Phantom (New Zealand Paintball Team)

Phantom, also recorded as Phantom 5 and Phantom Five, was a New Zealand tournament paintball team documented in competition from 1998 to 2006. The team placed second at the 2001 Northland Open and competed in national, regional and series events under several related squad names.[1][5][6]

Contemporary records also contain the names Phantom 5 Black, Phantom 5 Purple, Phantom Menace, Phantom Red, Phantom Blue and Phantom Legion. Contributor clarification identifies Phantom Menace and Phantom Legion as Phantom-related teams. Phantom Menace subsequently became Menace, although contemporary records also show Phantom and Phantom Menace entering the same tournament as separate squads during the transition.[9][10]

History

1998 league

Phantom Five competed in the 1998 National Paintball League Second Division programme. A contemporary information page listed Todd Martin as the team's manager. The published league results placed Phantom Five third with 18 points, although the surviving page does not state when the table was last updated or establish that it was a final season classification.[1]

At the 1998 New Zealand Paintball Nationals, Phantom 5 finished ninth with 505 points.[2]

1999 season

Phantom 5 entered two squads at the 1999 New Zealand Paintball Nationals. Phantom 5 Purple finished third overall with 820 points, behind Paint Contractors and Saints Gold. Phantom 5 Black finished twelfth with 390 points.[3]

The same report identifies Gary of Phantom Five and NeoTech in an event acknowledgement, but does not give his surname or establish a complete playing roster.[3]

2000–2002

Phantom 5 scored 659 points in the preliminary stage of the 2000 New Zealand Paintball Nationals, where it was classified in Division One. It did not advance to the four-team divisional final.[4]

The surviving 2001 Valhalla National Rankings record Phantom 5 at the Northland Open, RotoVegas tournament and New Zealand Nationals. The team accumulated 207.8 seven-player ranking points across the season, including 83.9 from the Northland Open.[5]

A contemporary report placed Phantom second at the 2001 Northland Open with 755 points, behind Saints and ahead of Wellington Phoenix.[6]

On 27 January 2002, Phantom finished third at the 2002 Combat Zone 3-Man at Ardmore, Papakura, with 510 points. Saints and GPS finished first and second.[7]

At the 2002 Northland Open, Phantom finished second in Division One, behind Saints.[8]

Phantom Menace

Phantom Menace was a related evolution of Phantom. Its first presently documented result is victory at the 2003 Hawke's Bay Triples, held at the Hawke's Bay A&P Showgrounds in Hastings. The published table gave Phantom Menace 690 points, and the report recorded a 100–10 victory over Damage Red in the final.[9]

At the October 2003 Rotorua International Tournament, Phantom Menace won all its first-day games and led Pool B with 782 points. The tournament report described it as the only team across the two pools to complete the first day without a loss. Its results declined during the second day and it did not reach the Cup semi-finals.[10]

Phantom and Phantom Menace entered that tournament as separate squads. A separate 2003 discussion about a proposed ten-player tournament referred to Phantom 5 and Phantom Menace combining as a Phantoms entry. The discussion records a proposal rather than confirmed participation, but provides further contemporary evidence connecting the two groups.[11]

Contributor clarification states that Phantom Menace subsequently became Menace. Gavin Harrison and Matt Storey are recalled as associated with Phantom Menace, while the later Menace team included former Marksmen players. No dated Phantom Menace roster confirming the individual associations or the exact changeover date has yet been recovered.

The lineage is therefore recorded as Phantom to Phantom Menace and subsequently Menace, without assuming that every Phantom player transferred or that the roster remained unchanged.

Phantom Legion

Phantom Legion was another Phantom-related entry at the October 2003 Rotorua International Tournament. The original results table abbreviated its name as Phant: Legion.[10]

Phantom Legion competed separately from Phantom and Phantom Menace. After the first day, it was eighth of the nine teams in Pool A with 249 points and consequently entered the Plate competition. Phantom was fourth in Pool B with 507 points, while Phantom Menace led that pool with 782.[10]

The surviving report does not provide Phantom Legion's final Plate placing, identify its players or establish its home field. Contributor clarification identifies it as part of the wider Phantom group and unrelated to the later team Legion.

