CueSport TV - The Blog

I have already released some details over the proposed Tri-nations tournament. At this time it has already been extended to a Four-Nations with France confirming a team. There is also the possibility of Spain wanting to enter as well.

Although that is great news that teams want to play the events, it also poses somewhat of a dilemma.

Finding a definitive calendar is not at all easy as each promoter, tour, governing and nation seem to have their own with nobody compiling an overall calendar.

What I thought I might do is set one up that everyone can edit and add events to. Hopefully this would eliminate date clashes and would actually mean it is easier for players to know what is going on.

On the plus side the contact I have had from other nations encourages me as it shows that high quality Blackball events are required.

English/UK Pool, General blackball, calendar, dates, four-nations, tournaments

The poor maintenance of pool tables seems to be a recurring theme in the UK at the moment. On one hand Rileys (the largest pool table operator in Europe) have gained a table sponsorship deal from Coca-Cola that will see the American pool tables covered in red cloth emblazoned with the Coca-Cola logo.

You can read the details here: Cloth Colours Get Worse!

I don’t personally like playing on red cloth and I certainly don’t like playing on cloth with big logo’s emblazoned on it either. There are however two sides to this argument. Rileys would argue that gaining a sponsor means the tables will be maintained more regularly, a bonus to any player wanting to play on the American Pool Tables. What you have to remember is that American Pool (by this I mean the 9ft tables) is still a massive minority discipline in the UK. The majority of people using the tables in Rileys do so for fun and don’t even use the tables for the right reasons.

Would this be accepted in the USA? Probably not but then there are far more players playing the game that understand the game and have been educated in their use.

The only way table conditions for the ‘professional game’ (I use the term loosely) will be improved is if they are moved away from club venues - an expensive and difficult task logistically.

The other occurence I found on CueClubInternational (formerly UK8ball and I prefer that name!) under the thread Tour Tables and Sponsorship

I can kind of sympathise with the Rileys argument but for a genuine professional tour like the IPA claims to be this is unacceptable. Tables are brought into a venue for only 6 tournaments in the year and they cannot be maintained or even recovered for each event. I will not get into the sponsorship element of the post as what is done with sponsorship funds is of course at the discretion of the organisers.

Tables for a professional event should be recovered for every tournament, this happens in Professional American Pool and in Snooker. Snooker players would be first to complain about the standard of the table conditions and rightly so.

What is wrong with pool in the UK? I ask for your thoughts!

English/UK Pool american pool, english pool, maintenance, pool tables, rileys, tournaments, uk pool

Ronnie O’Sullivan has once again been controversial in a post-match press conference. You can read about it by following the link below where you will also find a web link to the actual BBC audio clip so you can hear it for yourself. Let us know your thoughts…

Read more…

World Snooker growth, press conference, ronnie o'sullivan, sport, the masters, tournaments, World Snooker

Cuesport TV along with Team BBC, ISP Scotland and SME Entertainment are proud to announce the launch of the Cuesport TV Pool Series.

With 5 events taking place in 5 different countries this truly is an INTERNATIONAL Series.

Each event can be entered individually and is open to ‘ALL’ pool players. Entries will be taken on a first come, first served basis for each event. Each event will have an open draw but ranking points will be given and used in forthcoming years.

Each event carries a GUARANTEED £10,000 prize fund as follows:

• Winner -              £3500
• Runner-up -        £1500
• Semi-Finalist -    £700 x 2
• 1/4 Finalist -      £500 x 4
• Last 16 -            £200 x 8

The dates and venues are as follows;

3rd/5th Oct 2008         Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man
6th/8th March 2009     Pool World, Neath, Wales                                                                                          8th/10th May 2009     Regency Airport Hotel, Dublin, Eire
26th/28th June 2009     Rileys, Preston, England
28th/30th Aug 2009     Hustlers, Dunfermline, Scotland

Cuesport TV will be filming and broadcasting all five events live on their website: www.cuesport.tv

A dedicated website will be launched in the near future but in the meantime, for further information please contact either of the following event promoters:

• Isle of Man: Ross McInnes - 07749550440
• Wales:         Paul Bushnell - 07814024680
• Ireland:       Martin Kirwan - 00353863046485
• England:     Pat O’Kane - 07984964498
• Scotland:    Ross McInnes - 07749550440

English/UK Pool blackball, dublin, dunfermline, english, isle of man, neath, pool, preston, tournaments, £50000 pool series

18th August 2008

The BBC break the news that Bahrain are to host a World Ranking event this November, a tournament that has been added to the calendar at the 11th hour. Story below:

Bahrain get World Snooker Ranking Event

The Bahrain Championship, held in the capital Manama will run from the 8th-15th November and will feature the top 16 plus 16 qualifiers and 6 local wildcards.

This comes off the back of the bad news from 2 weeks ago when both 888.com and Saga Insurance pulled out of major sponsorship deals. It can only be healthy for the sport to have another territory represented on the ‘World Ranking Tour’.

Snooker in the Middle East is growing in popularity and a bringing a ranking event to the region can only further develop the following that snooker has.

I have always been an advocate of making it a true world tour and the only way to do this was by bringing ranking events to the calendar from other regions and countries outside of the UK and Ireland.

Money is the Middle East is also not in short supply so sponsorship of the event will not be difficult to find and it is excellent that we now have 8 ranking tournaments for the 08/09 season (including the World Championships.)

What this does mean is that the players will once again be very busy this side of the season with 5 of the 8 ranking events happening before December, I am sure the players will be delighted however that another tournament has been found and there is more chance for ranking points and more chance to earn a decen living from the game.

In my opinion the best news since the China Open!

World Snooker bahrain championships, middle east, professional, snooker, tournaments, world ranking event, World Snooker