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After seeing some of the responses in a couple of threads it has become apparent to me there are a lot of players here in Canada who do not understand how snooker is organized on a world basis, nor here in Canada, so I will attempt to explain so all can understand what rules we have to follow. Other countries follow the same rules too.
First of all world amateur snooker (and billiards) is governed by the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF). They hold their world championships annually and each member country in good standing is encouraged to send players for each discipline, usually 3 x Mens, 3 x Masters and 3 x Women but these numbers are sometimes expanded as for instance the host country is asked to fill any vacancies allocated to other countries. Member countries must help to cover the expenses for their players if they can. The tournament is played in an initial round-robin format and then to a knock-out stage from the last 64 or 32 on down. The last 3 years the winners were from Pakistan (2012), China (2013) and China (2014)...(I see a trend starting.)
In Canada the ONLY organization affiliated with the IBSF is the Canadian Billiards & Snooker Association (CBSA). They are MANDATED by the IBSF to conduct snooker in a manner which duplicates the IBSF Worlds. Every member country is encouraged to do the same if they can. So the CBSA holds the Canadian Championships using the same template as is used for the World Championships and the CBSA is encouraged to provide expense money to send 10 players to the Worlds if that is possible. The CBSA is the ONLY body in Canada allowed to send Canadian players to the IBSF Worlds.
Now we move to Ontario as an example (because I'm familiar). What is supposed to happen is the same template used by both the IBSF and CBSA or something similar should be in place. This means whatever body in Ontario that is recognized by the CBSA (this is the OSA) is tasked with providing players to compete in the Canadian Championships and are also tasked with providing those players with expense money if possible. In a lot of cases the provincial governing bodies are unable to raise the money for expenses for players to travel to the Canadians and normally what happens is the players cover their own expenses, besides paying their $350 entry fee into the Canadians. (The players also pay a $50 entry fee for the IBSF Worlds)
Because the CBSA is encouraged by the IBSF to send as many players as possible the CBSA has recently moved to providing $2,000 in expense money for 4 players to travel to the Worlds. In the Canadian Champs Ontario is initially allocated 12 spots and the OSA (Ontario Snooker Association) is encouraged to provide the funds for these 12 players but that just doesn't happen due to lack of funds. Paying out that $8,000 in expense money means the prize pool for the Canadians has been reduced and that has caused quite a few good players to pass. The only way to resolve this would be to either charge higher entry fees or else get bigger sponsorship.
The other thing most people don't know is the CBSA asks every provincial association each year to submit a bid to hold the next year's Champs. There are sometimes more than one bid but there are never very many because the provinces just can't afford it as they have to cover facility and referees, new cloths, new balls and all the other expenses that go into a national championship although the CBSA will assist as much as they can too. In some years past there have been no bids and the CBSA has had to scramble to even provide a Championship.
Now we can look at Snooker Canada. This organization is not affiliated with the IBSF at this time nor will the IBSF recognize 2 national governing bodies for obvious reasons. (This situation happened recently in Scotland and I believe it took over 5 years to resolve it). So Snooker Canada cannot send players to the IBSF Worlds but in fact they could send players to Q School if they so desired. This makes sense as there is only one pro tour ticket to be won at the IBSF Worlds but at Q School there are 8 pro tour tickets to be won (Alex Pagulayan came close last year but he paid his own expenses and he also played in a few pro ranking events too based on his Q School standing.
So some people on here have said the Canadian Championships should be wide open and in fact they are open to any player who is a member of his provincial association and even if there's no active provincial association any player can enter the Canadians provided there is a vacancy. Of course this is determined by the CBSA but for the last 3 years the Canadians didn't have a full roster of 40 players and virtually any player in Canada could have contacted the CBSA, paid their $350 and filled those vacancies.
So those Forum members who complain the Canadians is not open and fair to all are mistaken. I have filled a vacancy myself on 2 separate years when I failed to make the top 12 in Ontario ranking. The CBSA would like to have a full roster of 40 players however it's pretty obvious the players themselves either cannot afford the time and money or else they don't know they can play if they want to.
