Canadian Amateur Championships

[the montrealer]

The Bigger Tool is the Referee that allowed it to happen. The Referee's, with the Exception of Kevin the Head Referee, don't seem
to know what they are doing.

I remember 3 or 4 years ago at the Canadians during the elimination round Ziegler actually put his foot up on the table and kicked
a ball with the heal of his foot the length of the table. He did it right in front of a Referee and the Referee did not even say anything
to him. I had mentioned this before and a response I got on another Forum was that it "was probably the end of the Frame or he
had conceded the Frame". I would think it would not matter when it happened.

If I was the owner of the table and club I would not have been very happy. Both the Cloth and the table could have been damaged.
And this was mid way through the match.

I would be interested to know what would have happened if a player did such an
action during a major tournament in England?

If that happened in England he would have been banned and get a big fine for unsportsman like conduct

[bob1]

HI You call this the Canadian Amateur Snooker Championship when only 33 players showed up and 20 players are from Ontario. In the Old days we had at least 4 players from each Province and the host city had maybe 8 players

Also in those days prize money was much greater then in this Canadian Snooker Championships/

I can give you breakdown of prize money that was given in 2004 won by Alain Robidoux

1st prize was $5,200.00 plus Ring Alain Robdoux
2nd prize was $3,300.00 Tom Finstad
3rd and 4th was $1,600.00 Kirk Stevens and Jim Bear
5 to 8th was $700.00 Zeigler Brady Gollan Bernatchez Cliff Thorburn

Today prize total money was around $10,000.00 and $4600.00 going to the Worlds
Amateur which includes Hotel and Flight.

That is why the good players like John White Thorburn Stevens Chaperon Robidoux
Finstad Bernatchez did not play in this Tournament because prize money was not that great

It cost you $350.00 to play in this Tournament plus Hotel and Travelling expenses total about
$900.00. So in order for you to break even you have to win the Tournament and make a few dollars and if you come second you break even

You are so right. No young people play this Sport anymore in Canada. All the people you listed with the exception of John White
, not sure how old he is, are Over 50. No participation from the next generation = NO Money.

And now there are not many places to play snooker, at least as I had mentioned not many places in Toronto, How many snooker
clubs in Montreal with more then 4 tables?

[the montrealer]

You are so right. No young people play this Sport anymore in Canada. All the people you listed with the exception of John White
, not sure how old he is, are Over 50. No participation from the next generation = NO Money.

And now there are not many places to play snooker, at least as I had mentioned not many places in Toronto, How many snooker
clubs in Montreal with more then 4 tables?

HI In Montreal there are Four Snooker Rooms One room has 5 Snooker Tables best Snooker Club In Canada with Conditions just like England. Website www.147snookerclub.net.

The Other Rooms have Eight Snooker Tables Shender Tables Chinease make tables. The other room has 7 Snooker Tables and 6 Pool Tables . The Other room in St Lambert Quebec has 12 Snooker Tables and 8 Pool Tables.

Back in the Old days in the Sixtys Seventys and Eighties in Montreal we had at least 60 Snooker Halls and some rooms had 26 Snooker Tables was called the Mount Royal Snooker Club and since then Snooker was on the down Hill. In those days there was no Casinos only Horse Racing and there was a lot of Action in the Snooker Rooms in Montreal

Today there is no relief in Snooker and you do not see young players playing SNOOKER TODAY. Most Snooker Players that are playing are in the age group 40 50 60 70

There is nobody in Canada to teach you how to play Snooker back in the old days you had to learn by yourself

Cheers Leonard

[itsnoteasy]

Until very recently my club was the same(only snooker club in our city, all the rest are working men's clubs with one or two tables) the age range of those playing would have been thirty to eighty, you never saw lads even in their twenties let alone youngsters, but in the last few months it has gradually changed I see a few young ones, in their teens, and some have taken to it like a duck to water and are knocking in forties and fifties already. I have also seen a few very young ones in with their dads , one lad has had a fifty odd break, and he's still at the age where he can't get the cue tucked under and plays with a kind of side on stroke, I watched him once doing a potting the pink into the middle routine, put me to shame, he was very very good, I doubt he's ten years old maybe around eight.

[Terry Davidson]

Les, Patrick Guigui from Montreal has made an attempt at trying to become the recognized association in Canada. See more at www.snookercanada.ca. There are issues with provincial associations as well. Here, we have somehow lost our association all together and there is no indication things will change.

Here's the problem with the present organizations of snooker in Canada. The first one is they have no sponsorship or very little. The second is the CBSA is the ONLY official organization in Canada recognized by the IBSF and therefore is the only organization who can send players to the world champs.

