Saints (New Zealand paintball team)

Saints, also known as Team Saints, was a New Zealand tournament paintball organisation active during the 1990s and 2000s. It fielded squads including Saints Gold, Saints Black and Saints Grey. Contemporary reports document Nationals victories by Saints Gold in 1998 and entries named Saints in 2000 and 2001.[25][27][28]

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] Later records document Saints at Huntington Beach in 2004 and in the 2006 Super 5s.[10][11][23]

History

Early participation

In his undated New Zealand Paintball profile, preserved in February 1998, Saints captain Rik Goldsworthy named the 1991 Australasian South Pacific ten-player Open when asked about his greatest paintball achievement. His brief response does not establish a placing or identify the team with which he competed.[15]

The available player accounts do not establish a confirmed Saints founding date.

1995 season

Saints won the 1995 New Zealand South Pacific Championships, held in Wellington over 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. Seven ten-player teams contested the R. P. Scherer-sponsored event. Saints did not advance to the finals.[6][21]

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]

1996 Australian Masters

Saints competed at the 1996 Australian Masters at Skirmish Adventures in Helensburgh, New South Wales. The APPL-sanctioned event attracted fourteen teams from Australia, New Zealand and the United States and used professional and amateur divisions.[22]

The contemporary report identifies Saints as a professional team but does not establish its final placing.[22]

1997 season

At the 25–26 October 1997 New Zealand Paintball Nationals, Saints Black finished second overall with 866 points, while Saints Grey finished fifth with 780. The report identifies Jo Pitts as Saints Black captain and notes that other Saints players were competing in Orlando.[24]

Pitts's individual profile also recalls a Saints trip to Australia in November 1997, including games against Thunderpigs and Black Reign's second team. It does not provide a complete squad or tournament placing.[19]

Saints Black placed second in the retrospectively compiled 1997 Valhalla rankings with 79 ranking points.[8]

1998–2000

Saints Gold won the 24–25 October 1998 Nationals with 1,290 points from a possible 1,300. Saints Grey finished third with 970 points. The report identifies Rik Goldsworthy as Saints Gold captain.[25]

At the 23–24 October 1999 Nationals, Saints Gold finished second with 1,025 points, behind Paint Contractors. Saints Grey finished sixth with 715. Saints Gold also received the Team of the Year award presented at that event.[26]

At the 21–22 October 2000 Nationals, the entry named Saints won the First Division after recording 1,000 preliminary points. The report does not print its final-round points.[27]

Saints Gold led the Valhalla rankings in 1998 with 92.5 points, followed by further first-place rankings in 1999 and 2000, both with 91 points.[1][2][3]

The Valhalla tables also list Grey separately. Those ranking entries are not combined here with Saints Grey, because the ranking tables do not explicitly establish that identification.[1][2][3][8]

2001 season

Saints won the Northland Open on 25 February 2001, held at Jubilee Park in Whangārei, with 900 points.[29]

At the 2001 Nationals, Saints won the First Division with 225 final-round points, ahead of Katipo, Jetts and Flashpoint. The report describes the team as led by Rik Goldsworthy.[28]

In the Valhalla standings dated October 2001, Saints Gold ranked first in seven-player competition with 400.5 cumulative ranking points. Its recorded contributions came from the Northland Open, RotoVegas and Nationals.[4]

Saints Gold also ranked second in five-player competition with 211 points and fourth in three-player competition with 152.5. These were calculated rankings rather than placings at a single championship.[4][9]

2002 competition

At The Gathering on 26 January 2002, a three-player hopper-ball event at Actions Paintball in Swanson, Saints 2 won with 20 points. Saints 1 shared second place with GPS and GBR on 16 points.[31]

The following day, Saints won the Combat Zone three-player tournament at Ardmore with 730 points. The two events used different scoring systems, so their totals are not directly comparable.[31][32]

Saints also won the 2002 Northland Open, scoring 666 points and taking the First Division trophy. Rik Goldsworthy is explicitly identified as captain in the report.[30]

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]

2006 season

In a post dated 19 April 2006, the organiser of the Wellington Easter tournament identified Saints as the team that won the Cup. The recovered discussion does not provide a complete result table.[33]

Saints also competed in Division 1 of the 2006 Super 5s. The final standings, published after the December round, placed Saints fourth with 3,203 championship points.[23]

