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HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... razil.html

Barry Hearn, the chairman of World Snooker Ltd, has sent a strongly worded letter to all members of the professional circuit in which he criticises those players who have opted not to play in the new Brazilian Masters.

Hearn takes the unusual step of naming all the players who turned down an invitation for the event, which is due to be held in September.

He writes: “The fact that Mark Williams, John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson, Stephen Maguire, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Allen and Matthew Stevens have all declined their invitation to the Brazilian Masters is very, very disappointing.

“A year ago all these players were moaning about lack of tournaments and yet now I am getting excuses ranging from “I think I’m worth a few more bob” to “I do not want to be away from the wife and children!”

“It is time for all players and in particular the top players, who have so much to gain, to understand that snooker is a sport not a hobby and they are professional sportsmen not part timers.

“This tournament could open up the whole of South America and it needed the support of all the top players to get us a major ranking event next year. Frankly, the commitment is just not good enough.

“I know it is a long trip coming so soon after Shanghai but they were the only dates available so we had no alternative. Nevertheless, it is time some players realised their responsibilities to the sport if they want to share in the future success.

“So let us start by behaving like professionals please – there is a massive amount of effort going into revitalising snooker and it is very demotivating to see that the support from the so-called “stars” is not really there.

“On another negative note, I am disappointed to see that Judd Trump is intending to play Ding Junhui in a televised match in China at the same time as the final of the Brazilian Masters.

“I am disappointed that they are not playing in Brazil, but more disappointed that they have not read their players’ contract which prohibits any Pro Tour player playing in a event that is not sanctioned by World Snooker.

“The organisers have now applied for a sanction belatedly and providing they adhere to our terms, we will not unreasonably withhold it, taking into account that they actually agreed to the terms of this match prior to the players’ contracts being signed.

“These exceptional circumstances will not exist in the future and all Pro Tour members are reminded that they cannot play in any televised match, anywhere in the world, without the sanction of World Snooker.”

I can understand Hearn’s frustration. He and his team are trying to build a global circuit and by most measures are doing a good job.

He is genuinely mystified by the attitude of some of the players because he has not encountered it in any other sport and thinks nothing personally of getting up at 5.30am and driving up the motorway to do a deal, or flying around the world for business and flying back the next day.

On the other side, though, players are having to suddenly adjust to playing much more snooker, a lot of it in far away places.

Brazil is only a few days after the Shanghai Masters and does not carry ranking points. Players may feel that it is not worth their while and there is no point exhausting themselves at a relatively early point in the season.

I would agree that in future years, with so much travelling, the calendar should be structured more sensibly.

But this is failing to see the bigger picture. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy: ask not what snooker can do for you but what you can do for snooker.

When Hearn promoted an exhibition in Brazil in 1985 between Steve Davis and the national champion, Rui Chapeu, an audience of 40m tuned in to watch on television.

South America is a new, potentially exciting market. There may not be sufficient interest there to sustain a ranking tournament but there’s certainly now less of a chance if the game’s star names don’t pitch in and try to get something going out there.

You’ll notice two players who are going to Brazil – Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, who at their respective peaks barely had a day off with tournaments and exhibitions.

They saw it as what it was: their profession. They also saw promoting snooker, and, yes, making good money from it too, as their responsibility.

I think one sentence of Hearn’s letter is worth repeating, so I will:

“It is time for all players and in particular the top players, who have so much to gain, to understand that snooker is a sport not a hobby and they are professional sportsmen not part timers.”

Most people reading this now who are in full time employment get no more than six weeks holiday a year and earn considerably less than top snooker players.

If snooker had had a calendar such as the one for this season for the last ten years then I would defend the right of players to pick and choose events.

But at this time when the game is being rebuilt, they really need to realise that it is in their hands as to whether it reaches the heights many of us believe is possible.

If it doesn’t, then it won’t be Hearn’s fault.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Bourne

"One man's disappointment is another man's pleasure"

No player is bigger than the game, there are enough players to take their place, so Barry ... give it a rest son <ok>

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Roland

He's every right to write that letter. I would imagine the players are looking at Shanghai and Brazil and thinking timezones and jetlag but then again it would only affect those who get to the latter stages of Shanghai. And if they go around the world in the right direction they will save a day!

Seriously though, I think Hendon is spot on and the players need to think back to a couple of years ago when there were only 6 tournaments, and that being professional for most people means working every day and having only 5 weeks holiday per year plus bank holidays.

