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British Professional Pool Players Association
President,
Sports and Tournament Director
B.P.P.P.A.
British Professional Pool Players Association
www.bpppa.org
BPPPA 2006-2007 Season Calendar (175 kb .pdf file)

14 November 2006

Dear Players,

Firstly, please allow me this opportunity to apologise for the delay in publishing the calendar for the 2006 � 2007 season. The full calendar for the BPPPA Main Tour, the BPPPA Youth Tour and the BWPPA Wheelchair Tour is attached to this mail. I fully understand many of you have been keen to receive it earlier so you can plan ahead and manage your diaries.

When receiving official statements one expects to read both good news and bad. This will be no exception. Whilst I have plenty of good news to reveal we have very recently received a setback, which I will inform you about first.

The main delay in publishing the calendar is that we have been working, and still are, on acquiring suitable venues for our tournaments. The main issue concerning the calendar is that Riley�s have withdrawn sponsorship funding for the BPPPA Main Tour, the BPPPA Youth Tour and the BWPPA Wheelchair Tour. I am fully aware that Riley�s have been undertaking a cost cutting exercise nationwide but I will not however speculate on their financial stability, as this would at this time be simple conjecture. I will however leave this to the artistic licence of the press until I hear further from Riley�s. What I can say is that we have enjoyed three good years and built a strong relationship with Riley�s and I thank them for their valuable support in the past.

Click on "Read More..." for the details.

We must now move with the times and move forward for the good of the sport. Prior to this announcement by Riley�s we had already ascertained certain areas that needed to be improved and this is owing to the feedback from the players. One particular issue was table management at clubs and it was agreed that we would reduce the number of venues for the new season to only those that could fully accommodate us both in size and in table management. With the lack of revenue this now becomes a little harder to accomplish � but not impossible. We cannot incur large expenditure without this revenue and as a result in the short term we will be centralising the Tours geographically.

Please note that I say �in the short term�. This is an interim measure while we locate more suitable venues and additional funding. Operating the Association comes with a huge expenditure and we will be addressing this in order to continue to bring you quality tournaments at all levels.

The Operational Director at Riley�s Ltd has kindly agreed that we can still use Riley�s Stretford and as this is geographically central it would suit us comfortably in that we should be able to see more Scottish players and players from the North attending who do not normally travel to events in the South. We are currently in discussions with independent venues as we can no longer give exclusivity to the Riley�s group. On top of this we have also approached a major hotel chain for their consideration in backing the Tour. I will keep you informed on a regular basis with these developments.

I believe that the long term looks better than ever now and this financial setback has given us more motivation to press forward. This issue is more of an annoyance than a problem and we will deal with it to reach a positive outcome. With the ever increasing popularity of the sport I still believe the American disciplines will grow exponentially. We all know how hard it is to secure sponsors especially from outside the industry but yet when we study the demographics I further believe the opportunities will be soon realised by potential sponsors as we acquire more media coverage.

The past year has seen some exceptional results both at home and abroad. At all levels (men, ladies, youth and seniors) we have achieved recognition world wide and I am particularly thrilled at the success of our players in Euro Tour and European Championship events. Well done and congratulations to all of you who have competed at this level.

In a joint effort between the BPPPA and the KNBB ( Dutch Federation ) we held a summer training camp in Manchester for pupils ( under 16 ) and juniors ( under 18 )" /> which was a memorable occasion. This year we are looking at a similar camp to be held in Holland during the summer period.

Another addition this year has been the training and introduction of Certified Referees under the WPA/EPBF referee training programme. This was most successful and we will be holding further courses this coming season. Congratulations to all the new Referees.

We have one of the largest National Tours in Europe and if we look at the number of events and prize money on offer we are the second largest just behind the KNBB in Holland. A very good friend of mine and an exceptional custom cue maker in the U.S.(who you should all know by now I may add) recently told me that for an Association to still be in it�s infancy compared to other nations, it has done incredibly well to have broken even financially after only three years. I am very proud of this and thank everyone who has supported the Association during the last year.