2006 Super 5s Division 1 standings

Position	Team	Championship points
1	Menace	8,688
2	XXX	7,533
3	Phantom	3,823
4	Saints	3,203

The December round results listed eleven participating teams but did not include Saints. The source establishes Saints' final season total and divisional placing, but not a Saints score for that round.[23]

Players and leadership

Dated captaincy records

Date	Published team or squad	Captain	Source
October 1995	Saints	Rik Goldsworthy, recorded as Rick	[7]
October 1997	Saints Black	Jo Pitts	[24]
October 1998	Saints Gold	Rik Goldsworthy	[25]
1999 Nationals	Saints Gold	Rik, as named in the report	[26]
2001 Nationals	Saints	Rik Goldsworthy, described as leading the team	[28]
2002 Northland Open	Saints	Rik Goldsworthy	[30]
April 2004	Saints	Rik Goldsworthy	[11]

These records document particular events and interviews. They do not establish uninterrupted captaincy between the listed dates.

Contemporary player profiles

The New Zealand Paintball website published profiles identifying the following Saints members. The first six survive in February 1998 captures; the Kyn Jackson profile cited here survives in an April 2002 capture. The questionnaires are undated and do not constitute a complete event roster.[15][16][17][18][19][20][34]

Player	Documented involvement	Source
Rik Goldsworthy	Identified as Saints captain. His profile spells his surname Goldworthy.	[15]
Amon Johnson	Identified as a Saints member.	[16]
David Caton	Described as a longstanding Saints member who managed Commando One Paintball in Auckland.	[17]
Ian MacDonald	Described as a longstanding Saints member and supporter of stock-class paintball.	[18]
Jo Pitts	Saints member; previously played for Kamo Karzi and NSS. His playing position is described as extreme point.	[19]
Keith Docherty	Saints member and equipment supplier; previously played for Dragons Claw and The Goodies.	[20]
Kyn Allan Jackson	Actions Paintball field operator and Saints member.	[34]

These profiles establish individual associations, not a single combined Saints Gold, Black or Grey squad.

Photographic identifications

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]

Selected tournament results

Date	Competition	Published entry	Recorded result	Source
Easter 1995	New Zealand South Pacific Championships	Saints	1st	[5]
21–22 October 1995	Tactics seven-player tournament	Saints	1st; 910 points	[7]
25–26 October 1997	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Black	2nd overall; 866 points	[24]
25–26 October 1997	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Grey	5th overall; 780 points	[24]
24–25 October 1998	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Gold	1st; 1,290 points	[25]
24–25 October 1998	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Grey	3rd; 970 points	[25]
23–24 October 1999	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Gold	2nd; 1,025 points	[26]
23–24 October 1999	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Grey	6th; 715 points	[26]
21–22 October 2000	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints	1st, First Division; 1,000 preliminary points	[27]
25 February 2001	Northland Open	Saints	1st; 900 points	[29]
2001	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints	1st, First Division; 225 final-round points	[28]
26 January 2002	The Gathering	Saints 2	1st; 20 points	[31]
26 January 2002	The Gathering	Saints 1	Equal 2nd; 16 points	[31]
27 January 2002	Combat Zone three-player tournament	Saints	1st; 730 points	[32]
2002	Northland Open	Saints	1st overall and First Division winner; 666 points	[30]
Easter 2006	Wellington Easter tournament	Saints	Cup winner, as reported by the organiser	[33]

Entries named Saints are retained as printed in their tournament reports rather than automatically relabelled Saints Gold. Preliminary points, final-round points and scores from different tournament systems are identified separately.

