East Coast Paintball League

East Coast Paintball League (ECPL) is a New Zealand tournament paintball competition established in 2020 to develop regional participation in the upper North Island. Its documented programme includes tournaments at Bay of Plenty Paintball Club's field at TECT All Terrain Park, near Tauranga.[1][2]

History

Establishment

On 8 February 2020, ECPL announced that it intended to provide regional competition following the cessation of the New Zealand Local Series (NZLS).[1]

The organisers aimed to encourage participation by new players while providing competition for established teams. The announcement also identified X-Ball as the intended format, following the example of the New Zealand Race Series.[1]

2020 season

Opening round

The inaugural tournament, 2020 ECPL Round 1, took place on 23 February 2020 at TECT Park.

Surge won the opening round, receiving 100 championship points.[2]

The league published the following Champions Division standings after the event:

Team	Championship points
Surge	100
The Ponies	94
Ballistics Unit 1	88
Ballistics Unit 2	84
BOP Black	80
IDK	76

Bay of Plenty Paintball Club subsequently described the opening event as attracting both established and developing teams.[7]

Round 2

On 16 March 2020, Bay of Plenty Paintball Club reported that another ECPL tournament was planned for late April.[7]

Although subsequent records identify a third round in July, the exact date, completion and results of Round 2 have not been independently established.

The available evidence does not establish whether the planned April tournament was held, cancelled or rescheduled.

Round 3

2020 ECPL Round 3 took place at TECT Park on 26 July 2020.

Victoria Kate Photography documented the competition in an album published on 27 July, identifying the following podium:[8]

Position	Team
1st	The Ponies
2nd	Expendables
3rd	Surge

Bay of Plenty Paintball Club separately reported that two club entries finished first and fourth at the event and occupied first and fourth positions in the series standings.[3]

The club did not identify the individual squad names in that report. The relationship between its reported club placings and the photographer's published podium has not been fully established.

The tournament was described as the first competition since the COVID-19 lockdown for many participants.[3]

Round 4

2020 ECPL Round 4 took place on 22 November 2020 at TECT Park.

The competition was advertised as "ECPL Round #4 - 3man Xball lite", identifying a three-player X-Ball Lite format.[10]

Before the tournament, ECPL announced that its field layout would be adapted from a World Cup Asia layout.[11]

Victoria Kate Photography documented the competition in an album titled "East Coast Paintball League Round Four", published in November 2020.[9]

The photographer identified the tournament as the fourth and final round of the 2020 season and congratulated The Ponies on winning.[9]

Position	Team
1st	The Ponies

The remaining placings have not been recovered.

Season championship

A trophy photographed by Vince Knipmeijer in 2026 bears the ECPL logo and an inscription identifying the 2020 season championship.[12]

Knipmeijer described his historical trophy and medal collection as consisting mainly of awards associated with BOP Blast and its predecessor TPC Blast.

However, the photographed championship trophy does not identify the winning team, and the complete final 2020 championship standings have not been independently verified.

Winning an individual round is distinguished from winning the season championship.

2021 season

ECPL announced a three-round calendar for 2021 at TECT Park:[4]

Round 1: 2 May 2021
Round 2: 5 September 2021
Round 3: 28 November 2021

The opening competition, 2021 ECPL Round 1, was won by Expendables, with Surge finishing second.[5]

Victoria Kate Photography identified the winning entry specifically as Expendables 1.[13]

The organisers also acknowledged participation by Crisis Paintball Northland and Kaos Theory.[5]

The September and November dates were published as part of the competition programme. Their announcement does not independently establish that both tournaments took place.

2022 programme

The league announced four competitions for 2022, scheduled for 20 February, 1 May, 18 September and 27 November at Bay of Plenty Paintball Club.[6]

The programme is covered separately in 2022 East Coast Paintball League.

Competition format

2021

The advertised 2021 format was three-player X-Ball with a firing-rate limit of 10.5 balls per second and a two-point mercy rule.[4]

The competition was limited to twelve teams, with each guaranteed at least five matches before the semi-finals and finals.

The advertised entry fee was NZ$140 per team.[4]

2022

The 2022 programme continued with three-player X-Ball and specified seven-minute matches.[6]

The advertised rules included:

A firing-rate limit of 10.5 balls per second.
A two-point mercy rule.
A paint allowance designated M500, consisting of a hopper and two pods per player.
A maximum of ten teams.
Group competition followed by knockout finals involving the top four teams.
An entry fee of NZ$150 per team.

These were the published 2022 rules and should not be assumed to have applied to every earlier season.

Documented tournament results

The following results are supported by contemporary tournament reports.

Date	Event	Position	Team	Source
23 February 2020	2020 ECPL Round 1	1st	Surge	[2]
26 July 2020	2020 ECPL Round 3	1st	The Ponies	[8]
26 July 2020	2020 ECPL Round 3	2nd	Expendables	[8]
26 July 2020	2020 ECPL Round 3	3rd	Surge	[8]
22 November 2020	2020 ECPL Round 4	1st	The Ponies	[9]
2 May 2021	2021 ECPL Round 1	1st	Expendables 1	[5][13]
2 May 2021	2021 ECPL Round 1	2nd	Surge	[5]

The table contains documented individual event results rather than complete season championship standings.

References

External links

East Coast Paintball League official Facebook page