Strong opinion: Dress Codes Needed

It's been said before: the event organizer determines the dress code, if any. If you don't like the way an event is run, speak to the organizer. Major events seem to have dress codes. I'm pretty sure the Eurotour has a dress code. And here is the dress code for Mike Zuglan's tour:

Dress Code for Regular Events:
No T-shirts, Sweats, Tanks or Shorts.
Dress Code for Turning Stone Classic Events:
Dress Pants, Dress or Collared Shirt and Shoes.
NO EXCEPTIONS!
Neat & Clean Appearance
At our discretion!
 
The New England 9-ball Series is a smaller regional tour than Zuglans, they run some events here in my state. Here is the dress code:

"Dress Code: You must wear a polo or a dress shirt or a blouse. No T-shirts, ripped or stained clothing or overly revealing clothing will be allowed. All players will be required to wear a mask when interacting with the tournament staff and must comply with any mask rule imposed by the state, county or host location. Anyone who is not dressed in a presentable manner or does not comply with mask policy will be asked to leave and will not be given a refund."

Played in regular pool rooms in the northeast. Seems to attract a reasonable amount of entrants, so this must not be putting off too many "local" pool players.
 
... But to start expecting everyone everywhere to conform to a universal standard is kind of stodgy.
I'm not even going to acknowledge the other stuff you said...but you should have higher expectations.

Shirts need to have a color, pants need to not have any sewn on pockets on the outside, it all has to be clean and good condition. How f'n hard is that?


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I'm not even going to acknowledge the other stuff you said...but you should have higher expectations.

Shirts need to have a color, pants need to not have any sewn on pockets on the outside, it all has to be clean and good condition. How f'n hard is that?


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Okay boomer.
 
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How original...Way to be a stereotype.

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Well. If there was a time it fits, it’d be here. Going around telling people they should have different expectations on how others dress. Everyone should be wearing slacks and a polo just to play pool? People judging Dennis Orcullo for wearing a hat? This sounds like country club people trying to impose their attire preferences on everyone else. I’d imagine the only reason this is so important to you is that someone in your life told you that’s what proper attire was and forced you to comply. And now you’ve grown and decided since you complied that you should take the mantle and tell others what proper attire is. I find that nosy.
 
Well. If there was a time it fits, it’d be here. Going around telling people they should have different expectations on how others dress. Everyone should be wearing slacks and a polo just to play pool? People judging Dennis Orcullo for wearing a hat? This sounds like country club people trying to impose their attire preferences on everyone else. I’d imagine the only reason this is so important to you is that someone in your life told you that’s what proper attire was and forced you to comply. And now you’ve grown and decided since you complied that you should take the mantle and tell others what proper attire is. I find that nosy.
Either that or some of us work or have extensive backgrounds in the sports industry and know what it takes to attract sponsors, sell tickets, increase viewership and grow a sport.

Either way.
 
Either that or some of us work or have extensive backgrounds in the sports industry and know what it takes to attract sponsors, sell tickets, increase viewership and grow a sport.

Either way.

I’ll call that a false dilemma paired with pretending to be an expert. There’s no reason the sport can’t grow with Matchroom (and others that opt to) putting out a polished product and RackemTV letting Dennis wear a hat. Just look at Poker.
 
Corona has made it more acceptable to be super casual just about anywhere. When you spend that kind of time in a pool hall practicing, you probably feel slightly uncomfortable in even a polo. I don't think dress code is a major factor in keeping pool down at the moment.
 
I commented on the video about the hat. he looks like teenage kid not a professional.
 
I'll tell you this, the next time I see a snooker stream with 2 guys in beach shorts, wife-beaters and flip flops arguing about the rack will be the first time I see this. And the same goes for 3C. Maybe if the pool players being streamed grew up and started dressing and acting like professionals they too could end up playing in televised championships.

Unfortunately there are too many out there and in this thread who defend pool players dressing like bums and acting like thugs.
You won't see it, because no one streaming that snooker match, most of the snooker audience never picked a cue, and don't know anything about the game, they are just interested to watch the world top 20 players who are famous

You guys don't know what you want

You want a non-playing audience to watch pool, but why?
You want SVB, Filler, Chang, Ko brothers, Shaw, Dennis, Biado, Wu, Haitao, Kaci, Feijen, Gorst.. to earn more, and everyone other to drop out of pool?

Or you imagine that someone who don't know anything about game would watch your local tournaments on TV and it will be 100k prize for winning it?

