9-Ball
Topic: World Cup of Pool in London

It's an interesting read all of this! Every game or sport has it's unknown talent and it's a shame when it's only money that stands in the way of fulfilled potential. I happen to agree with Darren as those that get out there and perform on the biggest stage should be rewarded with the chance to represent their country. The WCOP is a short race format and I've personally watched players on GB9 break/run 5 or 6 games in a single race to 9 that realistically won't get invited to compete. Talent is only one part of the equation though and these players that are currently missing out know what they need to do, if they want it enough!

History shows that being good at something is not a factor in Matchrooms equations, for example, Rob McKenna got an invite to the 9 ball worlds every year when it was in Cardiff - for the sole purpose in raising the profile in the local area and getting spectators in.

As to the status of the GB9 tour. Matchroom will not be interested in what it is called in the slightest. They will only be interested in its potential exposure:

http://www.gb9balltour.com/in-the-media

From a global perspective, that does not make good reading I'm afraid to say.

On 2013-07-02 11:36 , cringing-whinging Wrote:

On the contrary, we have a good relationship with Matchroom hence they have asked to use our rankings to select one of the 16 players in this years World Pool Masters.


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Andy Warden, GB9 - Authorised Pro9 forum advertiser/sponsor √

how about

for TEAM 'A' use world rankings

for TEAM 'B' use eurotour rankings

seems a fair way as even players that travel to all the eurotours are still risking 3k to 5k per year maybe more!!

World rankings are very flawed anyway.


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Andy Warden, GB9 - Authorised Pro9 forum advertiser/sponsor √

main problem year after year is that there is no criteria laid out for these events, hence why forums like this pop up and we get a 100 page discussion about who the teams should be

On 2013-07-02 11:48 , cueman Wrote:yes they are andy im sure they would be different if all the taiwanese played every event, also no world 8ball or 10ball this year...who knows who would have won these????

but again it comes down to criteria, if there was players know what they would have to do to qualify for these events then it really is in their hands wether they travel and put the work in!!

On 2013-07-02 11:43 , cueman Wrote:

Excellent news.

Might I suggest you update that page? Listing that you got an article on the BBC website 3 years ago doesn't really look that good.

I would have to agree that the WPA ranking are flawed, only 3 players out of the top ten have even played all events. Not surprising when the WPA keep cancelling events, who would want to risk their own money just to lose it all because an event got cancelled.

The euro rankings and gb9 should definitely have some bearing, its seems like they're well respected tours and all the english players (bar darren) have played enough events to score maximum ranking points in a least one of the tours.

Andy I meant 95% of the players that play on gb9 are amateurs .. Maybe even more .. They don't make a living playing pool .. The only full time pros are myself, Daryl , Karl , Chris ,Jayson and two of us don't play gb9.. Phil would be semi pro at this moment..so really it's more a amateur tour than professional ,although its a good standard and run professionally .. Nobody makes a living from playing gb9.

Wether the world rankings are flawed or not .. It's a the devils playground of alot harder to be ranked no 1 on world rankings than it is gb9 or euro tour.. Still at this moment 5 major events with most of the best players in the world u got to come through with much bigger prizes at the end plus tv
And yes richard all the best players were at world 9ball wonder why a Taiwanese didn't win that.plus us open,china open, only one they miss is ultimate 10ball, but lot of player miss Japan open from Europe which one of them won .

So they miss one event.

If anything gb9 and euro tour are more flawed regards rankings .. Jayson was no 1 before he stopped playing and I don't play.

And IMO 3 of the top 6 European players don't play euro tour at all.

So the guys doing the best in the big major tournaments and putting the effort in deserve the spots. And them guys proven they the best players in uk the past 5 years.

All I know if I wasn't traveling to play big events worldwide I wouldn't think I a chance to play any Matchroom event..or any other major invitational event.

In response to someone else's post , they only used snooker player in the early days to build Matchroom events up .. Now they established they don't snooker players plus now we can get players good enough to win Matchroom tournaments or any world tournaments . Snooker players such as Hendry no chance to win .

Am sure Matchroom will do the right thing that's all what matters at end if day and that's my opinion ...and I know it's right .

Daz


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world ranked no 1 and current world 9ball champion Available for exhibitions & coaching www.darrenappleton.com

So by that rationale there isn't a single professional pool tour or even professional pool event in the world, as there will always be 'amateurs' making up the numbers.

I prefer to use the term Professional tour to indicate the general high standard of participants (whether they make their living from playing or not), the standard of equipment utilised, the playing environment and the quality of the event organisation.

Correct ... But least most of the guys that play for a living play the big events and make the effort ..so there obviously the most deserving to play these type of events because they are the best and do best in the worldwide events with all the best players .. Simple ..

