Archive for the ‘Sport News’ Category

AMNB have highlighted a law change which if it comes into force will affect German airsofters:

Hi Arnies, You maybe help out sharing this for the Germany based readers of your page too as this law change effects airsoft magazines as well! But we can stop it if they sign the petition!!

(AMNB)

Readers of this site will undoubtedly be passionate about getting outdoors and experiencing the thrills of airsoft. For many it’s not a hobby, but a passion. Yet, as you sit and read this, how many people around the world are playing airsoft at this time? One thousand? Ten thousand? Then, consider how many people are playing first-person shooter or military strategy video games at the moment. We are talking about millions of players, who have formed not only a multi-billion-pound industry, but a vast community as well.

It’s been written many times over the last few decades about how the existence of video games poses an existential threat to outdoor activities. Indeed, it’s been that way since the old Atari consoles of the 1970s. Yet, today we are looking at games that are designed to provide immersion of players through V.R and other immersive technologies. Above all though, it is the fact that players are connected online, in (virtual) proximity to each other in much the same way as you would be when participating in airsoft.

Consider something like CS:GO (Counter Strike: Global Offensive). According to the Steam charts, the average number of players playing the game in May 2019 was 364,417. That number refers to the average at any given moment, not the number of plays or login in the month. At its peak, almost double that number would have been playing online simultaneously. The statistics are mind-boggling, and that’s just one example among dozens of popular games of that nature.

eSports has exploded in popularity

Indeed, there has been a massive rise in interest in the whole area of eSports, with shooting and strategy games among the most important. In the United States, the television networks have jumped on board, providing live coverage of eSports tournaments in order to capitalise on its popularity.

The industry is wildly competitive, with non-players also taking part in eSports betting. A quick glance on 888sport’s eSports page shows hundreds of markets, with betting lines like Evil Geniuses at 5/1 to win EPICENTER, or LEC to win Rift Rivals at 33/100, as well as references to things like “skins” and “maps”. It’s presented like regular sports betting, but with unfamiliar names and terminology.

Can’t beat the real thing

eSports is often given the tagline, “the most popular sport you have never heard off” thanks to the millions watching online, and the fact in places like South Korea tournaments sell out huge stadiums. But does the fact that there are millions around the world playing these games pose a threat to activities like airsoft or paintball? It’s a difficult question to answer without falling into the clichés that have always surrounded video games.

However, we should say that while online gaming has created virtual worlds laden with wonderful graphics and provides experiences that trick the senses into believing they are real, there is still something lacking from these games that – as of yet – are not able to replace the feeling of something like airsoft.

It may be that it’s the physical sensation of getting hit, the way your heart pounds when someone points an airsoft gun at you or the fact that you might have to deal with ‘real’ problems like the weather or getting your feet wet. The suspension of belief is different in the virtual world. It could be the case that one day that we’ll all be playing airsoft online, but that day still looks a fair distance off yet.

The UKAPU’s AGM will be taking place at The Grange in Birmingham on Saturday 12th January:

2018 is fast coming to a close and the new year is soon to be upon us again and so we’d love to invite all of our members to the 2019 Game Day & Annual General Meeting – hosted on Saturday 12th of January, to be held at the Grange Live Gaming in Birmingham. Doors will open for 8.30am, and we will hopefully start playing at 10.00am.

Cost for attending this UKAPU exclusive game day is £25 (£5 deposit and £20 on the door). The venue itself has no parking but, there is very reasonably priced parking around the venue.

Link to pay deposit/secure attendance to game day: https://www.ukapu.org.uk/agm-2019

Three important notes to make:

1) Not a member? You can join UKAPU today for free – please visit https://www.ukapu.org.uk/join for further details.

2) The nomination period is open for all positions (as it is every year), so if you wish to join the committee in either a vacant position, or challenge someone who already holds a position and is up for re-election, please contact us.

3) We are still accepting points to discuss at the AGM/management meeting, please forward these to us if you have any.

We at the UKAPU committee look forward to your attendance!

…Release ends…

Have a great Christmas and New Year!

Regards,

Jon Hill

UKAPU Press Officer

(UKAPU)

Earlier this week Frank Bothamley from Firesupport told us about his charity cycling challenge, you can now follow his progress on Facebook:

I now have a facebook group set up so that people can follow my journey across the UK

https://www.facebook.com/groups/266809840618886/

I am raising money for a local Homeless charity called Hope into Action.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Frank-Bothamley

(Firesupport)

Frank Bothamley from Firesupport is taking part in a mega bike ride from Lands End to John O Groats in aid of charity, good luck Frank!:

In September I undertake a mammoth challenge of riding 980 miles over 9 days with 52000 feet of climbs for Charity.