OK...rant over!
First of all world amateur snooker (and billiards) is governed by the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF). They hold their world championships annually and each member country in good standing is encouraged to send players for each discipline, usually 3 x Mens, 3 x Masters and 3 x Women but these numbers are sometimes expanded as for instance the host country is asked to fill any vacancies allocated to other countries. Member countries must help to cover the expenses for their players if they can. The tournament is played in an initial round-robin format and then to a knock-out stage from the last 64 or 32 on down. The last 3 years the winners were from Pakistan (2012), China (2013) and China (2014)...(I see a trend starting.)
In Canada the ONLY organization affiliated with the IBSF is the Canadian Billiards & Snooker Association (CBSA). They are MANDATED by the IBSF to conduct snooker in a manner which duplicates the IBSF Worlds. Every member country is encouraged to do the same if they can. So the CBSA holds the Canadian Championships using the same template as is used for the World Championships and the CBSA is encouraged to provide expense money to send 10 players to the Worlds if that is possible. The CBSA is the ONLY body in Canada allowed to send Canadian players to the IBSF Worlds.
Now we move to Ontario as an example (because I'm familiar). What is supposed to happen is the same template used by both the IBSF and CBSA or something similar should be in place. This means whatever body in Ontario that is recognized by the CBSA (this is the OSA) is tasked with providing players to compete in the Canadian Championships and are also tasked with providing those players with expense money if possible. In a lot of cases the provincial governing bodies are unable to raise the money for expenses for players to travel to the Canadians and normally what happens is the players cover their own expenses, besides paying their $350 entry fee into the Canadians. (The players also pay a $50 entry fee for the IBSF Worlds)
Because the CBSA is encouraged by the IBSF to send as many players as possible the CBSA has recently moved to providing $2,000 in expense money for 4 players to travel to the Worlds. In the Canadian Champs Ontario is initially allocated 12 spots and the OSA (Ontario Snooker Association) is encouraged to provide the funds for these 12 players but that just doesn't happen due to lack of funds. Paying out that $8,000 in expense money means the prize pool for the Canadians has been reduced and that has caused quite a few good players to pass. The only way to resolve this would be to either charge higher entry fees or else get bigger sponsorship.
The other thing most people don't know is the CBSA asks every provincial association each year to submit a bid to hold the next year's Champs. There are sometimes more than one bid but there are never very many because the provinces just can't afford it as they have to cover facility and referees, new cloths, new balls and all the other expenses that go into a national championship although the CBSA will assist as much as they can too. In some years past there have been no bids and the CBSA has had to scramble to even provide a Championship.
Now we can look at Snooker Canada. This organization is not affiliated with the IBSF at this time nor will the IBSF recognize 2 national governing bodies for obvious reasons. (This situation happened recently in Scotland and I believe it took over 5 years to resolve it). So Snooker Canada cannot send players to the IBSF Worlds but in fact they could send players to Q School if they so desired. This makes sense as there is only one pro tour ticket to be won at the IBSF Worlds but at Q School there are 8 pro tour tickets to be won (Alex Pagulayan came close last year but he paid his own expenses and he also played in a few pro ranking events too based on his Q School standing.
So some people on here have said the Canadian Championships should be wide open and in fact they are open to any player who is a member of his provincial association and even if there's no active provincial association any player can enter the Canadians provided there is a vacancy. Of course this is determined by the CBSA but for the last 3 years the Canadians didn't have a full roster of 40 players and virtually any player in Canada could have contacted the CBSA, paid their $350 and filled those vacancies.
So those Forum members who complain the Canadians is not open and fair to all are mistaken. I have filled a vacancy myself on 2 separate years when I failed to make the top 12 in Ontario ranking. The CBSA would like to have a full roster of 40 players however it's pretty obvious the players themselves either cannot afford the time and money or else they don't know they can play if they want to.
OK...rant over!
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