You constantly want pool to be snooker, and you don't see that there are much more people making money in pool industry than snooker
There are much more people earn playing (only England has more Snooker pros than Pool pros), much more cue makers, table makers, instructors, room owners, streamers... and that changes would kill most of them

But yes, top 50 snooker players earn good money, and you want it for pool as if you are top50 in the world

There is Televised events that matchroom runs, and it's pretty good and enough for non-playing audience
 
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You won't see it, because no one streaming that snooker match, most of the snooker audience never picked a cue, and don't know anything about the game, they are just interested to watch the world top 20 players who are famous
That's like claiming I'd watch a cricket match. I know nothing about the rules, don't own a single aspect of simliar equipment, but I'm fairly sure there are some who play that are famous. I can gaurentee you, I nor anyone I know would watch cricket because supposedly some players are famous.
You guys don't know what you want
There's been 9 pages in this thread explaining exactly what some want. A minor dress code for major events in an effort to provide a sense of professionalism to the game. Have you been reading the thread...?
You want a non-playing audience to watch pool, but why?
To increase potential fan base, which in turn may just increase the value of advertising opprotunity
You want SVB, Filler, Chang, Ko brothers, Shaw, Dennis, Biado, Wu, Haitao, Kaci, Feijen, Gorst.. to earn more?
Sure why not. As we've been told earlier (by the ill informed) that poor Dennis's $106K annually only allows him to chisel out a living equal to a mediocre computer programmer. What pros earn has no bearing on me, but I wouldn't have a problem if they were all millionares.

Could you image the world wherein a young person could entertain becoming a professional pool player and if they made it could count on earning enough each year to support his/her family...? Currently, after an extremely brief google search they will discover they will need a second job unless they land in the top 5% of all playing pros. Not much motovation to dedicate their life to the game is it.
Or you imagine that someone who don't know anything about game would watch your local tournaments on TV and it will be 100k prize for winning it?
Not sure how asking people to dress presentably is getting stretched into wanting my local tournament to be worth 100k with a televised spot on ESPN, but sure, I'm all for it....lol
You constantly want pool to be snooker, and you don't see that there are much more people making money in pool industry than snooker
Again, if you read the thread. No one has said they want pool to be snooker. If the pool industry is grossing more than it's snooker counterpart then right on. Really changes nothing in regards to improving the image of the North American game. Which is the focus of this thread.
There are much more people earn playing (only England has more Snooker pros than Pool pros), much more cue makers, table makers, instructors, room owners, streamers... and that changes would kill most of them
To entertain the extreme as you seem to be taking it to... Once again, I don't see how asking players in major events who are pretending to be professionals, dress like professionals hurts the industry at all. So in your head it's like some kind of dooms day butterfly effect, that if I put on a golf shirt prior to my streamed match, that months down the road Predator will lose 10% of it's market share...?..., or Accustats won't be able to sell another DVD...? Really...?

Anything, dress code or whatever, that shines a more positive light on the game is good fo the game. Image is everything...
But yes, top 50 snooker players earn good money, and you want it for pool as if you are top50 in the world
Well why can't the top 50 pool players in the world make equalivent money to the snooker greats...? Oh that's right the money isn't there. Wonder how we can generate more money for pool...? Oh that's right, like nearly how every other game does it, through corporate sponsorship. Hold on, we need to have a product that they'd want to attach their company to. Better improve the image of the game before try and pitch it to them....
There is Televised events that matchroom runs, and it's pretty good and enough for non-playing audience
Guessing you're not senior management at a fortune 500 company...?
 
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Image is everything. I said before that you would be surprised how people treat you when you look professional. I will expound on that a bit. When I do trick shot shows, I wear dress cloths and vest with my sponsor patches on it. Before I set up one shot, or even hit a single ball, people who don't know me know that I am important. Asking professional players to be professional at events and anytime they are on TV/stream is not a big stretch.
 
That's like claiming I'd watch a cricket match. I know nothing about the rules, don't own a single aspect of simliar equipment, but I'm fairly sure there are some who play that are famous. I can gaurentee you, I nor anyone I know would watch cricket because supposedly some players are famous.

But why you don't watch it? Are they dressed badly? I can't see any other reasons people don't watch something? :)

Again, if you read the thread. No one has said they want pool to be snooker. If the pool industry is grossing more than it's snooker counterpart then right on. Really changes nothing in regards to improving the image of the North American game. Which is the focus of this thread.

I think that you want to improve that image for you, and that's ok. But why are you saying it's important for a non-playing audience, they don't care

I am sorry, English is my third language, so it's not easy for me to express things more simply, as I want
I want to say there are 100 bigger reasons other than dress code why a non-playing audience isn't interested in pool
and I think that non-playing audience isn't that important
and as I said, Matchroom doing a great job, rising prize fond every year. Pool is growing
 
But why you don't watch it? Are they dressed badly? I can't see any other reasons people don't watch something? :)



I think that you want to improve that image for you, and that's ok. But why are you saying it's important for a non-playing audience, they don't care

I am sorry, English is my third language, so it's not easy for me to express things more simply, as I want
I want to say there are 100 bigger reasons other than dress code why a non-playing audience isn't interested in pool
and I think that non-playing audience isn't that important
and as I said, Matchroom doing a great job, rising prize fond every year. Pool is growing
Well said in any language. It is growing and it is growing because of casual bar bangers and league players who pay their 10 bucks a night to have a friendly pool match. The next thing you know these guys are buying $500 Revo's, JB cases, and ridiculously expensive chalk. And I would dare say 98.7% of them could not pick Josh Filler or Billy Thorpe out of a lineup.

