Barry Hearn and Steve Davis were today co-opted to the board of the WPBSA by remaining board members Lee Doyle and Hamish McInnes.
A meeting on December 16 will install Hearn as chairman.
I think everyone will agree that Doyle and McInnes have acted responsibly in listening to the players' wishes and resolving this as quickly as possible.
It means we can start the Pukka Pies UK Championship tomorrow with the focus only on the play on the table.
Things are certainly going to change - we all hope for the better - because Hearn is not a fan of how the WPBSA is currently set up.
Hopefully everyone in the sport will pull together to give him the support he needs.
22 comments:
Great news. Glad common sense prevailed and the sport can move forward quickly now.
Davis is ideal players rep on the board for a number of reasons.
December 2009 - snooker finally enters the 21st century!
Thats great news. Even better with Davis on board.
Now how about getting Irish Masters back on the circuit...all in good time hopefully :)
Nice one Dave, thanks for the updates. Good times ahead!
Reading this reminds me of the famous clip of Barry Hearn rushing out and grabbing Davis at The Crucible after he won his first World title! What a clip and now the two of them working again so closely, running the game, full circle eh?! Can still see the clip of Hearn raisng his fist in the air in pure jubilation, hold on, maybe that was Tuesday?!
G
Just wondering: Is there any conflict of interests for Steve now that he is part of the board AND president of the The Snooker Players Association?
Or rather - as I'm sure the players' interests will always be his main priority - could it be construed that there is a conflict of interests?
A lot of concern about who would be co-opted so Lee Doyle and Hamish McInnes can take a good deal of credit for the selections. Really, really exciting times lay ahead for snooker under Barry Hearn in my view.
Exciting times ahead. I believe snooker has huge growth potential at present, especially in the establishment of a world tour. Ireland, Germany and Brazil are crying out for a major. I would like to see the ranking system amended whereby placings are updated immediately after each event, as is customary in tennis. Draws could be made using the most recent, or provisional rankings and if, by the time the event starts,the seedings are a couple of tournaments behind the rankings, then so be it. its preferable to the current set up where seedings are anything up to a year behind.
I would also like to see, as Clive has been advocating, a secondary tour with a reduced ranking tariff. and not necessarily an insignificant tariff. maybe a third or a quarter of current levels. These could be open to all players and the likes of O sullivan, Higgins and co. could choose whether to enter or not but it would provide an opportunity for class to come through. At present if a player has a couple of bad tournaments it can be 4 or 5 months without the chance to regain confidence, thereby leading to further losses. Ken doherty last year and Judd trump now are cases in point.
There is also scope for a seniors tour to run concurrently with major rankers, with only former tour players over 50 being allowed, with matches over best of 5 played as a warm up to the main event. It could only be good to have all the 80,s stars knocking about at the venue.
other variants worthy of consideration are a team championship, either naional or mosconi style pitting europe against asia. While not being pure snooker it could harvest an entire new crop of fans.
Hopefully hearn will deliver. One thing is for sure. If he cant, its unlikely that anybody can and the snooker community, like the worlds economy, will rebase itself in the orient.
Snooker © The Fine Art Method
A secret is wasted if not shared
Hello Dave
How are you! Thanks for showing my posts, you must have a wee headache lad choosing what is and is not fair and balanced comment.
Mr Hearn is a very shrewd merchant and showed a touch of genius with his time clock idea to waken up both players and the viewers. The viewers are the most important people to pro’ snooker, as that is the sponsors’ ONLY purpose; to attract customers; Not to promote snooker.
The slow dilatory way of playing, and still being taught to youngsters, will definitely be barred from TV screens. There are many ways to replace it to keep the customers alert and Barry has probable thought of them all.
Barry’s main challenge is to be the first WPBSA Chairman to balance the books and maybe later show a profit margin. Mr hey you
PS Please give a big kiss Dave, and a kiss and a cuddle to both the fellow posts that gave me a mention during these troubled times. DM
Brilliant. Such a relief. It's like that feeling you get when your football team is struggling and they appoint a new manager! The only way is up....
lets hope barry hearn wont turn snooker in to a fairground circus.
Incredible. I post from mr hey you that actually very nearly makes sense. Shame about the P.S at the bottom. Come on mr hey you please get back to your original style, it's rubbish when you actually speak a bit of sense.