Daz in a previous post you wrote about players winning things and getting sponsors/backers and also said players travelling and risking their own money which sounds contradictory to me because surely if you are sponsored or backed then you.re not risking your own money. I know that a few of you guys have pretty good deals in place fair play to ya so that must make it easier to play in these events with a little bit of pressure being taken off but I happen to know through a mate that Mark Gray has not entered a lot of the world events recently because as he is his own backer he quite simply cannot afford it not because he couldn,t be bothered and he has also along with others I suspect paid for flights for tourneys that have been cancelled thus ending up out of pocket. A lot of what you post I think makes sense but I think some is wrong only my humble opinion and not a personal attack

I Personally don't have a huge financial sponsor, and I never have had. But I don't keep going on about it like a broken record.
I choose to get stuck in, and put my own money where my mouth is and travel around the world spending £20k plus on expenses every year because I believe in my own ability.

If the players who don't travel want to play in big events, then they have the opertunity to enter the "open" events such as the US Open, or go to the qualifiers for the china open, world 9ball etc etc. but to expect to be picked for an "invitation" event seems quite bizzarre to me. Darren is absolutely correct when he says that players that put the time ans massive effort in to travel all over the place each year, AND get results on the big stage far more deserve they're place in the "invitation" events than the players that decide to stay at home and play the national tour.
I've never seen any Dart players for example, who have been picked for the premier league because they were high ranked on their national tour!....it's only for players who win majors and are high ranked on the bigger stage....that's what these events are made for.
Young talent will get its chance too, but it's like stepping stones, you have to walk before you can run, not the other way around!

On a personal note, I have not been able to play several GB9 events because of tournament date clashes, and this has obviously effected my ranking. Meanwhile, I have played every Eurotour, and I am the highest ranked Brit on that.....and the top ranked Brits from the GB9 rankings have also played all eurotour events but are not even in top 16......so I think that tells a story on its own!
.....and may I also add, that because of these GB9 date clashes I will probably miss out on the World Masters play-offs for the the top 4 on GB9, but I won't go on about it because that's life!.....we can't always have our cake and eat it I'm afraid.

And the end of the day, I am sure whoever Matchrooms picks are, they will do well at the World cup of Pool. I hope I am one of them, but if I ain't, you won't see me moaning about it, cos at the end of the day, it's an INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT, and they are allowed to INVITE exactly who ever they want.


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......and may I add........

In the past 18 months alone I have lost over £3,000 in flights paid for when the tournament has not gone ahead as planned, or the tournament didn't pay the prize monies out.
But we all make our own choices and we have to live by them...simples!!


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I think now that some of the comments are getting personal now and that's when a constructive chat becomes something else that's not on in fact in my opinion that's bang out of order and Darren I know daryl backs himself and u also do these last couple of years and I understand having a backer has its pressures but I think it takes a little heat off not all and this has allowed you I think to play more freely knowing you can win some but not lose anything other than your backer and I also congratulate you on all your successes you are the best player uk has got or had. And also cannot fault your work ethic or the other guys and I'm not saying mark should be guaranteed an invite it was only my opinion as to who I wd pick and while we are on about opinions I definitely think mark is in uk top six and I know he did have a deal with same guy u did for a while but as I'm sure you know things didn't work out aswell as they shd but that's a different matter altogether.

Nothing personal just facts IMO ..

We will see what Matchroom decide hopefully they do the right thing for the players that deserve to play ..IMO .

But of course u and everyone else can have your opinion..
Dyno

All sports have a level where you are paid and where you are not.

Crossing this boundary has always been the hardest thing for a sportsman to do, be they a pool player or a swimmer or a golfer or a footballer.

It is unfortunate that the level is so high for pool but that is life and beyond anything we can do.

When you look at the money that sportsmen like Tiger Woods and Andy Murray get on an annual basis it makes you cry.

That said, I know a couple of jobbing golf pro's who basically do it for the love of the game and earn peanuts. It's just a darn shame for pool that when you talk about people scratching for a living and earning peanuts you are talking about single figure ranked players.

World players even, as the top 10 on the azbilliard money list have actually earned a pittance from to tournaments - especially if you deduct the £20,000 expenses that some of them claim in this very thread.

Shame but that is life.

If it is a contributory factor to XYZ not making it whereas ABC does make it because he has a backer that is a shame too but that is also life and beyond our influence.

Azbilliards money list not correct every year .. U can add maybe 20-30% extra on each player they miss some events off and some other things .. But unless in top 4-5 u earn less than $100k a year . Unless great sponsors etc..

Dyno


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world ranked no 1 and current world 9ball champion Available for exhibitions & coaching www.darrenappleton.com