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發表於 2010-3-25 22:53:38
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B-Day For SnookerThat is B-arry Day and not a green-baize covered bathroom appliance.Friday is the day that Barry Hearn presents his blue-print for snooker’s future to the players and members of WPBSA.
Elected as chairman in December, Hearn has made no secret of the “I’ll do it my way or I am off” approach of the boss of Matchroom Sport, and the man responsible for getting live audiences of 10,000 plus watching Darts.
“The players will be presented with a 20-page document, that covers pretty much everything”, Hearn said this week at the Championship League in Essex.
“Some of it they won’t like, in fact lots of it they won’t like. There are lots of changes required. The fact that the commercial rights are essentially owned by the players has created the problem. The game has been poorly run for 20 years, and the players have allowed that.
”Now it is time for professional management to take over and make the sometimes difficult decisions that have to be made in business without the emotion and romance of being too closely involved”, he said.
Hearn first got involved in snooker as the owner of a chain of Lucania snooker halls, where he met a young Steve Davis. He has managed “The Nugget” ever since, one of the longest and most lucrative partnerships in British Sport.
“That has worked so well over the years, because we trust each other. I have never tried to tell Steve how to pot balls and he has never tried to tell me how to do a deal”.
That is the kind of trust Hearn is now looking for from the rest of the players.
“I dont know everything, the ideas I will present are my thoughts. I cannot guarantee that it will work but I know that it is not right that there are only six events for players to compete in, and that is something that will change. It has taken me three months to put together and I have really enjoyed doing it.”
Hearn teased some of the players at the Crondon Park event this week, with some of the ‘paper’s’ contents. There will be new events, changes to the rankings and prize money structure.
“We need to reward excellence and stop recognising mediocrity”, Hearn said.
“The main events like the world championship will remain untouched but one-frame shoot outs will become part of the calendar as will Pro Tour events in the UK and across Europe. This is a model that is working in darts. My dart players are asking for weekends off now as the tournament schedule gets more and more congested.”
Two time world champion, Mark Williams said, “I am 100% behind Barry. I have said for years that the sport needs him to get involved. I am not convinced that the rest of the players will agree though. There are players that are not reaching the final stages of events yet are nicking a few quid in prize money and I cant see them voting against that.”
Michal Holt echoed Williams’ thoughts saying, “It is a no brainer. I just want more opportunities to compete. I am nervous about the vote though and whether all the players will support Barry’s plans”.
The top 16 plus 16 qualifiers fly out to the China Open on Friday, so there will plenty of time to digest Hearn’s thoughts on plane, and no doubt little else will be discussed in the Players’ Lounge in Beijing next week.
Nothing will happen until after the Betfred.com World Championship in Sheffield.
When he was asked what will happen then Hearn replied, “We will focus on the world championship and then have a meeting, where you [the players] will vote. It will be fun” |
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發表於 2010-1-28 01:14:24
