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Attendees:
Jason Ferguson (WPBSA Chairman),
Alan Chamberlain (WPBSA Rules & Regs),
Frayer Goodman (WPBSA Operations),
Nigel Oldfield (Operations Director, World Snooker Ltd),
Miles Pearce (Commercial Director, World Snooker Ltd)
The Snooker Players’ Association Board
12-14 current professional players
3-4 ex-players
WPBSA Agenda Items:-
1. Feedback on the new tour structure
The players that attended the meeting said they would like tournaments to be spread out more and preferably to be held during the week and not over weekends with the PTC finals to take place in March. The WPBSA said they would look into this and next year the PTC’s and EPTC’s will take place after Christmas and during the week.
Some players are finding it difficult to meet the expense of entering all the tournaments especially tournaments that are being held abroad. It is for this reason that the players asked if it would be possible to take their best 9 results into account.
It was felt that all players should be treated equally and any players pulling out of tournaments should have a valid reason for doing so.
2. Feedback on the new ranking system
The players are very pleased with the new ranking system and the fact that there are more tournaments for them to enter.
It is now possible to move up and down the rankings more frequently which makes it more exciting for all.
3. Formation of a players forum
This point was not discussed in any great detail. Jason Ferguson said he will come back to everyone with some ideas for this.
4. Any other items players wish to raise
The Snooker Players’ Association put some questions to the WPBSA on behalf of the players.
Questions from The Snooker Players’ Association:-
1. Banning of player managers from the Board of the WPBSA. It has only ever caused problems and can lead to Managers looking after their own players rather than looking after the good of the sport
Jason Ferguson said that there is a huge conflict of interest and that he does not believe that this should happen.
The SPA highlighted the fact that Managers have an obligation to act in the best interests possible for their players at all times. Should a player Manager be appointed onto the Board of the WPBSA decisions that he makes could be beneficial to his players which could in turn be detrimental to other players.
2. Extend main tour to 128 players to get more overseas players on the tour in order to popularise the game more globally
Jason Ferguson said that it is not possible right now but the WPBSA have looked at this and it is possible that the number of professional players could increase to 128 in the near future.
3. Are there any plans in place to change the draw structure in future ranking events in order to open the draw up more ie to have 1-32 seeded in the same round rather than 1-16?
The WPBSA stated that they are not changing anything this year but will be looking at this in the future.
4. Would it be possible to extend the voting right to all 96 professional players on the main tour and not just the top 64? The purpose of this is to stop Managers who manage several players having too much or an unfair influence on votes by using block votes
Jason Ferguson took this point on board and is going to look into it – it was pointed out that to change the number of voting members the whole constitution would have to be changed which would mean members voting to agree to the change.
5. AOB
Discussions took place regarding the recent requisition which was lodged at the registered office of the WPBSA on 23 September 2010 by seven full voting members of the company (Nigel Bond, Allister Carter, Mike Dunn, Peter Ebdon, Martin Gould, Adrian Gunnell and Mark King) requiring the WPBSA Board to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to consider certain resolutions.
The resolutions they proposed were as follows:
Resolution 1
“Remove the following directors from the WPBSA Board
Name: Jason Ferguson
Name: Steve Davis
Name: David Douglas
And elect to the WPBSA Board Lee Doyle, Jim McMahon and Nigel Bond”
Resolution 2
“Elect Lee Doyle and Jim McMahon to the board of WPBSA”
The SPA were informed by certain players, who had put their names to these resolutions, that they were not fully aware of what they were signing and agreeing to. The SPA would like to point out that we are here should any player require professional advice or assistance in instances of this nature in the future.
We are sure that the WPBSA will be issuing formal detailed minutes of the meeting but we just wanted to let you know the answers to the specific questions that were on the Agenda and answers to the questions that had been put to The SPA to ask on behalf of the players.