People are often comparing pool to golf. Golf is most often held up as a shining example of what pool could be...even though pool has waaaay more gambling and waaay more alcohol consumption than pool. I also don't know if I would care to see SVB walking around the table wearing "plus fours" ala Payne Stewart in the '90's.

The fact is pool IS growing. It may not be growing the way some Boomers on here want it to grow, but it is growing nonetheless. As stated in a previous post, Turning Stone has the players "dress professionally". How many networks are knocking down the door to put the finals on prime time? Sponsors don't care about having a collar on a dang shirt.

No collar. I wonder how pissed NIKE was?

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Well sometimes you just have no not look like a goodwill dumpster diver. If that is you thing, the day will come you can not compete in some pool Tournment.

Like the business, who posts: No Shirt, No Shoes, NO SERVICE.
 
That's like claiming I'd watch a cricket match. I know nothing about the rules, don't own a single aspect of simliar equipment, but I'm fairly sure there are some who play that are famous. I can gaurentee you, I nor anyone I know would watch cricket because supposedly some players are famous.

There's been 9 pages in this thread explaining exactly what some want. A minor dress code for major events in an effort to provide a sense of professionalism to the game. Have you been reading the thread...?

To increase potential fan base, which in turn may just increase the value of advertising opprotunity

Sure why not. As we've been told earlier (by the ill informed) that poor Dennis's $106K annually only allows him to chisel out a living equal to a mediocre computer programmer. What pros earn has no bearing on me, but I wouldn't have a problem if they were all millionares.

Could you image the world wherein a young person could entertain becoming a professional pool player and if they made it could count on earning enough each year to support his/her family...? Currently, after an extremely brief google search they will discover they will need a second job unless they land in the top 5% of all playing pros. Not much motovation to dedicate their life to the game is it.

Not sure how asking people to dress presentably is getting stretched into wanting my local tournament to be worth 100k with a televised spot on ESPN, but sure, I'm all for it....lol

Again, if you read the thread. No one has said they want pool to be snooker. If the pool industry is grossing more than it's snooker counterpart then right on. Really changes nothing in regards to improving the image of the North American game. Which is the focus of this thread.

To entertain the extreme as you seem to be taking it to... Once again, I don't see how asking players in major events who are pretending to be professionals, dress like professionals hurts the industry at all. So in your head it's like some kind of dooms day butterfly effect, that if I put on a golf shirt prior to my streamed match, that months down the road Predator will lose 10% of it's market share...?..., or Accustats won't be able to sell another DVD...? Really...?

Anything, dress code or whatever, that shines a more positive light on the game is good fo the game. Image is everything...

Well why can't the top 50 pool players in the world make equalivent money to the snooker greats...? Oh that's right the money isn't there. Wonder how we can generate more money for pool...? Oh that's right, like nearly how every other game does it, through corporate sponsorship. Hold on, we need to have a product that they'd want to attach their company to. Better improve the image of the game before try and pitch it to them....

Guessing you're not senior management at a fortune 500 company...?


You made a long post for me to chop it down to one sentence but that is it in a nutshell. We want to pitch pool to sponsors. That generally means we want to pitch it to the public too, that is who most sponsors are trying to reach. Kinda like cleaning up the old clunker before you try to sell it, we want to put a little polish on pool to market it. Not tuxes or even suits but having to wear a collared shirt on my day job for years I know a soft collared polo shirt isn't a big deal as far as comfort. The same people that want to wear jeans that are much more restrictive fuss about collared shirts? Hmm, seems like a bogus argument. I would endorse jeans if they were clean and appeared new and unfaded. That is the one issue with jeans, there are such a wide range sold across the counter. I had to buy faded jeans a few days ago, the only pair my size on the shelf. I wanted several more pair, not available! The wide range of fits and colors of even new jeans makes it impossible to exercise a reasonable standard for them so I regretfully endorse no jeans.

From sales training long ago, the first thing you have to sell is yourself, no matter what else you are selling. We need to sell pool, first we need to sell ourselves.

Hu
 
Just about every argument in this thread against a dress code is disingenuous. Again, nobody is pushing for tuxedos or plus-fours.

Finding a photo of Tiger wearing a collarless shirt makes no point at all. Tiger, and others of his generation, ushered in a modern era of fashion in the game that continues today. And it carries forward to amateur players in tournament settings. The big difference would be that amateur events tend to allow shorts, but they still have dress codes (like no cargo shorts), but the codes are hardly necessary because golfers want to look professional and not like hobos when they compete.

The term “boomer” is being tossed around a lot to discredit some posters. I am not a boomer by a long shot, but I recognize that the boomer generation did more than other to professionalize sports. The major leagues are what they are because of boomers, not in spite of them.
 
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