War sparks paintball frenzy; Enquiries double as white-collar workers

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Apr 13, 2003 | by Liam McDougall

THE number of bookings for paintball games has rocketed across Scotland since the first day of war with Iraq.

Some businesses say enquiries to take part in their simulated battle sessions more than doubled after UK and US forces began fighting.

In the past week alone, paintballing organisations have been flooded with bookings from groups as diverse as MoD workers from Faslane, surgeons from Glasgow and Nottingham, marketing managers and stag parties.

Interest has been so intense that one business, Warrior Paintball, is now offering a game called Baghdad Palace Siege to customers at its sites at Aberdeen, Stirling, Burntisland and at St Cyrus, near Montrose.

At St Cyrus, in the grounds of Ecclesgreig Castle, one team is invited to defend an unarmed Saddam Hussein - played by one of the group - in his palace while the attacking team attempts to capture him intact from the building.

The game is called Embassy Siege on the group's website but it has been played as Baghdad Palace Siege since the coalition forces went into the Iraqi capital. It is described as "a close contact game, either over in seconds or delayed for an age while tactics are deployed".

Wearing ex-MoD camouflage clothing, anti-fog visors and armed with semi-automatic paintball guns, each team of up to 30 players uses military-style strategies to "eliminate" its opponents by splattering them with paint-filled balls.

Gavin Farquhar, director of Warrior Paintball, said he decided to change the name of the game to give it "topicality".

He said: "We have been playing it for about a week now and people find it great fun. It has become one of our most popular games. It's great because it lightens up a very serious situation.

"We came up with the name because we thought it was topical given what is happening in Iraq. We also thought that perhaps the unarmed person should wear a moustache, but then we thought that might be taking things a little too far.

"I guess that in a few weeks we'll have to change the name of the game again anyway. We do paintballing in a very different way to other organisations."

He said that other games offered, including Path Ambush, Gun Emplacement and Trench Warfare, were developed with the informal help of Marines based around the St Cyrus site who booked paintball sessions on their days off.

Farquhar added: "We're very busy and that's not surprising if you are watching wall-to-wall news about the war every day.

"I actually think the war in Iraq is illegal and is a big mistake. It's going to be really bad news for Britain and the US in the long run. I think it will cause an enormous amount of terrorism to be directed against us in the future," he said.

The surge in business is being seen at paintball sites across the country as a result of war in the Gulf. Carole Lloyd, site manager at Prozone Paintball in Dumfriesshire, said: "We have never been busier. Most of the time political views aren't aired but we have heard the odd comment [from one team to another] like, 'OK, you can be the Iraqis this time'. It's just a laugh for people and we get all sorts, from army personnel on their days off to office workers."

Graeme Semple, a partner at the Scottish Paintball Centre, near Fenwick in Ayrshire, said he expects more than 400 visitors to the site this month, more than double the number that had made bookings two months ago.

"February and March have been fairly poor this year but April seems to be a very good month for us and we're expecting May to be even better," he said. "Our UK equipment suppliers have told us that war generally has an influence on the number of people who book games."

This year at least five new paintballing centres are starting up in Scotland, which is now one of the fastest growing areas for the sport in the UK.

Ralph Carson, who runs Paintball Alexandria, which began operating last week in Dunbartonshire, said: "We have certainly had a lot of enquiries. It did cross my mind that the war might have an effect and I've certainly not closed my eyes to it.

"But it does not seem to have had a negative impact on us. During the past week we had 19 workers from Faslane here, and we have also had enquiries from our local army cadets."

Although some groups said they would consider changing the name and type of games they played to reflect the situation in Iraq, others thought it was in bad taste. Paul Cuthbert, who runs Battlecamp Paintball, near Ayr, said: "I have had Asians and Iraqis out playing and I wouldn't want to cause offence to anyone. I try to stay away from that kind of thing."

Lloyd, of Prozone, added: "You really have to be diplomatic in everything that you do. People have different political views and you can offend a lot of people by making references to the war and Iraq."

Steven Bull, chairman of the UK Paintball Sports Federation, a membership body for centres, said: "Paintball is a war game but as an industry we are trying to get away from that image and promote it more as a sport.

"Unfortunately, at the grassroots level, our customers want to play Rambo and kill the enemy because it's such an adrenalin rush."