We took detailed notes ourselves and if you would like to know anything further about the meeting please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Patsy Fagan
Chief Executive
The Snooker Players’ Association
Jason Ferguson (WPBSA Chairman),
Alan Chamberlain (WPBSA Rules & Regs),
Frayer Goodman (WPBSA Operations),
Nigel Oldfield (Operations Director, World Snooker Ltd),
Miles Pearce (Commercial Director, World Snooker Ltd)
The Snooker Players’ Association Board
12-14 current professional players
3-4 ex-players
WPBSA Agenda Items:-
1. Feedback on the new tour structure
The players that attended the meeting said they would like tournaments to be spread out more and preferably to be held during the week and not over weekends with the PTC finals to take place in March. The WPBSA said they would look into this and next year the PTC’s and EPTC’s will take place after Christmas and during the week.
Some players are finding it difficult to meet the expense of entering all the tournaments especially tournaments that are being held abroad. It is for this reason that the players asked if it would be possible to take their best 9 results into account.
It was felt that all players should be treated equally and any players pulling out of tournaments should have a valid reason for doing so.
2. Feedback on the new ranking system
The players are very pleased with the new ranking system and the fact that there are more tournaments for them to enter.
It is now possible to move up and down the rankings more frequently which makes it more exciting for all.
3. Formation of a players forum
This point was not discussed in any great detail. Jason Ferguson said he will come back to everyone with some ideas for this.
4. Any other items players wish to raise
The Snooker Players’ Association put some questions to the WPBSA on behalf of the players.
Questions from The Snooker Players’ Association:-
1. Banning of player managers from the Board of the WPBSA. It has only ever caused problems and can lead to Managers looking after their own players rather than looking after the good of the sport
Jason Ferguson said that there is a huge conflict of interest and that he does not believe that this should happen.
The SPA highlighted the fact that Managers have an obligation to act in the best interests possible for their players at all times. Should a player Manager be appointed onto the Board of the WPBSA decisions that he makes could be beneficial to his players which could in turn be detrimental to other players.
2. Extend main tour to 128 players to get more overseas players on the tour in order to popularise the game more globally
Jason Ferguson said that it is not possible right now but the WPBSA have looked at this and it is possible that the number of professional players could increase to 128 in the near future.
3. Are there any plans in place to change the draw structure in future ranking events in order to open the draw up more ie to have 1-32 seeded in the same round rather than 1-16?
The WPBSA stated that they are not changing anything this year but will be looking at this in the future.
4. Would it be possible to extend the voting right to all 96 professional players on the main tour and not just the top 64? The purpose of this is to stop Managers who manage several players having too much or an unfair influence on votes by using block votes
Jason Ferguson took this point on board and is going to look into it – it was pointed out that to change the number of voting members the whole constitution would have to be changed which would mean members voting to agree to the change.
5. AOB
Discussions took place regarding the recent requisition which was lodged at the registered office of the WPBSA on 23 September 2010 by seven full voting members of the company (Nigel Bond, Allister Carter, Mike Dunn, Peter Ebdon, Martin Gould, Adrian Gunnell and Mark King) requiring the WPBSA Board to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to consider certain resolutions.
The resolutions they proposed were as follows:
Resolution 1
“Remove the following directors from the WPBSA Board
Name: Jason Ferguson
Name: Steve Davis
Name: David Douglas
And elect to the WPBSA Board Lee Doyle, Jim McMahon and Nigel Bond”
Resolution 2
“Elect Lee Doyle and Jim McMahon to the board of WPBSA”
The SPA were informed by certain players, who had put their names to these resolutions, that they were not fully aware of what they were signing and agreeing to. The SPA would like to point out that we are here should any player require professional advice or assistance in instances of this nature in the future.
We are sure that the WPBSA will be issuing formal detailed minutes of the meeting but we just wanted to let you know the answers to the specific questions that were on the Agenda and answers to the questions that had been put to The SPA to ask on behalf of the players.
We took detailed notes ourselves and if you would like to know anything further about the meeting please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Patsy Fagan
Chief Executive
The Snooker Players’ Association