Snookering through the news

16:39:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Last week was filled with snooker events but also with some administrative elements here and there. It was an important week for the snooker business and I think that a short preview of what happened it will come in handy for those of you who like to be kept up to date with his subject ;-)


The wind of change is blowing from Asia

Hearn and the Thai prime-minister Vejjajiva
October 6 was definitely a big deal for the snooker world as the WPBSA board welcomed a new member in the person of Mr. Zhang Xiaoning. The Chinese with small eyes but big brains is one of the most important figures in China, being part of many organizations related with the sport business. He is chairman of the "Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association", Director of "Multi-ball Administrative Centre of State General Administration of Sports" and Member of the "Chinese Olympic Committee". Talking about being multitasking and multilateral, huh? :-)) Anyway, the guy is definitely a breath of fresh air from a country that supports snooker more and more and has a great deal to offer to this sport.
Jason Ferguson, the chairman of the WPBSA said : "This is a key appointment in terms of the international development of our sport. With a growing number of Chinese and Asian players on the professional tour, we firmly believe that those members should have a representative from their part of the world on the board."


From the far, far away China we are heading to far, far away Thailand from where comes our next snooker friend :-P ; Sindhu Pulsirivong has been made President of the WPBSA. Another great capacity, Mr. Pulsirivong has been President of the "Billiard Sports Association of Thailand" since 1988, President of the "Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports" and a board member of the "International Billiards and Snooker Federation". Big "wow" here! :-)
Barry Hearn and Jason Ferguson were both in Thailand after the end of the Shanghai Masters tournament to meet the prime-minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and talk this through.

The ref Alan Chamberlain
But the WPBSA board has been enriched with yet another fabulous member, the retired referee Alan Chamberlain; a wonderful person who served snooker for 28 years with respect, devotement and impartiality. Some time ago I was reading a very well structured article on a colleague’s blog about the hard conditions that the referees have to put out with. Indeed, no one is specking about them! You can read the full article here.
So, a wise choice to bring Mr. Chamberlain on board! ;-)
"I'm sure I can pass on some of my knowledge and experience and be of assistance to the WPBSA board.", said the ex-referee who will continue to serve his beloved snooker this time a little bit more different but definitely with the same passion.



Last week’s coup


By the end of September seven snooker players (Peter Ebdon, Adrian Gunnell, Alistair Carter, Nigel Bond, Martin Gould, Mike Dunn and Mark King) were asking the WPBSA to set an EGM meeting as soon as possible so the board members (Jason Ferguson, Steve Davis and David Douglas) could be replaces by vote with: Lee Doyle, Nigel Bong and John McMahon. Lee Doyle, the head of 110sport declared that he was not the initiator of this request but he backs it.
Make love, not war! :-P
A week later Ali Carter asked that his name be withdrew from the list. On his footsteps, Mike Dunn (who suddenly realized that he doesn’t want to be dragged into politics but he wants to practice more and become a better snooker player) and Peter Ebdon.
And the list of "dropping like flies" continued with an important figure (as he was one of the new board members to be) John McMahon, followed by Martin Gould.
So the coup was dropped, dead, finished! :-))
According to Dave Hendon`s blog, Lee Doyle stated that we has nothing against Barry Hearnut he thinks that the WPBSA should be more independent from the World Snooker and that Ferguson didn’t address some of the 110sport`s players requests. One more time he wanted to make clear that he didn’t initiate this actions and admitted that getting involved in all this was probably a mistake as he gave the wrong impression.
Well, there’s a saying out there : "When you don’t have anything smart to say, just shut up!" or in this case " If you don’t have anything smart to do, then...don’t do anything!" :-P


Anyway, at the end of the day everything was cleared up so snooker can continue its evolution! ;-)

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