He's obviously a bit of an Alan Sugar type with lots of get up and go himself and he expects everyone around him to be the same which clearly they're not, but if you want to remain on good terms with him and make a lot of money with him then you'd better not snake hiss him off.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

Bourne wrote:"One man's disappointment is another man's pleasure"

No player is bigger than the game, there are enough players to take their place, so Barry ... give it a rest son <ok>

your right there let Players retire im sure theres plenty that would join the main tour in their place <ok>

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:He's every right to write that letter. I would imagine the players are looking at Shanghai and Brazil and thinking timezones and jetlag but then again it would only affect those who get to the latter stages of Shanghai. And if they go around the world in the right direction they will save a day!

Seriously though, I think Hendon is spot on and the players need to think back to a couple of years ago when there were only 6 tournaments, and that being professional for most people means working every day and having only 5 weeks holiday per year plus bank holidays.

He's obviously a bit of an Alan Sugar type with lots of get up and go himself and he expects everyone around him to be the same which clearly they're not, but if you want to remain on good terms with him and make a lot of money with him then you'd better not snake hiss him off.

what hendon said whitch ive been banging on about for months is

If snooker had had a calendar such as the one for this season for the last ten years then I would defend the right of players to pick and choose events.

But at this time when the game is being rebuilt, they really need to realise that it is in their hands as to whether it reaches the heights many of us believe is possible.


its far to early in the rebuilding process to even contomplate that.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby SnookerFan

Hearn's right...

Players moaned about not playing enough a couple of years ago. If they don't like playing snooker, retire and get another job.

:bird:

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby SnookerFan

Though, he could have made the matches longer then best of seven. It is a long way to go if you lose like Ding did in 42 minutes. That's not an excuse, but it doesn't help.

bullocks to the people that didn't go anyway, this tournament is better off without them.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

another thing Dates...

Snooker is not in a position to turn down chances because its close to shanghai masters.

"sorry we cant fit you in lets try in 5 years"

opertunities has been passed by and not even atempted long enough now we got to try and establish events then try and fit them neatly in to a calender.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby John From London Town

How many people, never mind the players, foreseen the impact that he was going to make in our game? The fella brought Steve Davis into our lives in a big way don't forget. The guy means business.

BH is trying to make our game a global one, he feels, probably quite rightly, that his hard work is being undermined by our bigger names not showing up, never mind the disrespect Brazil may feel & the knock-on effect it might have on future global business.

Yes, it's a logistical nightmare, but as said, the boy means business!

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Sickpotter

Glad to see it, some of these players need a slap.

Amazing that players like Davis and Hendry still approach the game professionally, well done. Hopefully the up and comers will follow their lead and help drive the game.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

John From London Town wrote:How many people, never mind the players, foreseen the impact that he was going to make in our game? The fella brought Steve Davis into our lives in a big way don't forget. The guy means business.

BH is trying to make our game a global one, he feels, probably quite rightly, that his hard work is being undermined by our bigger names not showing up, never mind the disrespect Brazil may feel & the knock-on effect it might have on future global business.

Yes, it's a logistical nightmare, but as said, the boy means business!

you certainly cant criticise his dedication despite all the pies he has his hands in.....

was over in thailand opening a new snooker academy out there.....sport isnt a 9 to 5 job for barry and its sad hes never encountered the unproffesionalism of snooker players in any other sport hes involved in.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Witz78

Bourne wrote:"One man's disappointment is another man's pleasure"

No player is bigger than the game, there are enough players to take their place, so Barry ... give it a rest son <ok>


god sake, you just dont get it do you <doh> <doh> <doh> <doh>

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Witz78

i 110% agree with everything Barry says in that letter, yet again he says it how it is and doesnt mince his words.

My only dissapointment is he waited till the damage was done, pity he couldnt have rattled a few heads when people starting turning down their invitations, id have imposed some sanctions, like no Brazil Masters then you dont play Wembley Masters, none of them would have dared turn down the trip to Brazil then.

Anyway as for these players themselves they need their heads examined, why wouldnt they want to go down there to Brazil, for the top players to moan about the schedule, well they can all pretty much afford to skip a few PTCs here and there if they wish to free up some time elsewhere.

Another suitable punishment would have been fining all of the deserters the minimum prize they would have earned had they played in Brazil and using these fines to fund some extra prize money in qualifiers for a tourny, say the UK at the early qualifying rounds to give the lower ranked guys a financial boost at the expense of the top guys/deserters.

