Ssb - hearn goes nuts over brazil

[wildJONESEYE]

And here's me thinking it's an invitation event.

it is and having top players telling a new country to get lost will proberbly mean it at best would stay invitational or worst still if you cant be bothered coming i cant be bothered to stage it.

the brazilian masters is easily in the top 3 or 4 most important tournament this season interns of developing snooker on to a bigger stage and players giving it the 2 finger salute is not very helpfull.

[Giggity1984]

Id rather a player says I cant be arsed rather then turn up and not try. Lol.
Fair play to hearn though, he's got the balls to stand up to them!

[Looki]

Maybe it should carry ranking points from the beginning so that even some of the top players would bother to show up. It's not good enough that BH sets a tournament, he can't pot a ball so he needs a little help from his top players who, on the other hand, haven't stopped praising him for giving their sport another chance but let him down in a heart beat when there's not "enough money" in stake. Lower ranked players may not even afford to go on a trip to Brazil even if they liked but top 16 guys don't have this problem.

I agree with Hearn that the best players should be more responsible trying to grow the game. The higher you are in the rankings the bigger is your responsibility to promote the game, that's how I see it.

[deant1982]

I can understand the players not wanting to travel to Brazil to play in an invitational tournament, as it is a hell of a long plane ride, but, the same players should also not then be complaining that there are not enough tournaments around the world, and the prize money is too low. You need top stars to travel to these countries that are just starting to develop at a new game to get the ball rolling.
All it would take is one player to come along from their country and be the next Marco Fu or Ding Junhui. Look at how snooker mad Hong Kong and China went because of these 2 achieving success in the game. They are now national hero's (from what I understand) and snooker is massive on that side of the world.
Just as a side thought, the players are moaning that the Brazil tournament is so close date ise to the Shanghai masters or whatever, why not take the wife and kids for a holiday to shanghai and then go straight to brazil from there for a holiday before the tournament starts? It would be easier than flying home from Shanghai, then back out to Brazil, be cheaper for them to go straight there and fly home after, and would give them a holiday with the family, as well as a chance to win prize money and promote the game all in one! Everyone wins with this!
Just my opinion.
Dean

[Rane]

Another thing. I don´t think it´s getting easier to get sponsors, when the top players don´t care to take part in tournaments. And then it´s certainly not getting easier to raise the amount of money paid.

[Looki]

Another thing. I don´t think it´s getting easier to get sponsors, when the top players don´t care to take part in tournaments. And then it´s certainly not getting easier to raise the amount of money paid.

Spot on. It doesn't come from nowhere, money. Top players should show that they are commited and work loyally for the best interest of their sport. Otherwise, there's no need to expect any sponsor to just show up and offer a £100k first prize.

deant1982 made a very good point how it just takes one or two player to take the sport to totally different level just like in Asia. It could happen in South America, or at least players could give it a proper go.

[wildJONESEYE]

Spot on. It doesn't come from nowhere, money. Top players should show that they are commited and work loyally for the best interest of their sport. Otherwise, there's no need to expect any sponsor to just show up and offer a £100k first prize.

deant1982 made a very good point how it just takes one or two player to take the sport to totally different level just like in Asia. It could happen in South America, or at least players could give it a proper go.

some people say if hearn offered them more money to go ...

and i think where is this money going to come from ? hes running a sport not a charity if they want more money they will have to do the donkey work now or its never going to happen.

[GOMH71]

No disrespect, but do any of you a clue about regular long haul travel ?

Unless you fly Business Class, it's f*cking hard work.

I agree the Players should be backing it, but consider the risk / reward ratio once in a while ...

GOMH71

[dawson]

nonesense the brasil dates were known in october and on the world snooker website months before the match with ding and trump was agreed

[wildJONESEYE]

No disrespect, but do any of you a clue about regular long haul travel ?

Unless you fly Business Class, it's f*cking hard work.

I agree the Players should be backing it, but consider the risk / reward ratio once in a while ...

GOMH71

nobody said it wasent hard work but thats their job if you worked for a company that flew a lot around the world and you refused to go your sacked.

[gavpowell]

It's also hardly regular is it? At the moment at least, they've had one tournament, this is the second.

[deant1982]

No disrespect, but do any of you a clue about regular long haul travel ?

Unless you fly Business Class, it's f*cking hard work.

I agree the Players should be backing it, but consider the risk / reward ratio once in a while ...

GOMH71

The problem with this statement is - (Taken from the WPBSA list of tournaments) If a top 16 player that doesn't enter qualifiers were to enter every ranking and invitation tournament for the 11-12 season, there are only 6 long haul flights maximum, with 3 of the tournaments played consecutively (Wuxi Classic, World Cup, and Goldfields open). Removing these only leaves Shanghai Masters, Brazillian Masters, and China open which would be long haul flights.
The remainder of tournaments throughout the year (6 Ranking, 4 invitational, 13 PTC events) are ALL played in Europe. The furthest of which is Germany/Poland!

I don't think 1 extra long haul flight a year, especially with the prospect of earning good money (not great, but worth the effort) is too much to potentially open up an ENORMOUS market in South America, thus more tournament/higher money etc.

[wildJONESEYE]

The problem with this statement is - (Taken from the WPBSA list of tournaments) If a top 16 player that doesn't enter qualifiers were to enter every ranking and invitation tournament for the 11-12 season, there are only 6 long haul flights maximum, with 3 of the tournaments played consecutively (Wuxi Classic, World Cup, and Goldfields open). Removing these only leaves Shanghai Masters, Brazillian Masters, and China open which would be long haul flights.
The remainder of tournaments throughout the year (6 Ranking, 4 invitational, 13 PTC events) are ALL played in Europe. The furthest of which is Germany/Poland!

I don't think 1 extra long haul flight a year, especially with the prospect of earning good money (not great, but worth the effort) is too much to potentially open up an ENORMOUS market in South America, thus more tournament/higher money etc.

the World Open will be played in March in china and theres been talks of a possible Ranking Tournament in India end of February yet to be confirmed

The Callender on WS.Com will be changing Matt from Pro Snooker Blog after talking with people last week in Gloucster has put together a revised if so far unofficial callender. http://prosnookerblog.com/calendar/201112-resultsdraws/

[the_Crippler09]

While i can understand this wasnt very well organized as far as scheduling goes and the players have every right to voice their concerns, they should absolutely NOT have withdrawn!!

They should be ashamed of themselves!

Its their RIGHT as sportsmen to promote the development of the game.

For soo many years snooker has taken steps back due to the ineptness of the board and i never thought i would see the day snooker would take a step back because of the PLAYERS!!

I will finish by telling these ungrateful and selfish few thats there is still time to reverse your decision and do the right thing!

I hope for the sake of the Brazilians and South America that the tournament is still a success.

[mick farrell]

Does anyone here remember when Barry was a snooker player manager? He was always pulling his players out of events.
1982 PPT (no Steve Davis)
1984 Pro Snooker League (no Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths & Tony Meo)
1984 UK (threatened to withdraw Steve Davis unless there was an increase in prize money or made a ranking event)
1986 Irish Masters (no Steve Davis)
1986 & 1987 Scottish Masters (no Steve Davis)
1988 ITV scrapped the World Doubles (open to all players) to televise Barry's 8 man invitational event.
Steve Davis did not enter the first 2 overseas ranking events of the 1989/90 season because he claimed his Father did not want to travel. Hendry had a superb season and overtook him in the World rankings.
I can see all sides to this argument. Barry in creating events and wants the best players in them. Players want to be in events that have prize money to make it worth there while.
Barry has an absolute cheek to publicly name players who choose not to compete.