report credited Brent of Strategy Tag with organising the tournament and Team Crisis with refereeing.[3]

The advance announcement named Brent and Cindy Mathews as contacts. It advertised Australian Paintball Players League rules, entry of NZ$70 per team, and arrangements requiring teams to supply their own paintballs and gas.[4]

Results

Saints finished first in the combined results, followed by Phantom and Wellington Phoenix. Tag n' Release won the Division Two award, finishing fifth in the combined table.[3]

2001 combined results

Place	Team	Points
1	Saints	900
2	Phantom	755
3	Phoenix	730
4	Extreme X	595
5	Tag & Release	585
6	Katipo	558
7	Warp Speed	295
8	Havoc	250
9	Solidaire	220
10	Insane	60

The event also contributed to the 2001 Valhalla National Rankings. Those rankings expressed performances as normalised scores rather than the raw points shown above. They listed some entries under different names, including Saints Gold, Phantom 5 and Black Dragon.[5]

Named players

Phoenix's contemporary account describes an eight-player rotation. Its roster and Maddox's identification of guest player Willy Aull establish the following event squad:[3][6][12]

Team	2001 event squad
Wellington Phoenix	Peter Hamilton, Mark Candy, Adon Upjohn, Jeremy Hooper, Evan Lewis, Willy Aull, Mark Waddell, Ryan Pike

Maddox also named Ange of Havoc as Player of the Match for the Havoc–Tag & Release game.[3]

2002

Organisation of the 2002 tournament passed to Wayne Rolleston of Paintball West after Brent Matthews was unable to run that year's event. Eight teams played seven-a-side, two-flag games under New Zealand Paintball Players Association rules. Kamo Karzi and Phantom supplied referees.[7]

An advance forum announcement advertised 16 March at Kumeu Showgrounds, Auckland, with unlimited paint and entry of NZ$100 per team.[8]

Results

Saints won Division One and Tag and Training won Division Two. Tag and Training also finished second in the combined score table.[7]

2002 combined results

Place	Team	Points	Division
1	Saints	666	Division One winner
2	Tag and Training	503	Division Two winner
3	Havoc	430	Division Two
4	Tag and Release	410	Division One
5	Titans	403	Division One
6	Goblins	235	Division Two
7	Katipo	118	Division One
8	Marksmen	57	Division Two

Named players and captains

The event report identifies Rik Goldsworthy as Saints captain and Reg as Katipo captain. Lurch accepted Tag and Training's divisional trophy. Havoc included guest players from Insane, although the report does not name them.[7]

Adam Pinfold of Goblins received the award described in the report as Player of the Match.[7]

2007

A tournament advertised as the 2007 Northland Open took place on 4 February at A Paintball Adventure, 80b Hunua Road, Papakura. The announcement specified five-player, unlimited-paint competition, with a round robin followed by finals.[9]

Eight teams attended. The results published on 5 February recorded separate professional and amateur divisions.[10]

2007 divisional results

Place	Professional division	Amateur division
1	Menace	Sinista
2	XXX	Nemisis / Cut-throats
3	Legion	Pirates
4	Foundation	Punx

Nemisis / Cut-throats reproduces the wording of the results post.[10]

Vota of XXX received Player of the Day. Johnny of Pirates received Move of the Day for advancing downfield without paint.[10]

2011

The 2011 Northland Open was held on 6 March at Strategy Tag Paintball, Mangapai, near Whangārei. Eight teams competed in the five-player tournament.[11][13]

Auckland's ADHD defeated Disposal Unit in the final. TPC Blast and Gary Locks shared third place. Contemporary footage of the tournament was published in March 2011.[11][13]

See also

• Paintball in New Zealand
• National Paintball League (New Zealand)
• New Zealand Paintball Nationals
• Valhalla National Rankings

References

1. Mercenaries Star, The Rise and Fall of the New Zealand National Paintball League; preserved by OoCities.
2. Mercenaries Star, Annual Tournament Events, 2001; preserved by OoCities.
3. Rob Maddox, The 2001 Northland Paintball Open, Paintball.co.nz; archived 17 December 2001.
4. Mercenaries Star, Northland Open 2001, contemporary tournament announcement; preserved by OoCities.
5. Mercenaries Star, Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 2001, seven-player rankings; preserved by OoCities.
6. Wellington Phoenix, News, Northland Open account dated 27 February 2001; archived 20 October 2001.
7. Rob Maddox, The 2002 Northland Paintball Open, Paintball.co.nz; archived 6 August 2002.
8. NZ Paintball Message Forum, 24 th Feb Rotorua and Northland open date, 30 December 2001–3 January 2002; archived 15 January 2002.
9. NZ Paintball Message Boards, 2007 Northland Open, tournament announcement; archived 20 March 2008.
10. NZ Paintball Message Boards, Northland scores, results posted 5 February 2007; archived 20 March 2008.
11. Paintball teams splattered in Northland Open, Northern Advocate, 8 March 2011.
12. Wellington Phoenix, Roster; archived 6 February 2002.
13. Northland Open 6/3/11, YouTube, published 7 March 2011.