I can confirm that I shan't be kissing him
Looking forward to my now annual visit to the TIC. Going to watch I think Maguire and then Selby I think. Mark King was running a competition on Twitter, you had to suggest a new nickname for him as he was bored with 'Royal' and I suggested one and he never seem to come online again, be interesting to see if he has a new one. Despite no freebie, I should still be able to get in for just a fiver as long as they dont make me pay a booking fee on the day. My tip for title is Selby. I know people will say he is not in form, but does form matter so much in a sport where the events are so spaced out. He is a man suited in my opinion to the longer frame format and people say he had a bad season last year, but it wasn't so bad it was just he played his best stuff in invitation events mainly. Also he is too good not to feature again at the business end of events. As for the other main contenders I think Murphy could go close again, but it has been a while since anyone retained a ranking event. As for Ronnie I hope, but he has a tough opener and the long potting is still a worry and I think he is being genuine when he says he has worries with his game. Ding was almost my pick, but I was disappointed with his final display in the Grand Prix, but I would put him down for a title later in the season. Maguire may be too emotional for this one, but likewise that could galvanise him. Robertson played well at the Grand Prix and I think his game is ready for the longer format now, a place in the final would not surprise me. A couple of outsiders to put out there are Stevens and also Ebdon who has a fascinating opener against Trump, but I think he will grind him down and then Ebdon may get into his groove after that. One other thing! Clive is not listed in the Radio Times, the other six are and I can't really see them having seven. If he is not used at the Crucible then effectively the Everton era is over with the beeb anyway, which is a great shame.
The Fine Art Method of Snooker Blog Commenting.
This is great news for snooker and I am sure mainland Europe will benefit greatly from this and I do not think there will be any lack of support. Wonderful!
mr yo hey
Right, let's get back to the snooker. My tip for the week is Shaun Murphy.
Jimmy's in the final! Everyone get voting now - I don't think I could bear him being runner up in another final.
Congratulations to Doyle and McInnes for keeping their places on the board with some common sense.
Good luck to the new board as they move on with the fresh challenges ahead.
John H
I agree with Mr hey you that the future of snooker lies in Brazil.
Barry will see this due to his maverick genius ways.
I’d like to thank Lee Doyle and Hamish McInnes for choosing the easy and morally correct option by co-opting Barry Hearn onto the board.
By doing so, they have maintained the reputation of the sport and have shown that they are willing to put their personal reservations aside and abide by the democratic wishes of the players. Good on them.
I shared Dave’s view that a politically neutral player would be my choice as the players’ representative on the board, but also said that Steve Davis would be an excellent candidate under different circumstances.
However, now he’s been appointed I’d like to also wish him well in the role. I know he’s obviously close friends with Hearn, but he now needs to be the eyes and ears of the players as well, and I’m sure he’ll take this seriously. I’ve chatted to Steve and like him as a bloke. I think this appointment will work out.
Right, let the fun begin. I think we’ll notice some changes quite quickly, but I’d urge everyone to exercise a little patience with Mr Hearn and not to expect miracles overnight.
I’d also like to welcome all new readers to our website- traffic has increased considerably over the last few days.
Now let’s all enjoy a top week of snooker in Telford.
Snooker © The Fine Art Method
A secret is wasted if not shared
Hello Dave
I see our ole friend Mister Imitator 5:42 is trying to create a “Bum Steer” with false opinions. I sincerely don’t mind Dave if the “Fine Art” snooker method goes to Brazil as long as the Copyright © Symbol is prominently shown for the whole world to see.
The method is free to all players: But not for commercial use or to enhance a reputation.
The Copyright © sign stabilises the worlds economy Dave and we here in blighty have the only “Copyright Sport” in the world.
I think our new master Barry knows that snooker is almost as dead as billiards, though old “Foggies” like Clive and many are hopping for a resurrection. For the record Dave: A copyright cant eat you out of house and home. May the balls run kindly Dave. Mr hey you
Has Hearn made any appearances or interviews on the BBC yet?
Im guessing hell be at the tournament most of the week.
Exciting times ahead though, cant wait till we get a full flavour of whats going to change in the sport.
I can't describe how great I feel that - finally - the players have stood up and said "no more". It's a day I have hoped for for a long time and sometimes thought might never happen.
It has been so hard to watch snooker being slowly strangled by people who, with individual exceptions, were on the board for what they could get for themselves rather than having the best interests of the game at heart.
Thank you John Higgins, Barry Hearn, Steve Davis and others who have given everyone an alternative they can at last believe in.
Please don't let this be a false dawn.
I just started a blog dedicated to Barry Hearn and his activities in the game of Snooker. Check it out: http://BarryHearonSnooker.com
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