Saints (New Zealand paintball team)

New Zealand tournament paintball team

Saints, also known as Team Saints, was a New Zealand tournament paintball organisation active from at least 1995 into the 2000s. The team won the 1995 South Pacific Championships in Wellington and the 1995 Auckland seven-player tournament.[1][2]

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the organisation entered squads including Saints Gold and Saints Black. A veteran squad recorded as Grey or Saints Grey was also associated with the team. Saints Gold led the independent Valhalla National Rankings in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and headed the published seven-player rankings for 2001.[5][6][7][8]

Saints also competed internationally, travelling to Australia in 1995 and to the United States for the 2004 National Professional Paintball League tournament at Huntington Beach.[3][10]

History

1995 season

New Zealand South Pacific Championship

Saints won the 1995 New Zealand South Pacific Championships, held in Wellington over the Easter weekend. The Australian team Sydney HEAT finished second.[1]

The result demonstrates that Saints had already become one of New Zealand's leading tournament teams by early 1995. It also gave Sydney HEAT its first tournament appearance outside Australia.[1]

Australian South Pacific Championships

Later in 1995, Saints travelled to New South Wales to contest the Australian South Pacific Paintball Championships at Adventure Quest Games near Windsor. Seven ten-player teams competed: Saints, Top Hat Jokers, Sydney SWAT, Black Reign, Black Reign/No Fear, Hardline and United Newcastle.[3]

Saints played strongly but did not advance to the four-team finals. Top Hat Jokers won the tournament, followed by Black Reign, SWAT and Black Reign/No Fear.[3]

In Australian Paintballer's retrospective rankings for the 1995 Australian season, Saints received 56.25 professional ranking points from its single tournament appearance.[4]

The Australian competition was separate from the New Zealand South Pacific Championships won by Saints earlier in the year.

Auckland tournament

Saints won a seven-player tournament held at Tactics, Bethells Beach, Auckland, on 21–22 October 1995. Six teams competed in a double round-robin format, playing each opponent once from each end of the field.[2]

Saints won nine of its ten games, recording five maximum scores and three scores of 98 points. The team finished with 910 points, ahead of X-Men on 683 and Katapo on 628.[2]

Position	Team	Points
1	Saints	910
2	X-Men	683
3	Katapo	628
4	Whangarei Paint Contractors	324
5	Dragons Claw Hell Patrol	293
6	Dragons Claw Sentinels	−35

A contemporary report identified Rick as the Saints captain at the tournament.[2]

Later 1990s

The April–June 1997 issue of the Australasian magazine Paintballer featured Saints on its cover under the headline "Warriors Still!", describing the team as seeking to regain its feared status.[11]

The team subsequently appeared in the independent Valhalla rankings through several separately recorded squads.

Saints Black finished second in the 1997 rankings with 79 points, behind Katipo. At the 1997 New Zealand Paintball Nationals, Saints Black also placed second behind Katipo, scoring 866 tournament points.[9]

Saints Gold led the 1998 Valhalla rankings with 92.5 points. Grey placed second and Saints Black fifth, giving the wider Saints organisation three entries among the leading five teams.[5]

At the 1998 New Zealand Nationals, Saints Gold won the tournament with 1,290 points. Paint Contractors finished second with 1,008, while the team recorded in the tournament results as Saints Grey placed third with 970.[5]

Saints Gold remained first in the 1999 Valhalla rankings with 91 points. Grey placed fourth with 77.[6]

2000 season

Saints Gold led the Valhalla rankings for a third consecutive season in 2000, recording 91 points. The ranking compiler noted that the squad had averaged approximately 96 per cent of the available points during the preliminary stages of its tournaments.[7]

Grey finished equal second with Team Crisis on 82.5 points. Saints Black was also recorded in the standings, placing twenty-third with 50 points.[7]

2001 season

Valhalla published separate seven-, five- and three-player rankings in 2001. Saints Gold appeared in all three formats.[8]

In the seven-player rankings, Saints Gold placed first among 23 entries with 400.5 cumulative points. Its results incorporated the Northland Open, RotoVegas and New Zealand Nationals.[8]

Saints Gold – 2001 seven-player ranking contributions
Competition stage	Points
Northland Open	100
RotoVegas preliminary round	83.4
RotoVegas First Division round	73.3
Nationals preliminary round	87.5
Nationals First Division final	56.3
Total	400.5

