[Snooker] Algemeen topic #11

quote:

Op zondag 29 juni 2025 21:27 schreef Modus het volgende:
Morgen begint het officële seizoen weer, met de Champions League.

quote:

Op woensdag 23 juli 2025 23:37 schreef Modus het volgende:

[..]
Gewoon door jawel Stephen Maguire die Joe O'Connor in de finale verslaat.

quote:

New association gives players 'stronger voice' - Higgins


A new independent association for leading snooker players will give them "a stronger voice" and could be "massive" for the growth of the game, according to its chairman John Higgins.

The four-time world champion is a director of the Professional Snooker Players Association (PSPA), which says it is launching to "champion the sport".

"We feel as though we've not been listened to as we should have been in recent years", Higgins told BBC Sport.

"The game has not moved forward with the times compared to other top sports.

"Snooker deserves a strong, independent players' association that stands for fairness, transparency, and progress."

The association also claims the governance of snooker "should factor in more of the views of the players".

It has vowed to foster a "collaborative relationship" with the sport's authorities, including the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the existing WPBSA Players' Board, and World Snooker Tour "to enhance the sport's future, while safeguarding player welfare and commercial interests".

The PSPA says it has established a players board comprising of Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Stuart Bingham, Jack Lisowski, Stephen Maguire, Mark Allen, Ryan Day and Joe Perry. Another player - Matthew Selt - has been appointed a director, alongside lawyers Ben Rees and Mark Kenkre.

The association also claims that seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has agreed to become a member, along with Chinese stars Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong.

"I've had lots of discussions with Ronnie" said Higgins. "He's really excited about it, so it's full steam ahead."

The fact so many of the top players are behind the new body suggests some feel they do not have enough say in the running of the World Snooker Tour (WST), particularly the commercial side.

During the 2024 World Championship, the headlines at the Crucible were dominated by talk of a potential breakaway tour. This came after the game's top players were approached to play in lucrative events in China and North America as part of a potential breakaway circuit.

Professional players sign a contract which does not allow them to compete in any outside events while WST tournaments are being played, unless they are events sanctioned by the WST, although players have recently negotiated more flexibility.

However, the WST has been increasing the amount of prize money in the game, and is preparing to stage the sport's "fourth major" in Saudi Arabia with a prize pot of more than £2m. The second Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will take place later this week in Jeddah.

The WPBSA's own players' body was formed in 2020, and the governing body says it has "a specific mandate to act in the collective best interest of members in relation to welfare and issues affecting the professional game."

It says that it "acts as a channel for member concerns and provides a platform whereby issues surrounding their wellbeing can be raised at the highest levels by the WPBSA Players Board."

The PSPA says it has been formed with expert guidance from leading sports law professionals, and that its key objectives include legal and commercial support to protect players' rights in sponsorship, broadcasting, and contractual matters.

quote:

Op woensdag 6 augustus 2025 18:36 schreef wimderon het volgende:
Professioneel domkijker Matthew Selt als director.

quote:

Why Higgins should start his 30th world championship with no stain on his name

Four-time snooker world champion John Higgins was entrapped by the News of the World in 2010 in a plot that sullied his name. In reality it was the paper that was corrupt

By the time you’ve finished reading this, you’ll probably realise there was never any credible evidence to suggest that was the case, and instead he was a victim of a disgraceful entrapment and massive misrepresentation.

The newspaper that made the allegations, the News of the World (NOTW), is now defunct, shut down by its proprietor Rupert Murdoch in 2011 after it was revealed the NOTW had hacked the voicemail of a murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler.

The story the NOTW ran in early May 2010 - which ruined Higgins’ reputation and caused appalling damage to him and his family - was full of lies and distortions.