I know Gould and King are 2 players who publicly expressed their mystification as to why so many didnt fancy the trip to Brazil.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

Witz78 wrote:id have imposed some sanctions, like no Brazil Masters then you dont play Wembley Masters, none of them would have dared turn down the trip to Brazil then.


That is exactly my thoughts <ok>

blackmail works well :clap: :bowdown:

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby gallantrabbit

:clap: Barry Hearn.
Now Barry just work on the actual organization of the event. The crowds will be paltry cos they`ve moved it to a seaside resort.
And the ticket are three times what you boys pay in the UK. Am waiting for a promotion :stir:

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Bourne

I just can't believe how some people think one tournament (let's face it a nothing tournament) is so important that players have to drop everything at the drop of a hat to 'attend', when someone like O'Sullivan gets away with much worse several times a season making up bogus excuses to miss rankers ... Reality check, this tournament is not hugely relevant as some make out, the season is already busy enough for not to have to travel halfway across the world again for a nothing tournament in the middle of nowhere ... if it was a ranker then i'd get it, and we saw how the players embraced Australia last month, but this ain't <ok>

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Sickpotter

TBH the first time I watched snooker on tele I didn't even pay attention if they panned over to the crowd, I was too interested with the table.

As long as there could be 40m viewers via the tele who cares if crowds are sparse?

All I can say is Barry has every right to be snake hissed. He's busting his ass trying to bring more events to the sport and barely into the season players are already pulling out of them.

So many top players pulling out is bound to affect his chances of getting more countries involved to say nothing of how it might affect the perceptions of those who already did sign on.

Players need to do their part to advance the sport and save their pick and choose events mindset until the sport is sound. It'll mean a few years of sacrifice now but that's a small price to pay for the future of snooker.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Witz78

Bourne wrote:I just can't believe how some people think one tournament (let's face it a nothing tournament) is so important that players have to drop everything at the drop of a hat to 'attend', when someone like O'Sullivan gets away with much worse several times a season making up bogus excuses to miss rankers ... Reality check, this tournament is not hugely relevant as some make out, the season is already busy enough for not to have to travel halfway across the world again for a nothing tournament in the middle of nowhere ... if it was a ranker then i'd get it, and we saw how the players embraced Australia last month, but this ain't <ok>


yeh it aint a ranker but if the top players had fully committed to this invitational by all turning up, putting on a good show etc it would have went a long way to helping make it a success and potentially leading to it becoming a ranker in the future.

thats what Hearns getting at, the fact the players want it all handed on a plate to them, without them doing anything proactive for the sport.

Its Bahrain Mk 2 this tournament for me now

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Bourne

Witz78 wrote:
Bourne wrote:I just can't believe how some people think one tournament (let's face it a nothing tournament) is so important that players have to drop everything at the drop of a hat to 'attend', when someone like O'Sullivan gets away with much worse several times a season making up bogus excuses to miss rankers ... Reality check, this tournament is not hugely relevant as some make out, the season is already busy enough for not to have to travel halfway across the world again for a nothing tournament in the middle of nowhere ... if it was a ranker then i'd get it, and we saw how the players embraced Australia last month, but this ain't <ok>


yeh it aint a ranker but if the top players had fully committed to this invitational by all turning up, putting on a good show etc it would have went a long way to helping make it a success and potentially leading to it becoming a ranker in the future.

thats what Hearns getting at, the fact the players want it all handed on a plate to them, without them doing anything proactive for the sport.

Its Bahrain Mk 2 this tournament for me now

The players are doing a lot for the sport though, I just don't get why we expect every single player to travel to every single event even when it's on about tier IV in the pyramid ... the PTCs are ten times more important at the moment and they are getting superb attendance week in week out.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Tubberlad

Yeah, Hearn is absolutely correct. I particularly like the name-and-shame approach.

Fair play to the players who seem to realise that this is a pretty decent marketing opportunity for the game. My hope is that the Brazilian public aren't all that familiar with any top players, and will take little notice of the likes of Trump, Williams, Sullivan and Higgins not being there.

It's a disappointment though.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Bourne

Tubberlad wrote:Yeah, Hearn is absolutely correct. I particularly like the name-and-shame approach.

Fair play to the players who seem to realise that this is a pretty decent marketing opportunity for the game. My hope is that the Brazilian public aren't all that familiar with any top players, and will take little notice of the likes of Trump, Williams, Sullivan and Higgins not being there.

It's a disappointment though.

That's my hope too, but anyone who thinks players are bigger than the sport shouldn't deserve second thoughts about tbh, appreciate the game first, then get behind your man <ok>

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Witz78

Tubberlad wrote:Yeah, Hearn is absolutely correct. I particularly like the name-and-shame approach.