I have been in training for 10 months and ridden 4000 plus miles as part of my training
Am hoping to raise money for a local Homeless charity called Hope into Action.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Frank-Bothamley

Regards
Frank Bothamley

(Firesupport)

UKAPU and Polarstar have a poll for HPA users:

Ever since the introduction of the amended Policing and Crime Bill last year there has been a cloud hanging over HPA RIF users in the UK. Specifically that most full auto capable HPA airsoft replicas could be ‘readily converted’ to exceed the 1.3J airsoft threshold, or could be regarded as ‘capable of’ more than 1.3J in their stock form.

UKAPU have been actively pursuing a resolution for HPA users and as part of this ongoing effort, Vice Chairman Tim Haines, has been involved in discussions with Polarstar to address the aforementioned issue and as a result we are conducting a poll on behalf of Polarstar.

How does this help HPA users? Polarstar are producing a modular regulator, which will allow UK HPA owners to build compliant HPA powered RIFs. Polarstar will be producing piston regulator assemblies for multiple PSI settings, which we hope, will give us the means to ensure that selective fire HPA RIFS can be safely operated under the 1.3J legal limit.

We urge all of our members to share this poll; the greater the number of responses, the better the data.

UKAPU/Polarstar poll

(UKAPU)

The UKAPU have a new regional representative:

We are pleased to announce the latest member of the UKAPU committee, Leigh Batson.

Leigh will be taking on the role of regional representative for the Midlands and will be the main point of contact for dealing with issues and queries from UKAPU members in that area.

We hope all UKAPU members will make her feel welcome!

Now to hand over to Leigh herself…

“I joined the world of Airsoft in 2015, originally as a photographer for my partner but, after shooting some of his airsoft guns I became really attached and brought my own, a G19 springer from the market. I only needed to practise until I could afford my pride and joy, a custom internal MP5K AEG PDW variant.

I loved the game for the pure friendship everyone showed each other, both on and off the field. It gave me a way to spend some more time with my partner and to understand a sport I’d never really heard of until then.

Fast forward to now and I am the proud owner of Task Force Stalker Airsoft, based primarily in Leighton Buzzard. I am also the team captain for Bedfordshire in the Inter-County Airsoft Competition.

I volunteered to become part of the UKAPU because it meant I could actually make a difference in the sport and to be a part of something much bigger and more influential within the Airsoft community.

I can’t wait to get stuck in to helping the UKAPU and its members. And as a female airsoft player, showing other girls that airsoft isn’t just for the boys.”

The UKAPU has sent out an update regarding the last raft of legislation that came and went, now a year on how do things look?

It has now been a year since the commencement of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 and thanks to the community, lobbying, retail and trade groups, airsoft ultimately came out on top. So here are a few words from the committee members here at UKAPU.

“Here we are then! A whole year has passed since the Policing and Crime Act 2017 came into effect; the Earth is still turning and we are all still happily enjoying our wonderful sport.

As a result of the PCA 2017 – and for the first time since airsoft arrived on our shores – it now has a proper definition in law. Airsoft has been referenced in primary legislation and is no longer loitering within secondary legislation. This is rather significant for us as it affords airsoft more protection and actually shows that parliament is happy for it to continue to exist.

UKAPU committee members worked tirelessly towards ensuring that skirmishers didn’t get a bum deal. Our primary goal was to ensure that skirmishers had a voice during the discussion and consultation stages, that we weren’t stuck with a 1 Joule maximum energy limit and that airsoft didn’t get shoehorned into or tacked onto some piece of existing firearms legislation.
It goes without saying that without all the support of our members we really would have struggled. Your donations contributed towards getting committee members to Home Office consultations and meetings, creating and distributing campaign materials and promoting the issue amongst the airsoft and firearms community and press.

Unfortunately after all this hard work we still have some unanswered questions. We are still dealing with a couple of grey areas with regard to the wording and players have been contacting us on a regular basis since the commencement of the PCA, all asking how they can stay legal. The present situation is that we can’t currently give any definitive advice. Trust us when we say this is as frustrating for us as it is for you and getting this situation rectified is still an ongoing priority.

So what can we take away from all of this? Though there are still some unknowns, airsoft is arguably in a much better place both politically and legally than it was before and strengthens our position lest we face challenges in the future”

So to celebrate the first anniversary of the PCA 2017, our chairman David has procured a cake! He said he would share it if he could but, as he can’t he will eat it on behalf of the committee and our members!

Jon Hill, (UKAPU)

UKAPU have announced details of their AGM:

The UKAPU AGM is the perfect opportunity for UKAPU members to ask questions, to make a suggestion or put forward an idea to the committee and to help steer the direction of UKAPU and Airsoft in the UK. Or maybe you just want a day out skirmishing! Either way, if you are a member, you are most welcome to join us!