Thirdly there is a 'clique' running things and they seem to pay more attention to pool with not much support for snooker and this might be rightly so as right now there are a lot more pool players, including a lot of younger players, who are playing competitive pool.

In Ontario we have the Ontario Snooker Association, which I ran as President and Treasurer for 5 years until I disagreed with the other 2 members of the board on distribution of entry fees as prize money as they re-vamped what I had been doing and decided to bring in a system where the top 10 players received 95% of all the entry fees. I disagreed with this and was voted down 2-1 so I had to resign. Since then they have never held an AGM and have appointed a new President without the member's approval and have also changed the prize pool yet again to make it worse so there is nothing left for those players who make up the bulk of their members, the AVERAGE players who they will need the support of if snooker is to thrive and grow.

I used to collect the entry fee for the Canadian Champs and pay for 12 to 15 players to enter the Canadians, but now the prize money goes to the top players only in the one Ontario Championships and everyone has to pay $350 to enter the Canadians. I also used to pay down to the 1/4-finals which helped encourage those AVERAGE players to come back whereas now they pay minimum prize money and hold it all back for the Ontario Champs which distributes even more of the money to the top 4 players, never mind the top 10.

Terry

[lesedwards]

Here's the problem with the present organizations of snooker in Canada. The first one is they have no sponsorship or very little. The second is the CBSA is the ONLY official organization in Canada recognized by the IBSF and therefore is the only organization who can send players to the world champs.

Thirdly there is a 'clique' running things and they seem to pay more attention to pool with not much support for snooker and this might be rightly so as right now there are a lot more pool players, including a lot of younger players, who are playing competitive pool.

In Ontario we have the Ontario Snooker Association, which I ran as President and Treasurer for 5 years until I disagreed with the other 2 members of the board on distribution of entry fees as prize money as they re-vamped what I had been doing and decided to bring in a system where the top 10 players received 95% of all the entry fees. I disagreed with this and was voted down 2-1 so I had to resign. Since then they have never held an AGM and have appointed a new President without the member's approval and have also changed the prize pool yet again to make it worse so there is nothing left for those players who make up the bulk of their members, the AVERAGE players who they will need the support of if snooker is to thrive and grow.

I used to collect the entry fee for the Canadian Champs and pay for 12 to 15 players to enter the Canadians, but now the prize money goes to the top players only in the one Ontario Championships and everyone has to pay $350 to enter the Canadians. I also used to pay down to the 1/4-finals which helped encourage those AVERAGE players to come back whereas now they pay minimum prize money and hold it all back for the Ontario Champs which distributes even more of the money to the top 4 players, never mind the top 10.

Terry

Good Post Terry, where do we go from here. There is no way of changing the system when we can't have are thoughts heard. As I have said many times players like myself contribute to the pot every qualifier with not much a chance of seeing any return but I do it because I love to play. Unfortunately many other average players do not see it this way and they come and go. Without the average players there would not be any qualifiers.

[bob1]

HI In Montreal there are Four Snooker Rooms One room has 5 Snooker Tables best Snooker Club In Canada with Conditions just like England. Website www.147snookerclub.net.

The Other Rooms have Eight Snooker Tables Shender Tables Chinease make tables. The other room has 7 Snooker Tables and 6 Pool Tables . The Other room in St Lambert Quebec has 12 Snooker Tables and 8 Pool Tables.

Back in the Old days in the Sixtys Seventys and Eighties in Montreal we had at least 60 Snooker Halls and some rooms had 26 Snooker Tables was called the Mount Royal Snooker Club and since then Snooker was on the down Hill. In those days there was no Casinos only Horse Racing and there was a lot of Action in the Snooker Rooms in Montreal

Today there is no relief in Snooker and you do not see young players playing SNOOKER TODAY. Most Snooker Players that are playing are in the age group 40 50 60 70

There is nobody in Canada to teach you how to play Snooker back in the old days you had to learn by yourself

Cheers Leonard

You said it " In Montreal there are Four Snooker Rooms". And a similar Situation in Toronto. And that is the Problem and why
there is no Sponsorship. I would like to again visit 147snokerclub soon! p.s. I believe Jim Bear died a few years ago.( one
of the players you had listed in your post) Best wishes.

When you have the two largest cities in Canada with very few Snooker rooms with more then 4 tables then that is the biggest
obstacle to over come..

No young people playing the Game = No Sponsorship = No Money.

