L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
I may have missed it but has Emily had any response to this latest WPA communique out of Qatar yet?
Emily's response???
- Thread starter L.S. Dennis
- Start date
Just a wag here but based on MR's turnouts at almost every event its terms must not be too draconian. IMO the WPA is out-of-touch as far as modern sport dealings are concerned. They need to just take care of amateur's and let pros handle pros. Its obvious they are not.
Good info but those still aren't contracts directly aligning a player with MR other than for that specific event. The integrity deal covers gambling/dumping which has occured on the WST.There are these player agreement for different majors
There is also something called Integrity Sheet
https://matchroompool.com/wp-content/uploads/World-Nineball-Tour-Integrity-Sheet.pdf
There are also agreements for Junior Opens
https://matchroompool.com/wp-content/uploads/Final-SVB-Junior-Open-Contract.pdf
https://matchroompool.com/wp-content/uploads/FSR-Junior-Open-2023-Player-Agreement.pdf
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Are these the clauses from matchroom that are of concern?
12.0 Other Events
12.1 By signing this Agreement, the Player confirms that they will not participate in another 9-ball ‘UK Open Championship’ pool event during the fourteen months from signature of this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Promoter (such consent shall not be unreasonably be withheld).
12.0 Other Events
12.1 By signing this Agreement, the Player confirms that they will not participate in another 9-ball ‘US Open Championship’ pool event during the sixteen months from signature of this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Promoter (such consent shall not be unreasonably be withheld).
12.0 Other Events
12.1 By signing this Agreement, the Player confirms that they will not participate in another 9-ball ‘UK Open Championship’ pool event during the fourteen months from signature of this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Promoter (such consent shall not be unreasonably be withheld).
12.0 Other Events
12.1 By signing this Agreement, the Player confirms that they will not participate in another 9-ball ‘US Open Championship’ pool event during the sixteen months from signature of this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Promoter (such consent shall not be unreasonably be withheld).
OK, I see somebody just posted a link to it in this thread. I'll have a look at it so that I can offer a more informed opinion going forward. Thanks for your guidance.
Late addition: Seems that this the link posted is a single tournament contract, not the more comprehensive contract between Matchroom Pool and the signing player.
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Plenty of us here have complained about that Matchroom language since it became public a year or two ago before the US Open. And there is another thread on here complaining about Matchroom’s current behavior in the snooker world. Banning players from competition always draws ire from fans—the WPA has done a lot of it the last 3 years.
I found the WST agreement and its quite clearly a contract. WST contracted players cannot skip a WST event to go play a competing event. Simple contract law applies here. The WST players all sign it to compete. Nothing bad about MR's behavior here. Don't like it don't sign it.
No dispute there, but my point is fans complain about any player restrictions. We aren’t unfairly targeting the WPA.
Regardless of the job/sport if you sign a contract you might just want to read it before signing. I read the WPA PA and i read the WST agreement. What i haven't seen,YET, is a copy of a MRPool agreement other than those that only cover one event. I'm sure there probably is one but i've yet to see it.
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Same here. The single event contract, which I read for the US Open 9-ball, is probably not what Fran refers to here. I'd like to see the more comprehensive agreement signed by the players with Matchroom Pool. Can anybody provide a link or a copy?
but then we are comparing the WST, that pays minimum salaries and work tirelessly to fill the calendar with high prize funds, to these idiots who want players to go play heyball or go to rogue arab states
Yes, but even with that many of us (including me) will say players should be banned from the WST only as a last resort once other options fail. Player bans are bad for the sport.
I’m not defending the WPA here. I’ve complained more about them over the years than maybe anyone and even wrote about how their Russia ban violated US civil rights laws.
Obviously the only source is your fellow WNT player who could be willing to share. But only in case they are not prohibited from doing so by the same agreement
It has been mentioned multiple times that snooker players have certain oblligations to keep their mouth shut. And in the past even those saying "I will tell everything" ended up telling nothing. So the NDA policy endorsed by WST in their player agreement form must be put up pretty well.
Also regarding recent Macau and Shanghai exhibition events the WST spokesperson replied "We don't discuss players contracts in public". Meaning neither you nor garzcar nor any other person from 'public' are going to take a look at the players agreement if address to Matchroom. Only the way I suggested, IMO.
I don't think Matchroom is using the same formula for pool players as of now, yet we are in the very beginning of the story so who knows.
If the Matchroom Pool contract represents proprietary information and has a gag order in it, then I'm not supposed to see it, and I'm OK with that. I would never ask a WNT member to see their contract. If, on the other hand, it's public information, I'd like to see it.Obviously the only source is your fellow WNT player who could be willing to share. But only in case they are not prohibited from doing so by the same agreement
It has been mentioned multiple times that snooker players have certain oblligations to keep their mouth shut. And in the past even those saying "I will tell everything" ended up telling nothing. So the NDA policy endorsed by WST in their player agreement form must be put up pretty well.
Also regarding recent Macau and Shanghai exhibition events the WST spokesperson replied "We don't discuss players contracts in public". Meaning neither you nor garzcar nor any other person from 'public' are going to take a look at the players agreement if address to Matchroom. Only the way I suggested, IMO.
I don't think Matchroom is using the same formula for pool players as of now, yet we are in the very beginning of the story so who knows.
So far as I know, the complete rules/agreements/contracts for the WNT -- Matchroom's nine ball events -- have already been posted in this thread. They are individual one-event agreements that seem to simply protect the trademark/branding for that one event (and cover some other procedural details). It seems that Matchroom is using carrots rather than sticks at this point, and the carrots seem to be working.
Those event-specific contracts are marked "Private and Confidential" but they are also available publicly in the PDFs linked above.
To me, those contracts don't seem very restrictive.
I'm surprised the WPA has gotten so pissy over all of this. If anything, what they should have done is exactly like you said, keep continuing to take care of the amateurs as that is were the majority of their money is coming.
If their concern is the pro pool scene, which let's be honest, they do not seem to care much for as it was, what they should have done is restructure the way they handle the world championships via added money while working hand in hand with the many promoters across the globe to create something that would rival that of Matchroom.
In the end, who the hell knows how much stuff is really happening in the background? Everyone is mad because Matchroom was putting together all these events which makes the hardcore pool fan happy and here comes the WPA and enacts all this other stuff.