The AGM is to be held at the very excellent The Gaol Events Airsoft site in Oakham on the 13th of January 2018.

Though the AGM is for members only, players can still participate by joining UKAPU for FREE via https://www.ukapu.org.uk/join/

About UKAPU: UKAPU is an unincorporated non-profit association formed by a dedicated group of Airsoft skirmishers to help protect and strengthen our hobby. By providing a united and official organisation that represents players, we can far more effectively engage in discussion with the government, other organisations, and the press when skirmishing comes under threat.

(UKAPU)

UKAPU have teamed up with the Western Australia Airsoft Club:

WESTERN AUSTRALIA AIRSOFT CLUB & UK AIRSOFT PLAYERS UNION AFFILIATE

Australian and British players team up to fight for airsoft

UK Airsoft Players Union and Western Australia Airsoft Club officially ‘tied the knot’ this month! The two organisations elected to officially affiliate, in recognition of their shared aims and values and in a show of international solidarity amongst airsoft players. Australia operates under common law which comes from in the UK, yet, in stark contrast to the UK, Airsoft is banned. WAAC has it’s work cut out for it in trying to get the ban lifted in a single state of Australia, with the hope that the other states will follow. The UKAPU committee was very impressed by the competence and commitment of the WAAC team and have confidence in their ability to lead the fledgling Australian airsoft community toward accomplishing this mammoth task.

“I am happy to announce that UKAPU is affiliated with Western Australia Airsoft Club, Inc.

The organisation is run by a few passionate individuals who are committed to getting Airsoft legalised within the state of Western Australia – and eventually propagating it throughout the rest of the country.

We’ve been supporting them for some time now. Their campaign is picking up momentum and good progress has already been made in their endeavour.”
David Weston, UKAPU Chairman

WAAC have already made some significant headway.

• They met with the Shadow Minister for Police, who stated that he was “embarrassed with the legislative regime” regarding the provisions of the Firearms Act being applied to the sport of Airsoft.
• Successfully ran a ‘Nerf gun amnesty’ campaign which caused a stir in local media regarding nonsensical firearms legislation in WA.
• This week they will be meeting with the State Minister for Police, the first ever airsoft group to be granted an audience.

For more information on the WAAC campaign please visit http://airsoftwa.com.au and like their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AirsoftWA/ and ask your Aussie mates to do so too, they really need the support of locals who may want to play airsoft in the future!

About UKAPU: UKAPU is an unincorporated non-profit association formed by a dedicated group of Airsoft skirmishers to help protect and strengthen our hobby. By providing a united and official organisation that represents players, we can far more effectively engage in discussion with the government, other organisations, and the press when skirmishing comes under threat.

(UKAPU)

UKAPU have announced their new chairman:

To follow on from the news of the resignation of our former chairman Matt Furey-King – it has been decided by the committee that the new chairman of UKAPU will be the previous vice-chairman, David Weston.

Additionally UKAPU can gladly announce that there has been a small reshuffle, with the South West representative (Tim Haines) simultaneously becoming vice-chairman – as well as an introduction of a new person into the fold, Robbie Hutchison acting as our new Scotland rep.

David has been with UKAPU since February 2016, and since that time has been heavily involved with the running of the union, as well as campaigning against attacks against the Airsoft amendment that eventually landed with the enactment of the Policing and Crime Act 2017.

We would like to thank all of our members for having in faith in us. As the new chairman, I hope to build on this and continue the good work that Matt and the rest of the committee have been doing tirelessly for Airsoft in the UK.

David Weston

Chairman of the United Kingdom Airsoft Players Union

(UKAPU)

Some news from the UKARA:

Some News about the UKARA player check system and UKARA work on Police and Crime Bill 2017

First of all, we are extremely sorry for the problems with the UKARA player database.

There is (and has been since the problems started) a temporary system in place that all UKARA retailers are using to do look ups of players.

To counter any rumours the database is still available and being used.

UKARA had a sustained and continuous denial of service attack take place over several months which caused the server admin people to turn off the server.

To prevent a repeat of the problem we had to find, employ and design a new more modern hacker proof system.

None of the data on the system was compromised

Read the rest of this entry »

Matt Furey-King is moving on from his role as UKAPU Chairman:

Matt Furey-King here. I’d like to announcing that I’m stepping down as Chairman of UK Airsoft Players Union. When I returned to the role as Chairman in 2015 my intention was twofold; to get the association back on its feet, and to make sure we had player representation throughout the Policing and Crime Bill passage. My return was only ever supposed to be temporary, the committee knew my intention from the start was to stand aside on the commencement date of the new law. So here we are.