[bob1]

Until very recently my club was the same(only snooker club in our city, all the rest are working men's clubs with one or two tables) the age range of those playing would have been thirty to eighty, you never saw lads even in their twenties let alone youngsters, but in the last few months it has gradually changed I see a few young ones, in their teens, and some have taken to it like a duck to water and are knocking in forties and fifties already. I have also seen a few very young ones in with their dads , one lad has had a fifty odd break, and he's still at the age where he can't get the cue tucked under and plays with a kind of side on stroke, I watched him once doing a potting the pink into the middle routine, put me to shame, he was very very good, I doubt he's ten years old maybe around eight.

I guess with kids that small they should drag a small stool around the table so they can get at a better Level. I heard that Jimmy White did that when he started playing.

[bob1]

Until very recently my club was the same(only snooker club in our city, all the rest are working men's clubs with one or two tables) the age range of those playing would have been thirty to eighty, you never saw lads even in their twenties let alone youngsters, but in the last few months it has gradually changed I see a few young ones, in their teens, and some have taken to it like a duck to water and are knocking in forties and fifties already. I have also seen a few very young ones in with their dads , one lad has had a fifty odd break, and he's still at the age where he can't get the cue tucked under and plays with a kind of side on stroke, I watched him once doing a potting the pink into the middle routine, put me to shame, he was very very good, I doubt he's ten years old maybe around eight.

Also regarding Jimmy White using the stool as a very young player would prevent any early side stroke action. And
since he started so young he had to use the Rest often and that is why , probably, he is so good with the bridge/rest.
The best players start so early I guess they get the Muscle Memory Early!

[itsnoteasy]

What is the population of Montreal and Toromto, just trying to get a feeling of the ratio of places to play per person, there are one hundred thousand people in Carlisle and only one club, we have fifteen tables.

[bob1]

What is the population of Montreal and Toromto, just trying to get a feeling of the ratio of places to play per person, there are one hundred thousand people in Carlisle and only one club, we have fifteen tables.

As the last count 2011:
Montreal City 1.7 Million, Montreal Metropolitan Area including all Municipalities and Island of Montreal 3.8 Million.

Toronto City 2.8 Million, GTA = Greater Toronto area all Municipalities and close surrounding area 5.9 Million.

Toronto is the fourth most populous City in North America, Larger then Chicago.

[bob1]

What is the population of Montreal and Toromto, just trying to get a feeling of the ratio of places to play per person, there are one hundred thousand people in Carlisle and only one club, we have fifteen tables.

As Leonard had mentioned, in regards to Montreal if you total up his numbers that is 33 snooker tables with a Total Montreal Municipalities Population of 3.8 million. ( that may not include places with one or two tables, if any?)

Toronto may or may not have that many tables, it would be hard to give a total but very small for a GTA population of 5.9 million.

[bob1]

What is the population of Montreal and Toromto, just trying to get a feeling of the ratio of places to play per person, there are one hundred thousand people in Carlisle and only one club, we have fifteen tables.

I did not mention the new club that will be coming soon? To Scarborough, East Toronto area. You can Search: Corner Bank.

It is quite endeavor 14,000 sq feet. Another person has already mentioned it. Take a look. It looks like they have a lot of
work to do, I dropped by the building the other day. A huge investment. I have heard the two listed owners have a large
very large Billion dollar investor I guess if it costs close to 1 million that is not a lot for a Billion dollar guy..

As you may know one of the front owners is Jim Wych who played on the British tour in
the 80's and early 90's got to as high as 22 in the rankings.

Any how even though I have a table in my home I can't wait for this club to open I will be there often! p.s. that will add
8 snooker tables to whatever the Toronto total is.

[bob1]

I did not mention the new club that will be coming soon? To Scarborough, East Toronto area. You can Search: Corner Bank.

It is quite endeavor 14,000 sq feet. Another person has already mentioned it. Take a look. It looks like they have a lot of
work to do, I dropped by the building the other day. A huge investment. I have heard the two listed owners have a large
very large Billion dollar investor I guess if it costs close to 1 million that is not a lot for a Billion dollar guy..

As you may know one of the front owners is Jim Wych who played on the British tour in
the 80's and early 90's got to as high as 22 in the rankings.

Any how even though I have a table in my home I can't wait for this club to open I will be there often! p.s. that will add
8 snooker tables to whatever the Toronto total is.

I guess my last few post's may have gotten off the original topic buy maybe not! The owners of this new place Jim and John
hope to have the next Canadian Snooker Championships and Pool event at there new club next year. Before going off on
this venture John White was a part owner and Manager of Shooters where the Snooker Open was held recently and discussed
on the original topic Canadian Amateur Championship 2014.

I do tend to agree with Leonard when he mentions why they call it the Canadian Amateur championship!

[itsnoteasy]

It's a catch 22 situation, the players won't travel if the prize money isn't there, but the prize money will never be there unless players travel to enter.