9-Ball
Topic: BPPPA

The cancellation of the UK Championship is very disappointing and anyone can see there are a lot of unhappy BPPPA members so of course as players we must do what we can to try and turn things around. I'm a BPPPA member and player too and I share your disappointment and concerns about the state of American pool in this country. As Daryl says even the EPT, which was very well regarded by the players, could not sustain itself for long without sponsorship and support from the players.

Whilst I don't know if things can be changed to the extent that we ALL get behind the BPPPA I do know...
- Many changes have been implemented this year, which have improved the tournaments in a BIG way.
- The recent BPPPA tournaments have been very well organised, very competetive and personally I've found them to be very enjoyable to play in.
- Despite all events being held in Manchester and all the negative comments about the BPPPA the events continue to attract >60 runners and the last Manchester event attracted a very high class field of champions. This convinces me that people do still want a UK tour and would turn out in much higher numbers if further improvements could be made.

So my personal view is that past, prospective and present members of the BPPPA should not give up and should strive to continue the path of improvement. My suggestion is to contact your players council rep with your STOP, START, CONTINUE list... i.e. Things the BPPPA should stop doing, things they should start doing and things they should continue doing. Then we will present these to the BPPPA, publish the responses and ensure the changes we want are implemented. Of course these suggestions need to be reasonable and sensible, so for example right now I recommend we assume we are working in a climate of zero sponsorship and have to sustain the tour from entry / member fees alone.

So send your STOP, START, CONTINUE list to me or any other players council rep in person or privately by email (not here) and give us a chance to push for the changes you want. The alternative is to continually rubbish our own organisation on here in public and that is not going to achieve anything no matter how much you may believe it is justified.

Hi Lee,

First of all thanks for your efforts with this. I appreciate efforts that other players put in on our (the players) behalf and I'm sure others do too, despite some of the negative reactions you received in other threads here.

I'm not usually one for airing my opinions on a public forum like this, as it very rarely produces anything contructive and even less seldom has any of the effect desired by the posters concerned. A few points in relation to your post though and to points made in other threads, as I do feel strongly about them. This is my personal opinion, although through conversations I've had with other players who are not necessarily active on this forum, I wouldn't expect them only to be held by me.

Firstly, with respect to your request to forward issues / concerns to a player rep - I did this in private to a player rep before the last substantial BPPPA meeting, and also took the time to make a considered response to the questionnaire circulated at a recent BPPPA event in Manchester. From the BPPPA, and I stress from them, I've received no response or feedback from the meeting or questionnaire. As a consequence I'm not keen to take the time and effort to outline my views once again.

Secondly, I agree with you that we shouldn't resort to rubbishing the BPPPA in public forums, especially if we want to sustain a tour in England. However, I understand the frustrations of some and why they post as they do. Staying on this point, I also think at the same time that that some of the viewpoints and so called 'suggestions' as to how we should proceed with pool in the UK, show a level of naievity bordering on the comedic, but again that's just personal opinion. As ever, it is always those who shout longest and loudest who get heard in fora such as these, which does not necessarily represent the depth and breadth of opinion out there.

Thirdly, I want a 'tour' to play on and don't want to see the BPPPA fold and things to go back to square one. At present practically and financially I can't attend the Eurotour and so I will continue to play BPPPA events. Having said that it is patently obvious that for the tour to retain viability some things probably do need to change. I don't think this is on the tournament side as the recent events run by Shir have been excellent, which is reflected in many comments on here. How likely other aspects of the BPPPA are to change is open to speculation.

The big problem, as ever, is that different players have different priorities and that a 'tour' presented within the current climate of sponsorship for American Pool simply cannot satisfy all of the people all of the time.

Good luck with it all. Happy to chat about things whenever.

Cheers,

Jonathan Mathers.

very disapointed but maybe now its a good oppertunity for us players to stand up and say something, because i dont no about the rest of you but i was using the uk 9 ball championship to hopefully gain sponsership from any onlookers and not only that it would have been a good oppertunity to maybe even get invited to bigger events but obviously now them dreams have been crushed.

tony burton.

the promises shouldnt have been made until everything was sorted and the contracts were signed.
i wont because i enjoy it but i reckon alot of people will stop playing the tour.

yeah its a massive blow!!!! only played in a few bpppa events and i know how everyone was looking forward to it.....

paddy mc loughlin

So come on guys, are you gonna renew your mambership in Nov????????

I stopped being a member the other year and unless i see a series of positive changes (especially in event location) i see no reason to rejoin.

however i'll be fully supportive of anyone who tries to improve on this situation (just not with my cash to start with!)

My intentions to join the BPPPA last December was to play the best players and improve my game, in my eyes i am learning all the time and my game has improved also.
Along the way i have beat a couple of players that are in the top 40 in the rankings which i take a bit of credit for, but as someone said earlier if you enter every tournament for 18 months you will be very high in the rankings anyway.

I WILL be rejoining the BPPPA in November as i Enjoy the competition and the learning curve, and hopefully my game will continue to improve and maybe one day i will win an event..........

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha h a ha ha ha

Many thanks to all those that have PM'd or emailed me with suggestions so far. I will ensure these are put to the BPPPA as soon as we can arrange a meeting. Email address for comments is playerscouncil @ rigbys . biz

Looking at other threads there are lots of good suggestions for improving the game here and improving the way the BPPPA is run. If we are to encourage Ted to implement these ideas and improve our organisation you have to accept that it could involve a lot of work (improving the grass roots of the game, revamping the website, arranging tournaments etc) and could be too much for one person.

There's obviously a lot of skilled people here with lots of energy so it would be good if that could be channelled into helping the BPPPA by volunteering your time to help with various activities.

That's how I see the BPPPA in the future i.e. more communication, transparent, democratic and more involvement form the players both in decision making but also in offering support to help make things happen.

I've not been a member of the organisation for long so I'm in no mood to dwell on the past. I just want to see us implement all the improvements we really want to see and every one has a part to play in that.

totally agree!!!!

Thanks Lee couldn't agree more. Lee, Shir, Ted - if there is anything I can help with please just let me know!

Andy Warden

i would like a list of all the bpppa staff members from the top,
so first who is the main man right down to the table cleaner, then players might know who to air their views at.

On 2007-06-06 12:39 , indiana Wrote:

Hi Indiana,

You can find a full list of contacts on the BPPPA web-site


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

On 2007-06-06 11:47 , Riggers Wrote:

But this requires quite a fundamental shift in how the BPPPA does its business. Volunteerism is great (and I'd also help out where possible) but will it achieve this shift? Is it just a lack of hands that has resulted in all this debate?

Also suggestions on a public forum are not a basis for change if you are talking about democracy. What was suggested by members prior to the last BPPPA meeting and via the questionnaire distributed at the last Manchester tournament? What is the BPPPAs response to those? I'm sick of tippy tappers on here dictating the debates that affect a much wider range of players. Lets have a response to what actual BPPPA members have said via the legitimate channels that were open to them, and which they have utilised.

Great post Mr Nameless, couldn't agree more.

On 2007-06-06 12:53 , nicknameless Wrote:
Maybe it's not a lack of hands that has resulted in this debate but when we come up with proposals for change I think more hands will be needed to sustain it.


Couldn't agree more. I'm looking forward to seeing a response to the recent survey. If anyone has raised something with me privately by email for me to progress at the next players council meeting I'll make sure they get a response.

What do people think of the minutes and the status of the actions contained in them? Is progress being made? Is the players council trying to make a difference for ALL members? What's everyones thoughts?