I’m pretty disappointed that the PCA is still an open subject, that we still need to push the government for clarifications in order to find out how to comply with the new law. There’s some grey area which I think will one-day spell real trouble for some poor airsoft player. As much as I’m dying to help with this situation, I have to call it a day and move on. Unfortunately, other parts of my life have been suffering due to lack of attention, I’ve been so distracted by all this airsoft politics going on these last 2 years. My girlfriend Po Ling has been very accommodating but even her impressive patience with me is wearing thin! So it’s time to get my priorities straight. The way I see it I’ve done my bit and to be honest other people now need to step up to the plate.

I am massively proud of the work UKAPU has done. Over the last decade many hobbies have been restricted or eroded or banned in the UK, modern society doesn’t seem to have any room for people like us who like having fun in non-vanilla ways. But airsoft has not fallen, we’ve stood our ground, we’ve not been bullied and suppressed, we fought back on every level. It’s really impressive, and we have a bright future if we make this unity and determination a core part of our identity as UK airsoft players.

You might be worried that UKAPU is going to disappear when I go, as most of our announcements come with my name attached. But the reason you see so much of me and not much of the rest of the committee is because I have been the associations figurehead, actually there’s half a dozen people working hard behind the scenes that you don’t hear about. I have a huge amount of confidence in the remaining committee and the association. We have 4000 members, a great reputation and a great future. Let me tell you, the committee have some fantastic plans for the next few years that will be a huge lift for airsoft.

David Weston, UKAPU Vice Chair, has taken command of UKAPU. Soon he will hold a management meeting and the committee will select a new Chairman, and it would not be appropriate for me to preempt that vote. But there’s some really great guys working for UKAPU at the moment and I have every confidence in them to lead the association forward. That said, I won’t be disappearing completely and will still be available to help and advise them, if they so wish. Of course I’ll be an active UKAPU member and you’ll all see me around at airsoft games, as normal.

All that said, UKAPU does have a high turnover of volunteers (voluntary associations tend to, people’s circumstances change and they often run out of free time to commit). The committee already has a few vacant positions and, unless they can fill positions and spread the workload, the association could go into a downward spiral. So PLEASE, if you are a self-motivated and literate airsoft player and have some free time, give them a message on Facebook and volunteer for a committee position. Now is the time.

What’s next for me? Well, I’m pretty pissed off at the shambolic way the country is being run and politician’s dreadful attitudes towards civil liberties in general, not just the liberties of airsofters. So I’m thinking bigger, I’ve made a step into the wider world of politics and I’m running in the upcoming Parliamentary election. I’ve been selected as the Green Party candidate for Kingswood in Bristol. Green Party may seem an unusual choice for a firearms guy but I’ve found it to be a really inspiring movement, the Greens are very far from being the stereotypes people imagine they are. Yes, they do currently have an anti-replica policy in the manifesto but they have no commitment to it and I’m confident I can get them to change it. They didn’t know about airsoft skirmishing or the VCRA when they wrote it. They asked me to help them rewrite it many years ago but I never had the time, so it’s partially my fault. If you are interested, there’s some information about me as a candidate here http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/matt-furey-king-green-kingswood-63236

Later in the year I’m aiming to put more time into my airsoft channel, Claymore Airsoft TV. I’ve got some fun content planned so please give it a sub or a like if you want to see what airsoft shenanigans I’m up to.

https://www.facebook.com/claymoreairsofttv/ http://www.youtube.com/claymoreairsofttv

Huge thanks to all the people who have done so much to help me achieve my aims over the years, especially my fellow UKAPU committee members. I know UKAPU has a bright future ahead if all of you support the next leader of UKAPU in the same brilliant way you have supported me.

Kind Regards,

Matt Furey-King

UKAPU Member

(UKAPU)

The UKAPU & UKARA have released some guidance on the new Policing and Crime Act update:

The circular for the airsoft parts of the PCA 2017 was released today. In light of the questions that have been raised, this document is where we would have expected to find the guidance for airsoft players. What Home Office have published is extremely limited, and we do not expect to receive further clarification in the short term.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/circular-0062017-firearms-controls

As the legislation comes into effect on the 2nd of May, please view the official briefing note from UKARA and UKAPU

Please stand by. Soon we will be publishing further information on how you can help us get some real answers from the government.

Matt Furey-King, Chair UK Airsoft Players Union & Frank Bothamly, Chair UK Airsoft Retailers Association

(UKAPU & UKARA)

The guys at Just BB Guns have shared the first of a series of airsoft themed cartoons they have created:

We’ve recently created the first comic in our series called ‘The Little Annoying Things in Airsoft’, it’s a humorous take on those annoying things we all see down at our local field each week.

(Just BB Guns )