European Championships?

[PokemonSteve]

With a large number of pokemon players coming from europe in over 16 countries, I was wondering if we should have like our own championships just for european players.
Like a step higher from nationals but a step lower from worlds.

What do you think?
This would give many players that would like to have a feel for worlds but not quite having to cross the pond.

[afirule]

This has been discussed many times Kish- and I think we're all in agreement that it SHOULD happen, but the SPECIFICS are harder to organise- venue, prizes, qualification etc etc
There have been pan-European events in the past (the Paris tournament last year, the Benelux cup, heck, even the Selfridges tournament this year!) but whether or not we, as a continent, could organise anything on a very large scale, is questionable.

So short answer- I concur heartily with the suggestion. Will eat my hat if it happens.

(oh, and youve opened a can of worms btw Kish :P)

[Freddy K.]

From my experiences I'd say Europe isn't ready to handle the size of event that a player would truly enjoy. Having attended nearly all of them (4 STSQs, GenCon-Europe, countless European National events, two European Championships) none of them have had zero problems save the early STSQs (Harlan Levey era) , be it in: the smooth and timely running of the tournament rounds; securing prize support; advertising; promotion; quantity of judges/TOing (note quantity as there are many quality judges across Europe but we wouldn't be able to fly them all in); having a proper top cut; or a combination of each or all of these factors... It's a shame but something we've had to learn to accept - the Americans definitely do these events better than we do and we'd be relying heavily on their intervention if we were to have them established over here.

ukpokemonpro, NoPoke, Rainbowgym and Michel Delhausse would have opinions on this topic that would be very insightful.

* can of worms is truly open now *

~fK

[NoPoke]

I'm going to agree with FK on this one.

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I can't see POP allowing a tournament above Nationals but below worlds. I can see them allowing European 'Regionals', which we don't currently have, but only if they were presented with a properly thought out and costed plan for such an event. Italy and The Netherlands have both run big Pokemon Days last year I believe.

Such an event could cost over $50,000. I don't see the biggest problem as lack of organisation, just the simple and fundamental one of cost.

Some of the distributors are making tentative steps in this direction with their jointly sponsored tournaments. But it is plainly not a simple thing to pull off and comes with considerable financial risk.

I suspect that we will get Worlds in Europe before we get a European super-National or super-Regional. Fingers crossed for Worlds in Europe.

[ukpokemonpro]

Originally Posted by NoPoke

I'm going to agree with FK on this one.

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I can't see POP allowing a tournament above Nationals but below worlds. I can see them allowing European 'Regionals', which we don't currently have, but only if they were presented with a properly thought out and costed plan for such an event. Italy and The Netherlands have both run big Pokemon Days last year I believe.

Such an event could cost over $50,000. I don't see the biggest problem as lack of organisation, just the simple and fundamental one of cost.

Some of the distributors are making tentative steps in this direction with their jointly sponsored tournaments. But it is plainly not a simple thing to pull off and comes with considerable financial risk.

I suspect that we will get Worlds in Europe before we get a European super-National or super-Regional. Fingers crossed for Worlds in Europe.

ditto.. to all the above.. we are not ready and neither are our distributors..

[PokePop]

locking per starter's request.