Mika Immonen Ban?
- Thread starter Bill_ard
- Start date
This is a great first post,i wish i had the answer for you but i dont,i would guess like anything else there is a way around it .
Mika was banned for playing in the Philippines Predator Open. His official home federation is still The EPBF and it was them who issued the ban. It was imposed because the Predator tournament was not a WPA sanctioned tournament and it date clashed with another event in Switzerland which was sanctioned.
Players were not obligated to play in the Swiss tournament but they must not play in a non sanctioned event for which dates coincide. Yes, I know that it sucks but that is what powermongers do.
So Mika got banned which impacted down to him losing an EPBF nomination to play in the World 8 Ball Championship last month.
Because of this Mika lodged an appeal which was referred to arbitration. This meant that the ban was unenforceable while the case is under appeal. So I gave him a Wildcard spot in the WPC8 Ball.
This case highlights the growing problems in relation to International status players who have to qualify through domestic sources that force them to play if they want to take part in WPA endorsed tournaments. Mika, Thorsten Hohmann, Darren Appleton, Alex Pagulyan and a growing bad of others need to be in the inner circle of WPA events to keep earning ranking points. But if they drop out then it is impossible for them to regain their status unless they drop down a level to compete.
The federations who ban players are backing a loser if the players stand up to them.
In most countries it is illegal to stop a professional person from carrying out his professional. It is known as Restraint of Trade and it's a general thing not just related to billiard matters.
In most countries it is illegal to stop a professional person from carrying out his professional. It is known as Restraint of Trade and it's a general thing not just related to billiard matters.
I say all of pooldom should ban the feckless and greedy WPA, which does nothing to promote events or the sport or otherwise add value to pool. As a (paying!) fan of the sport and an avid player, their ineffectiveness and avarice offends me.
http://www.billiardsdigest.com/showblogentry.php?id=140
http://realpooltalk.blogspot.com/
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=222992
http://www.billiardsdigest.com/showblogentry.php?id=140
http://realpooltalk.blogspot.com/
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=222992
Doug, several WPA members attended the recent World 8-Ball Championship. Are you the organizer for this event? I am curious why their presence is required. What do they do at these tournaments that is helpful to the mission and/or vision of the WPA organization?
As far a banning Mika, what a joke.
He's on the BCA ranking point list. What a joke that is.
The whole ranking point system for both the WPA and BCA is a joke.
I just don't understand what the WPA is doing to promote pool on an international level. The sanction fees the WPA receives from tournament organizers do help pay for the travel of its members, I guess.
Speaking as an American, it ain't fair that less than a handful of American pros can afford to compete in these WPA-sanctioned events. All players should be treated equal. There just may be some American pool champions who could wipe the table with some of these so-called "pros" at a WPA event, but the poor player can't afford to get there.
So now we have a class system in pool -- limiting opportunities, stopping pool from flourishing, and preventing new blood to enter the existing lot of professional players to compete on a global scale.
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Great explanation. I do not like the organizations trying to limit a players ability to choose their own events. I wish pool could get a focus and have an organization which ried to bring in sponsor vs trying to limit the playes freedoms.
So Mika played the WPC8 with a wild card invite. Did Thorsten Hohmann play as a BCA invite or EPBF? Thanks.
kybill9
Banned
It seems like most of the commentators are against honoring the contracts that players sign. These players sign these contracts with the ambition to get better paydays. If Mika had wanted to play in a tournament that conflicted with his agreement, and they refused permission, he should not have played. No one knows what happened except to say that Mika did not honor the contract he signed and he was punished for it. What's the problem?
I wonder how many of you would not pay someone after you play them? Either your word means something or it doesn't.
I wonder how many of you would not pay someone after you play them? Either your word means something or it doesn't.
Jen
I have been involved with this 8 Ball event since it first appeared with a Prize Fund that only consisted of bars of gold.
That was in 2003 and the next year it became a 9 Ball event.
It reverted back to 8 Ball and gained the 'World' tag and it has remained the World 8 Ball Championship.
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I am not involved in the Final Stages because I find it that I have more than enough to cope with running ten qualifying tournaments in the week preceding the main field stage. I am engaged by the local promoters and during the Main Event I do PR work for them.
I have run the event in the past but this year the WPA used the services of my good friend Jerry Forsyth as Tournament Director. He is a great guy but he seemed to have bitten off more than he could chew compounded by his commitment to AZB
and there were a few problems.
The WPA no longer charge the 5% sanctioning fees. Instead they now charge a $200/$250 entry fee for their events.
To Joe Jaguar
Yes Thorsten was a BCA player for the purposes of this tournament.
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JAM...You know I agree with you, and am on your side. However, that said, when has it ever been different? The discriminating "class system" you describe was in place, in this country, many decades ago, when Cisero Murphy was denied an opportunity to compete, in a world championship that he was entitled to play in. It isn't just the WPA...discrimination is rampant all over. Name pros getting preferential treatment over others, at tournaments like the DCC and US Open 9-Ball, is just one example.
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
I think that it is right to point out that there is no discrimination from the WPA in respect of US players. The problems emanate from the ineffectual (as far as pro players are concerned) BCA.
They are given a quota of spots which, to my knowledge, have NEVER EVER been taken up fully. Now I don't know the mechanics of how this works but I do know that Max Eberle wanted to go to the World 8 Ball but somehow or other his request to fill one of the quota spots got sidelined. Yet a couple of days later US resident Thorsten Hohhman was given a BCA spot.
So the fact that only a small band of US pro players are regular overseas competitors is more likely to be for to economic rather than discriminatory reasons
Doug, thanks for your kind replies, as always. I trust your words and know that you want to promote pool on an international scale, with the end result elevating pool as a sport. Bravo to you for that!
I cannot understand, however, that now European players are gaining benefit from the BCA, which is supposed to be the representative body to the WPA for North America. This seems very odd to me. I thought the BCA was representing Canada and the United States of America. Now they allow European players to take a BCA spot which is supposed to be for North America and allow a German player to compete in a WPA event?
Last time I looked, Thorsten was wearing the colors of Germany at events he competed in. Is he now wearing red, white, and blue?
Something is rotten in Denmark.
I see what you mean, Scott, but what Cisero Murphy was discriminated against, it was more of a racial discrimination, not class discrimination. Thank goodness, our nation has moved forward, at least I hope so.
Women were discriminated in pool in the early and middle part of the 20th century, which resulted in gender discrimination. The IPT tried to change that, but the IPT ship didn't stay afloat very long, sad to say.
It is quite annoying to see a handful of American pool players given preferential treatment. It's not fair, I tell you. It's a class system. Who elected one player to be the spokesman for all players? There's no election. There's no organizational body for the male pros in the States that I recognize. Is Johnny Archer's group now the male pro organization?
Maybe he should have used an alias like maybe Caesar Morales.