Emma Bonney stacking shelves

[snookerdad]

Brilliant piece on Meridian ITV last night about five-time world ladies billiards champion Emma Bonney.

http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/que...the-cues90972/

Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)

[philip in china]

Of course billiards just isn't a spectator sport. Womens billiards? Yawn.

[jb134]

Of course billiards just isn't a spectator sport. Womens billiards? Yawn.

That's a pathetic post.

[thelongbomber]

Brilliant piece on Meridian ITV last night about five-time world ladies billiards champion Emma Bonney.

http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/que...the-cues90972/

Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)

I clicked the link but the video doesn't load. Says "Sorry the video could not be found"

[Mignon]

The same happened to me. I suppose the video isn't there anymore (or it's only for British viewers)....

[thelongbomber]

works for me. Interesting report, quite funny.

I like it when they ask the two old ladies to guess what sport they think the woman stacking shelves is a world champion at.

the presenter says you have just been served by the female equvilant of Ronnie O Sullivan and they reply: "And who is he!"

Amazing that she plays with a cue that cost 15 pounds and that she is a world billiard champion and number 3 in the world at womens snooker and yet she can't get any sponsor to play in any events.
Sad.

GROUCH Help the girl out Hearn.

Darn, looks like UK only viewing.

[philip in china]

Yes it wouldn't load here either.

Sponsorship is a commercial deal whereby companies invest money in somebody who is playing a popular spectator sport at a high level. They generally have to be fairly convinced that their name will be seen by the public so that thye get a return on their investment. The top pros don't get sponsorship until they are good.

I still maintain that billiards is just never going to get the coverage and attract the bucks that snooker does because most people just wouldn't want to watch it. There are many sports which are similar and, like billiards, they don't attract the sponsorship or the viewers. Most of the forum readers might be interested in following a game but the general public just isn't.

[bongo]

It is a great shame that players like Emma Bonney can't earn enough money from the game alone. When you look at the ridiculous wages that footballers get paid, you can see why it is so unfair on her.

She is not the only one, there are plenty of top billiard players who are not paid what they deserve. One is Mike Russell, the greatest player since the 1930s and winner of 17 world titles, 9 of which are world professional titles. Even when he was winning 80% of the professional billiard tournaments, had to search elsewhere so he could earn a living.

Billiards is not the most popular sport, and that's a fact, but in my opinion, although it is important, it should be irrelevant from what players should earn. Their achievements should be looked at and not how popular it is. The fact that it is not a spectator sport is irrelevant in my opinion.

It makes me really angry when you look at the amount that bloke Rooney gets paid for doing absolutely nothing. He's not even half as skilful as the top billiard players.

I am sure people are probably disagreeing with me but that's my opinion on this.

[hotpot]

Good shout Grouch , agree entirely

[thelongbomber]

Hmm. Think it through. In the promo business funding for a player is directly proportional to the return on investment from viewership. The more viewers, the higher the players income. Footballers have world championships, weekly play on television, and thousands of fans sitting in stadiums as well as hordes of kids joining amateur teams. Football players and other well funded sports are also seen as difficult to play at a world class level and thats enough to make the general public willing to pay and support the game. Well paid athletes also have the added bonus of encouraging parents and kids to follow suit.

It's a catch 22 really. Without funding there is no viewership or interest to encourage the game which is why there isn't funding. The sport needs to be kickstarted and hopefully Hearn is doing that as the new chair. One possibility is that someone funds a world class event (dubai?) and awards 100 million gbp to the winner. The investor then sets up Pay per view for the event, get's sponsors to chip in promo items and cash, and hopefully makes a positive return on investment. Parents, kids, general public will wake up and take interest in the sport because there is serious fortunes to be earned, clubs will then become packed, coaches will be employed, olympics will take notice, and snooker will live happily ever after.

I think cue sports have dwindled since the 80's because players and the associations couldn't keep pace with all the new entertainment forms available to the paying public - casinos, sattelite tv, internet, poker. American pool, on the other hand has taken off because it was fast, watchable, accessible, and could be broadcasted to a large audience. Hence the funding in USA for the game.

It seems like that's how it all is anyways.

[philip in china]

Also a lot of the cigarette sponsorship money has gone from cue sports.

There are lots of sports which just don't make entertaining viewing for the general public. Sponsors want to sponsor activities with a big audience. TV companies want to show programmes with huge audiences so the advertising rates can be appropriately much higher. I don't believe that that will ever happen with billiards- or for that matter many olympic sports.

Also I see a lot of comments on here saying "They should be paid more". So who should pay players? They win prize money by being good. They get sponsorship by being good. These will only apply if the viewers are there. It is simple economics. In the old days when I was a boy snooker was a very unpopular activity. You could get a 12' table free if you could move it. Halls were closing down all over. Then somebody invented colour TV and suddenly it became a more attractive game for the general viewer. When huge audiences started to watch then the sport went through a renaissance.