Recorded rankings and standings

Season	Published entry	Competition	Format or division	Position	Score
1997	Saints Black	Valhalla National Rankings	Combined	2nd	79
1998	Saints Gold	Valhalla National Rankings	Combined	1st	92.5
1998	Saints Black	Valhalla National Rankings	Combined	5th	64
1999	Saints Gold	Valhalla National Rankings	Combined	1st	91
2000	Saints Gold	Valhalla National Rankings	Combined	1st	91
2000	Saints Black	Valhalla National Rankings	Combined	23rd	50
2001	Saints Gold	Valhalla National Rankings	Seven-player	1st	400.5
2001	Saints Gold	Valhalla National Rankings	Five-player	2nd	211
2001	Saints Gold	Valhalla National Rankings	Three-player	4th	152.5
2006	Saints	Super 5s	Division 1	4th	3,203

Sources: Valhalla standings and the published Super 5s championship table.[1][2][3][4][8][23]

The 2001 Valhalla tables are dated October. Their cumulative scores are not directly comparable with the averaged scores used in earlier seasons.[4][9] The Super 5s result is a separate championship standing and is not directly comparable with Valhalla values.[23]

See also

• Paintball in New Zealand
• Rik Goldsworthy
• Super 5s (New Zealand)
• New Zealand Paintball Nationals
• Northland Open
• South Pacific Championships
• South Pacific Paintball Championships (Australia)
• Australian Masters
• Valhalla National Rankings

References

1. Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 1998.
2. Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 1999.
3. Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 2000.
4. Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 2001. Standings dated October 2001.
5. Australian Paintballer, June–July 1995, “Sydney HEAT Make Friends in High Places”.
6. Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, “South Pacific Extravaganza”.
7. Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, report on the Auckland seven-player tournament at Tactics, Bethells Beach.
8. Mercenaries Star — Valhalla Hall of Heros: 1997.
9. Mercenaries Star — Valhalla National Team Rankings methodology.
10. WARPIG, “NPPL Huntington Beach 2004”, contemporary tournament coverage.
11. Rob Maddox, “Interview: Rik Goldsworthy”, Paintball.co.nz, April 2004.
12. Martin Dannefaerd — Huntington Beach 2004 photographic collection.
13. House Steiner — “Saints, Auckland” photograph. Uploaded 18 August 2011; original photograph undated. Caption and identification tags preserved in the material supplied for the existing article.
14. House Steiner — “Saints Grey, Auckland (Lynx -Wellington)” photograph. Uploaded 18 August 2011; original photograph undated. Caption and identification tags preserved in the material supplied for the existing article.
15. Who's Who: Rik Goldworthy, New Zealand Paintball. Archived February 1998.
16. Who's Who: Amon Johnson, New Zealand Paintball. Archived February 1998.
17. Who's Who: David Caton, New Zealand Paintball. Archived February 1998.
18. Who's Who: Ian MacDonald, New Zealand Paintball. Archived February 1998.
19. Who's Who: Jo Pitts, New Zealand Paintball. Archived February 1998.
20. Who's Who: Keith Docherty, New Zealand Paintball. Archived February 1998.
21. Gavin Costello, South Pacific's, War Paint, issue 1, January 1996.
22. Kez Svanberg, Australian Masters, War Paint, issue 4, November 1996.
23. December Super 5s scores, NZ Paintball Message Forum. Results posted 4 December 2006; archived 11 October 2007.
24. Rob Maddox, The 1997 Two Day NZ National “SplatMan” Tournament, Paintball.co.nz. Archived 13 June 2002.
25. Rob Maddox, The 1998 Two Day NZ Nationals Tournament, Paintball.co.nz. Archived 17 August 2002.
26. Rob Maddox, The 1999 Two Day NZ Nationals Tournament, Paintball.co.nz. Archived 17 August 2002.
27. Rob Maddox, The 2000 Two Day NZ Nationals Tournament, Paintball.co.nz. Archived 13 June 2002.
28. Rob Maddox, The 2001 Two Day NZ Nationals Tournament, Paintball.co.nz. Archived 6 August 2002.
29. Rob Maddox, The 2001 Northland Paintball Open, Paintball.co.nz. Archived 17 December 2001.
30. Rob Maddox, The 2002 Northland Paintball Open, Paintball.co.nz. Archived 6 August 2002.
31. Dazz Marshall, The Gathering, Paintball.co.nz, January 2002. Archived 6 June 2002.
32. Dazz Marshall, Combat Zone 3-Man, Paintball.co.nz, January 2002. Archived 6 June 2002.
33. ANTSMAN68, Prizegiving/afterfunction, NZ P8NT, 19 April 2006. Archived 18 February 2013.
34. Kyn Allan Jackson — Who's Who of New Zealand Paintball, undated profile. Archived 21 April 2002.

External links

• Saints at Huntington Beach 2004 — photographs