Fair play to the players who seem to realise that this is a pretty decent marketing opportunity for the game. My hope is that the Brazilian public aren't all that familiar with any top players, and will take little notice of the likes of Trump, Williams, Sullivan and Higgins not being there.

It's a disappointment though.


thing is though, if the public arent familiar with the top players then they wont even be familiar with snooker so what the hell would make them want to go and pay to watch it.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Tubberlad

An interest in cue sports perhaps? Curiosity, which can only come with good promotion? It all comes down to how well this is going to be promoted in Brazil in my opinion...

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

Bourne wrote:
Tubberlad wrote:Yeah, Hearn is absolutely correct. I particularly like the name-and-shame approach.

Fair play to the players who seem to realise that this is a pretty decent marketing opportunity for the game. My hope is that the Brazilian public aren't all that familiar with any top players, and will take little notice of the likes of Trump, Williams, Sullivan and Higgins not being there.

It's a disappointment though.

That's my hope too, but anyone who thinks players are bigger than the sport shouldn't deserve second thoughts about tbh, appreciate the game first, then get behind your man <ok>

let them retire then and let others like ben harrison get their spot on tour as you say nobody is bigger than the sport

then they can buck about all they want on pointless exhos and playing happy families.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby snooky147

But then again Hearn uses these players who are not going to Brazil by putting on a poster for PTC 9 , totally ignoring (as usual) the people who have been going to tournaments.

http://prosnookerblog.com/2011/08/05/pt ... -released/

Who's to say Ronnie is going to turn up to that?, but there he is on the poster. Same with some of the others. The sport might need the publicity that these players generate but Hearn needs to learn....THERE ARE OTHER THAN THEM ON THE DAMN CIRCUIT.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
All views expressed are my own and not that of any player.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

snooky147 wrote:But then again Hearn uses these players who are not going to Brazil by putting on a poster for PTC 9 , totally ignoring (as usual) the people who have been going to tournaments.

http://prosnookerblog.com/2011/08/05/pt ... -released/

Who's to say Ronnie is going to turn up to that?, but there he is on the poster. Same with some of the others. The sport might need the publicity that these players generate but Hearn needs to learn....THERE ARE OTHER THAN THEM ON THE DAMN CIRCUIT.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
All views expressed are my own and not that of any player.

you are right but that is beside the point here.

these players wanted more tournaments they get tournaments and the excuses just keeps on coming.

snooker has to have all hands on deck at this early part of the re build it just looks so very bad having a new event and so many top players saying buck YOU BRAZIL...seriously id have been 10 times worst than Barry Hearn and there would be no chance in bucking hell of trump v ding getting sanctioned in a million years from me.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Witz78

tell you one thing after this letter, Ronnies brain must be in overdrive thinking of a topper of an excuse for pulling out of Shanghai haha

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Tubberlad

There's a reason the same players get on the posters over and over again... because they're the easiest to market. Plain and simple. Fair? Nope, not really... but it probably makes sense. You ain't gonna fire Marcus Campbell on a poster ahead of someone who has a decent, marketable image like Robertson or Trump, or someone who's a multiple World Champion like Hendry or Higgins

Two players who deserve a lot of credit for the effort they've put in: Selby & Murphy <ok>

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby Wildey

Tubberlad wrote:There's a reason the same players get on the posters over and over again... because they're the easiest to market. Plain and simple. Fair? Nope, not really... but it probably makes sense. You ain't gonna fire Marcus Campbell on a poster ahead of someone who has a decent, marketable image like Robertson or Trump, or someone who's a multiple World Champion like Hendry or Higgins

Two players who deserve a lot of credit for the effort they've put in: Selby & Murphy <ok>

ill be honest im more snake hissed off with the younger generation than i am with Ronnie....

its theire future barry hearn is building for why should he give a buck he is 60+ with enough buisness intrests outside snooker he could at any moment say buck you my 51% share up for grabs i dont need this rubbish.

Re: HEARN GOES NUTS OVER BRAZIL

Postby N_Castle07

I am a strong believer that players should be able to pick and choose which events they play in but this just blows my skull. I’ve never turned down an extra shift in my life and never would and that’s doing an average job. These players are getting paid handsome amounts doing a job they love. Ok it’s not Tennis/Golf player money but the whole point of this tournament is to promote Snooker in South America. Out of the top players or “Stars” Selby and Murphy seem to be the only players who see the potential.
Selby/Murphy = True Professionals