Should the Reyes Cup Teams Change?
- Thread starter vjmehra
- Start date
i voted for the previous edition. at least they will have more pride as a team.
i see the problem that it excludes american players for the foreseeable future, but yea. play better in mosconi cup then.
team philippines vs MC winners is a 4th option, but that's excluding other asian players, with no way to get in.
i see the problem that it excludes american players for the foreseeable future, but yea. play better in mosconi cup then.
team philippines vs MC winners is a 4th option, but that's excluding other asian players, with no way to get in.
Philippines vs World.
Philippines vs World All Stars. Your Welcome!
People seem to be forgetting that it's important to make this event a commercial success.
If you do Phillippines vs ROW, then somebody like Duong is not going to play, and that means you lose the entire market of Vietnam.
Asia vs ROW means every single market is included, which means more broadcasters are interested, and more subscribers for WNT.
I know people don't like the commercial side of pool, but the more money in pool, the better it is for players.
If you do Phillippines vs ROW, then somebody like Duong is not going to play, and that means you lose the entire market of Vietnam.
Asia vs ROW means every single market is included, which means more broadcasters are interested, and more subscribers for WNT.
I know people don't like the commercial side of pool, but the more money in pool, the better it is for players.
Iwishiwasrich
Well-known member
Since it is the Reyes cup why not phillipines vs USA vs Row in a round robin
World includes Vietnam, Taiwan, etc.
I would see Philippines vs World "today" as:
Any 5 top Filipinos
World:
1 Filler
2 Gorst
3-5 any of the below
Shane
Ko
Ko
Yapp
Duong
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
US vs Europe in the Mosconi
Phillipines vs Asia in the Reyes
Winners meet in "insert name here" cup
Phillipines vs Asia in the Reyes
Winners meet in "insert name here" cup
I went for Team Philippines vs Team Rest of Asia. Still, I can do without all of these options unless the most accomplished players are going to be featured. This match ....
Ko Ping Chung , Ko Pin Yi, Aloysius Yapp, Wu Kun Lin and Naoyuki Oi
vs
Johan Chua, Carlo Biado, Bernie Regalario, Jeff Roda, Lee Van Corteza
... would certainly hold my attention. Further, having a Team Philippines would make the name Reyes Cup more appropriate.
... but give me players that are not in form and I'm not interested.
Ko Ping Chung , Ko Pin Yi, Aloysius Yapp, Wu Kun Lin and Naoyuki Oi
vs
Johan Chua, Carlo Biado, Bernie Regalario, Jeff Roda, Lee Van Corteza
... would certainly hold my attention. Further, having a Team Philippines would make the name Reyes Cup more appropriate.
... but give me players that are not in form and I'm not interested.
Last edited:
What is any of this supposed to prove?
American players are better than xxx players?
European players are better than xxx players?
Asian players are better than xxx players?
Filipino players are better than xxx players?
Who cares?
I like to play and watch pool and may the best player win.
What difference does it make where they are from?
I don't have any sense of loyalty to root for a team just because they come from a certain locality.
I am American, of European descent, and I have lived in Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, and the Philippines.
Who am I supposed to be rooting for?
American players are better than xxx players?
European players are better than xxx players?
Asian players are better than xxx players?
Filipino players are better than xxx players?
Who cares?
I like to play and watch pool and may the best player win.
What difference does it make where they are from?
I don't have any sense of loyalty to root for a team just because they come from a certain locality.
I am American, of European descent, and I have lived in Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, and the Philippines.
Who am I supposed to be rooting for?
Certainly a reasonable post. Like you, I understand that these events are often referendums on nothing. I've never enjoyed team matches nearly as much as tournaments.
Nonetheless, some of us enjoy exhibition matches in all sports. Speaking for myself, what I root for in exhibition pool, tournament pool, and action pool is all-around excellence and I'll cheer for whoever produces it.
The reason I care about the subject in this thread is that if there are going to be exhibition matches, I would prefer that they feature those who are playing best, and the Reyes Cup failed to accomplish this.