I recently stated that the forthcoming season will have more benefits for members and again we have been working hard to acquire better things in this regard.
Firstly, I am pleased to inform you that we have secured a firmer sponsorship deal with the largest supplier of pool tables, cues and accessories in Europe. Dynamic Billiards in Germany have kindly agreed to provide all the tables for the UK 9 Ball Championship (I will elaborate on this shortly) and will offer a 10% discount to BPPPA members when they shop on line through the Dynamic web site.

The shop has an English translation facility and shopping can be done securely and quickly 24/7. The site has extremely competitive prices with a huge range of products and dynamic carry an enormous stock available for immediate delivery. Unlike shopping with U.S. sites, you will not be charged VAT, import duty and couriers handling fees for clearing customs. Just mention �BPPPA� to receive an immediate 10% discount!

So with this in mind we have provided Dynamic title ownership to all BPPPA and BWPPA events this year and I am delighted to name Dynamic as a main Tour Partner.

We are also privileged and pleased to further announce we have secured new contracts with our other two major Tour Partners namely, Aramith and Iwan Simonis of Belgium who supply the Aramith Super Pro Cup TV ball sets and Simonis 860 cloth respectively.
The UK 9 Ball Championship is scheduled as you will see on the calendar for July at the City of Manchester Stadium � home of Manchester City Football Club and the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

There will be a minimum �10,000 added for this event and we have already identified key sponsors for this event through MCFC as well as securing the dates for the Stadium facilities which are absolutely outstanding. We are currently working on TV production for this tournament and I will keep you informed with progress.

Again, we will be using Dynamic II tables identical to those used on the Euro Tour and European Championships.

There are of course key benefits to BPPPA members as it is most unlikely that non-members will be able to participate. The field will be limited and although it is a semi-open event it will be on an invitational basis in the first instance. For example, at different stages before the event, the top 16 (who will be seeded in the event) will receive their invitation first followed by 17-32 and so on down the ranking list. Once this has been done spots will then be offered to other National Federations through the EPBF which should attract a huge response with the first prize being higher than that of the Euro Tour. Should there be any spots left open then these will be offered on a first come first served basis to non members but if this is the case they will incur a much larger entry fee.

This should not be seen as offering a carrot for players to join the BPPPA! Although we need to encourage as many players as possible to join the Association so that we can grow and achieve our goals of improving standards, it is only fair that members do come first, reap the benefits and continue to do so in the future.

To confirm this point the Euro Tour is open to members and non-members alike. However, the Board Directors of the EPBF and WPA would encourage all British players to join the Association for the continued growth and recognition of the sport.

Another issue I would like to address is the increase in tournament entry fees. The decision for this, albeit it is only an increase of �10 is that we have been concerned for some time that everyone should be receiving a reward by qualifying for the final stages of an event. The increase should facilitate this.

In view of the fact our tournaments are double elimination to a quarter of the field �45 still represents excellent value for participating in a professional cue sport event.

We originally scheduled other improvements to be implemented at the start of the season. However, we have tested these out during the last three tournaments to smooth out any teething issues. Tapped tables, alternate break and scoreboards for each table have all been tested and we have received only positive feedback from the players. With large fields and limited number of tables on a two day tournament we can only use a roll-on roll-off system of play. However, we have tested the approximate timing system and this has worked quite satisfactorily.

This season we will be introducing a 14:1 Continuous (straight pool) event as well as our annual 8 ball tournament. Consequently and keeping in mind the increase in tournaments in general we have reduced the number of 9 Ball ranking events to 10 down from 12.

There is also a European Championship wild card qualifying tournament scheduled for Friday evening 15th December (prior to ranking Event No.2) which is only open to BPPPA members who are British Citizens and hold a British passport. Tournament fliers will be mailed shortly.

All dates on the calendar are now confirmed and have been carefully chosen so that they do not clash with major international events. Although we are firm with our dates it may be necessary to reschedule should a major event (e.g. World Pool Championships etc) have to reschedule their dates.

I will be writing to both the EPBF and WPA for their Cooperation in observing our calendar.
I should like to thank you all for your continued support and together I am confident we will have a another successful season reaching new heights. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Best regards and Yours in Sport,

Ted Bristow

Ted Bristow
President,
Sports and Tournament Director
British Professional Pool Players Association

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