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BPPPA Events
Rileys American Pool and Snooker Club - Barnsley
1st & 2nd Floor
47-51 Peel Street
BARNSLEY
South Yorkshire
S70 2RL
Tel: 01226 779 347
www.bpppa.org
www.rileysltd.com

Saturday-Sunday 28-29 July 2007
Sunday 12 August 2007

Tour Announcement

If you have been to recent BPPPA main tour events or read the threads on the forums at www.pro9.co.uk you may be aware that there has been a lot of work taking place recently behind the scenes to look at ways to improve our game and take the current 9 ball tour to a new level.

I am delighted to announce we now have firm plans to replace the current BPPPA tour with an exciting new 9 ball tour from next season to be known as the GB 9 Ball Tour (GB9BT). This tour will be very different from the current tour and will be run independently as a separate entity from the BPPPA. To date our proposals have the full support of the BPPPA main council and we are nearing the final stages of negotiations, which should be complete by the end of the month.

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

Under these proposals the GB9BT will retain an affiliation with the BPPPA, which will continue the role of governing body for American disciplines of pool in Great Britain. The BPPPA would also continue with the superb and vital work it does with Wheelchair Tour, Youth Scene and Seniors and will remain as the representative organisation for British players with the EPBF, WPA and WCBS. It is also proposed that the BPPPA run a selection of separate 'open' events aimed at tour and non-tour members alike, especially to cover other disciplines such as 8 ball and straight pool. Subject to final negotiations and completion of formalities later this month responsibility for the running of the main 9 ball tour would move to the GB9BT.

The GB9BT will run it's own finances, arrange and run it's own tournaments, and appoint it's own officials. The new tour will be run by a Tour Committee (made up of players) chaired by me. Shirley Ang will lead a small team of Tournament Officials who will ensure the smooth running of events and be responsible for implementing the rules established by the Tour Committee. Many of you know that Shir has made a real difference since joining the BPPPA and is relishing the opportunity to use her experience to help us build the new tour into something really special.

I'm sure you will have lot's of questions about the plans and format of the new tour and I will try and answer these as best I can but you will understand that I do not want to release the detail until final negotiations are complete and me and the team are sure that all the i's have been dotted and the t's crossed so to speak! What I can share with you are some immediate objectives that we are working towards (there are many but these are the main ones).

- a truly professional tour with an exciting new format to stimulate renewed interest in the game.
- even geographical spread of events across the UK mainland.
- fewer events but better overall value with events lasting full weekend.
- meaningful rankings by attracting the UK's very best players.
- better chance for lower ranked players to get in the prize money without eroding the payout potential for top players, which will also be improved.
- guaranteed prize fund at every event because tour players will pay for the full season - not just on a 'per event' basis.
- players match timings for each event published well in advance to allow players to make appropriate travel plans and arrangements with work.

These are just some of our immediate objectives; of course we have longer term more ambitious goals but our primary objective is to establish the new tour, for the start of next season and then build from there. I can tell you we've done a lot of work already but there is, of course, a lot of work still to do. A project team is now in place and we are starting the task of bringing it all together.

To ensure a seamless transition from the BPPPA Main Tour to the GB9BT BPPPA President, Ted Bristow and the BPPPA main council has agreed that me and Shir supported by a team of willing volunteers will run the remaining scheduled events in the BPPPA calendar this season starting with the forthcoming events in Barnsley on 28/29 July and 12 August. At these events I will be available to report on progress of the GB9BT and answer any questions you may have. I will also introduce you to the Project Team who are helping us set up our new tour.

So how can you help now? Well the biggest way you can help is to attend the remaining BPPPA events and show your support for what we are doing. I want to see 100 entries again at these events to set us up for the transition to our new tour next season. I appreciate that the next event is again in the North of England but in mitigation this is at one of the best Riley's clubs in the UK, with newly recovered tables, the staff are awesome and travelling-wise being just off the M1 motorway it is nearer and quicker to get to than Manchester for many of you from the Midlands, South and South East.

So if you used to come to BPPPA events now is the time to come back, and show us your support. If you are interested in playing on the new tour don't wait until then, come along to the remaining events to meet the players, find out about what lies ahead and talk to us to give us your views. I would also appreciate it if you would spread the word by forwarding this email to friends or talking to other players in your region.

For non-BPPPA members wanting to play in these remaining events you would normally have to pay an additional �20 player licence and whilst we'd really like to scrap this to attract new players that would not be fair to those who've paid membership this season. So, what we are going to do is slash this to �10 for the 28/29 July event and �5 for the 12 August event, and put all of these funds (after paying tournament officials modest expenses) into the tournament prize funds. Revised flyers are attached confirming this.

It's very encouraging that I've been inundated with support and offers to help so I want to say a sincere thank you to all of you, as it does make a difference to know you have the support of the players behind you. Thank you and I look forward to seeing you all in Barnsley on the 28th.

Regards,

Lee Rigby
email: leerigby @ gb9balltour .com

p.s. If you did not receive this by email and are reading it from another source send me your name and email address so I can update our distribution list and can keep you updated with progress and information about the new tour.

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