Saints Gold placed second in the five-player rankings with 211 points, behind Tag n' Release on 214.5. These standings incorporated the South Pacific Championships and Wellington Cup.[8]

The squad also placed fourth in the three-player rankings with 152.5 points. The three-player category incorporated the Hawkes Bay Triples, Indoor Three-Man Open and Combat Zone competitions.[8]

2004 NPPL Huntington Beach

Saints travelled to California to compete in the NPPL Super 7 Series tournament at Huntington Beach on 19–21 March 2004. The event attracted approximately 160 teams from twelve countries.[12]

Saints player and captain Rik Goldsworthy subsequently discussed the tournament in an interview conducted by Rob Maddox for Paintball.co.nz. Goldsworthy reported that Saints won three of its eight games.[13]

The interview documents the team's continued activity beyond the years covered by the surviving Valhalla rankings. Goldsworthy also expressed an intention for the team to return to Huntington Beach the following year, although the available source does not confirm that a further appearance took place.[13]

Team structure

Saints Gold

Saints Gold was the organisation's principal competitive squad during the late 1990s and early 2000s. It led the Valhalla rankings for three consecutive seasons from 1998 to 2000 and led the published seven-player standings in 2001.[5][6][7][8]

Saints Black

Saints Black competed as a separately ranked squad. It finished second in the 1997 Valhalla rankings and at the 1997 New Zealand Nationals. The squad placed fifth in the 1998 rankings and also appeared in the 2000 standings.[5][7][9]

Grey

Grey was recorded separately in most Valhalla ranking tables. The 1998 New Zealand Nationals results identified the entry as Saints Grey, supporting its association with the wider Saints organisation.[5]

Grey placed fifth in the 1997 rankings, second in 1998, fourth in 1999 and equal second in 2000.[5][6][7][9]

Valhalla treated separately named squads as independent ranking entries rather than combining their results under a single organisation.[14]

Selected tournament results

Year	Tournament	Squad	Result
1995	South Pacific Championships	Saints	First
1995	Australian South Pacific Paintball Championships	Saints	Did not reach finals
1995	Auckland seven-player tournament	Saints	First
1997	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Black	Second
1998	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Gold	First
1998	New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Saints Grey	Third
2004	NPPL Huntington Beach	Saints	Three wins from eight games

National ranking record

Year	Squad	Format	Position	Score
1997	Saints Black	Combined	Second	79
1997	Grey	Combined	Fifth	71
1998	Saints Gold	Combined	First	92.5
1998	Grey	Combined	Second	78
1998	Saints Black	Combined	Fifth	64
1999	Saints Gold	Combined	First	91
1999	Grey	Combined	Fourth	77
2000	Saints Gold	Combined	First	91
2000	Grey	Combined	Equal second	82.5
2000	Saints Black	Combined	Twenty-third	50
2001	Saints Gold	Seven-player	First	400.5
2001	Saints Gold	Five-player	Second	211
2001	Saints Gold	Three-player	Fourth	152.5

The 2001 figures are cumulative tournament-round totals and are not directly comparable with the ranking scores used in previous seasons.[8]

Notable players

Rick – identified as the Saints captain at the 1995 Auckland tournament.[2]
Rik Goldsworthy – Saints player and captain during the 2000s; represented the team at the 2004 NPPL Huntington Beach tournament.[13]

The available sources do not establish whether Rick from the 1995 team and Rik Goldsworthy were the same person.

References

Australian Paintballer, June–July 1995, "Sydney HEAT Make Friends in High Places".
Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, report on the Auckland seven-player tournament at Tactics, Bethells Beach.
Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, "South Pacific Extravaganza".
Australian Paintballer, April–June 1996, "1995 Australian Team Rankings".
Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 1998. Mercenaries Star.
Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 1999. Mercenaries Star.
Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 2000. Mercenaries Star.
Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 2001. Mercenaries Star.
Valhalla Hall of Heroes – 1997. Mercenaries Star.
Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, report on the Saints' 1995 Australian tournament appearance.
Paintballer, issue 16, April–June 1997, cover feature, "Warriors Still! The Saints Determined to Regain Feared Status!".
WARPIG – NPPL Huntington Beach 2004.
Rob Maddox, "Interview: Rik Goldsworthy", Paintball.co.nz, April 2004. Archived Paintball.co.nz articles.
Valhalla National Team Ranking Methodology. Mercenaries Star.

External links