The rush on major economic centres in South Africa and the subsequent development of many pieces of vacant or privately-owned bushland could potentially threaten the recreational sport of bush paintball.
As an avid player of the sport, it’s an issue that’s quite close to my heart and the stark reality of the effects that land development is having on the sport that I love so much is hitting home in a big way.
There have been rumours over the last couple of months that a number of prominent paintball ranges (both official and unofficial) are in the process of either moving to inferior grounds or closing altogether as a result of ongoing land development in and around Jo’burg.
To avoid being lambasted by the pro-property development community, I’m not trying to rant about something that is inevitable in today’s society, but at the rate that paintball ranges are moving or closing down as a result of land development, the face of the sport may change dramatically in time to come.
There has already been a raging debate on the Paintball Africa forum (PBA) about one of the most well-known and popular “rogue” fields in Johannesburg (The old Cinderella Prison in Boksburg) – how it has been bought up by a developer and is scheduled for demolition and re-development in January 2009 – something that a lot of fiercely loyal paintballers have quite openly said that they will not take sitting down.
The simple fact is that we’re running out of places to play. In fact, the number of fields where paintballers from around Jo’burg can play at has diminished drastically and it’s only going to heighten if land development carries on the way it is.
The question is, how is paintball going to adapt to this challenge? God’s not making any more land and the demand for land for development purposes has never been as high as it currently is. The solution seems to be lost.
Perhaps paintballers will have to be prepared to travel to further outlying areas to play or maybe it needs some investment in suitable land from people who are not interested in making money out of property development and want to ensure that paintballers always have somewhere to play.
Goodness knows, paintball is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports and, particularly in Johannesburg, the bush-ball and military simulation scene has exploded with interest. There’s money to be made in renting land out to paintballers, particularly if it’s a large piece of land covered in thick bush, trees and a few broken-down or abandoned buildings. A paintballer’s paradise!
Scenario and milsim paintballers are not the only guys who are going to miss out. Social ‘ballers will probably be hurt the most because they would typically go to an established official field and rent paintball markers for birthday parties, bachelors parties and the likes.
And for all the paintball ranges that are rumoured to be closing down in the near future, there aren’t an equal number of new ranges that are opening up again – spelling a real blow to paintball as a whole.
You could argue that the airball (or speedball) style of paintball could take the place of social paintball because the bunkers are inflatable and easily stored away but there are people who like playing in between trees, bunkers made from old crate and oil drums and, qite frankly, don’t like airball and speedball.
I think an interesting time lays ahead for paintball in Johannesburg. Whether or not people have the money and/or the initiative to secure land for the sport is another story. Us ‘ballers can only hope that when all is said and done we still have somewhere decent to earn our welts and hand them out.