Phantom Red and Phantom Blue

Phantom Blue and Phantom Red are both documented at the 2004 Hawke's Bay Triples. The preliminary table placed Phantom Blue first with 1,050 points and Phantom Red third with 760. Phantom Menace was also entered separately and scored 510.[12]

The published results identify Fusion as the tournament winner and Phantom Blue as runner-up. The accompanying narrative calls Fusion's final opponent Menace Blue, creating a naming conflict within the same source. The explicit results table is followed here, while the alternative wording is retained as a source discrepancy.[12]

Contributor clarification identifies Phantom Blue and Phantom Red as associated Phantom entries. The inspected documentary sources do not establish their exact rosters or whether they were permanent squads or event-specific entries. Their presently documented activity is limited to the 2004 Hawke's Bay Triples.

2006 Super 5s

Phantom finished third in Division One of the 2006 Super 5s season with 3,823 points, behind Menace and XXX and ahead of Saints.[13]

This is the latest confirmed Phantom result currently identified in the inspected New Zealand tournament records. It does not establish when the original team ceased operating.

Names and related teams

Name	Documented relationship	Evidence limit
Phantom, Phantom 5 and Phantom Five	Alternative names for the same team	Used across different seasons and sources
Phantom 5 Purple and Phantom 5 Black	Separate Phantom 5 squads at the 1999 New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Complete rosters have not been recovered [3]
Phantom Menace	Evolution of Phantom; subsequently became Menace	Phantom and Phantom Menace also entered the 2003 Rotorua tournament separately during the transition [9][10]
Phantom Legion	Phantom-related squad, printed as Phant: Legion in the 2003 Rotorua results	Only one confirmed event appearance and no roster recovered [10]
Phantom Red and Phantom Blue	Associated Phantom entries at the 2004 Hawke's Bay Triples	Exact roster structure has not been verified [12]
Phantom Fury	Appeared in 1999 New Zealand tournament records	No inspected source or contributor clarification currently establishes that it belonged to the Phantom organisation
Menace	Developed from Phantom Menace and later included former Marksmen players	Exact changeover date and complete player transfer have not been documented

Documented people

Name	Documented or recalled association	Evidence limit
Todd Martin	Listed manager of Phantom Five on the 1998 NPL Second Division information page	Does not establish management in other seasons [1]
Gary	Associated with Phantom Five and NeoTech in the 1999 Nationals acknowledgements	Surname and playing role not supplied [3]
Wayne Rolleston	Associated with Phantom in participant recollection	No dated Phantom roster confirming the association has yet been recovered
Gavin Harrison	Associated with Phantom Menace in participant recollection	No dated Phantom Menace roster confirming the association has yet been recovered
Matt Storey	Associated with Phantom Menace in participant recollection	No dated Phantom Menace roster confirming the association has yet been recovered

The available records do not establish complete rosters for Phantom, Phantom Menace, Phantom Legion, Phantom Red or Phantom Blue.

Selected results

Date	Event	Published team name	Result
1998	NPL Second Division	Phantom Five	3rd in the surviving league table; 18 points [1]
24–25 October 1998	1998 New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Phantom 5	9th; 505 points [2]
23–24 October 1999	1999 New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Phantom 5 Purple	3rd; 820 points [3]
23–24 October 1999	1999 New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Phantom 5 Black	12th; 390 points [3]
21–22 October 2000	2000 New Zealand Paintball Nationals	Phantom 5	659 preliminary points; did not advance to the Division One final [4]
25 February 2001	2001 Northland Open	Phantom	2nd; 755 points [6]
27 January 2002	2002 Combat Zone 3-Man	Phantom	3rd; 510 points [7]
2002	2002 Northland Open	Phantom	2nd, Division One [8]
February 2003	2003 Hawke's Bay Triples	Phantom Menace	1st; 690 points; defeated Damage Red 100–10 in the final [9]
October 2003	Rotorua International Tournament	Phantom Menace	1st in Pool B after day one; 782 points; did not reach the Cup semi-finals [10]
October 2003	Rotorua International Tournament	Phantom	4th in Pool B after day one; 507 points [10]
October 2003	Rotorua International Tournament	Phant: Legion	8th of 9 in Pool A after day one; 249 points; entered the Plate competition [10]
February 2004	2004 Hawke's Bay Triples	Phantom Blue	2nd [12]
February 2004	2004 Hawke's Bay Triples	Phantom Red	3rd in the preliminary table; 760 points [12]
February 2004	2004 Hawke's Bay Triples	Phantom Menace	510 preliminary points [12]
2006	2006 Super 5s (New Zealand)	Phantom	3rd, Division One; 3,823 season points [13]

References