If Gorst and Filler played scotch doubles against the Ko brothers, the result might prove nothing but I'd love to watch such a match. just because of the likelihood that great excellence would be on display.
At least for me, all-around excellence at the pool table is always worth watching. Most of the time, I'm not rooting for anyone in a pro match.
I suggest Team Philippines vs Team Taiwan/China (or just team Taiwan if it wouldn't be politically workable to have Taiwan and China together as a singular team).
That gives the country of the namesake (Efren Reyes) its own team. It gives both teams the maximum motivation to win since they are representing their own countries, as opposed to something more obscure and that they care less about such as "Asia", and so national pride is on the line. There is somewhat of a rivalry between the Philippines and Taiwan/China, more than between most other places anyway, as they certainly do their fair share of meeting in the late stages of events. Fans from around the world are more likely to have a reason to want to root for one or the other between those two teams than they would for most of the other match ups you could come up with. You will always be able to fill both of those teams with elite level players. Those two countries/regions have large and loyal fan bases that would likely get very interested and emotionally invested in the event over time just as the Americans and Europeans have with the Mosconi Cup. It leaves open the most country and region options to be able to further expand the franchise into down the road if things continue to grow (Germany vs Poland, Europe vs Asia, etc).
Other benefits are that you could have the event venue rotating back and forth only between the Philippines and Taiwan/China every year, which not only makes venue planning easier, but it also makes travel easier for both the players and for the fans of those two countries/regions since they are very close to each other. It also makes it much easier to make the streaming/television viewing of the event convenient for the fans of both countries/regions since they are both in the same time zone.
That gives the country of the namesake (Efren Reyes) its own team. It gives both teams the maximum motivation to win since they are representing their own countries, as opposed to something more obscure and that they care less about such as "Asia", and so national pride is on the line. There is somewhat of a rivalry between the Philippines and Taiwan/China, more than between most other places anyway, as they certainly do their fair share of meeting in the late stages of events. Fans from around the world are more likely to have a reason to want to root for one or the other between those two teams than they would for most of the other match ups you could come up with. You will always be able to fill both of those teams with elite level players. Those two countries/regions have large and loyal fan bases that would likely get very interested and emotionally invested in the event over time just as the Americans and Europeans have with the Mosconi Cup. It leaves open the most country and region options to be able to further expand the franchise into down the road if things continue to grow (Germany vs Poland, Europe vs Asia, etc).
Other benefits are that you could have the event venue rotating back and forth only between the Philippines and Taiwan/China every year, which not only makes venue planning easier, but it also makes travel easier for both the players and for the fans of those two countries/regions since they are very close to each other. It also makes it much easier to make the streaming/television viewing of the event convenient for the fans of both countries/regions since they are both in the same time zone.
Last edited:
I like this idea. Count me in. Certainly, any team featuring both Ko brothers and Wu Kun Lin would have to be reckoned with.
FWIW, Asian players will, as a whole, dominate pool for a long time.
For one, there are more people (numbers wise) that actually play pool than there are in Westernized societies. I am talking "playing" pool as opposed to going somewhere there is a pool table once a month and sloshing a few beers and banging balls.
Two, the economies of the poorer Asian countries aren't as robust as most Western countries. Therefore, lots of young people do not have a lot of things to do, so they hang out in the poolrooms. The same way a lot of us did many years ago in the USA.
Since many of them become top players, the younger players have lots of chances to watch them, learn from them, and actually interact with them.
It takes hours and hours and hours of practice to become and remain a top pool player. Western players have way more things on their minds than pool because they usually have another way of making money besides pool. That isn't necessarily the case in the Philippines.
I don't foresee the USA ever being a major force in the pool world anymore, except for a handful of players like SVB, who are committed to put the work in.
For one, there are more people (numbers wise) that actually play pool than there are in Westernized societies. I am talking "playing" pool as opposed to going somewhere there is a pool table once a month and sloshing a few beers and banging balls.
Two, the economies of the poorer Asian countries aren't as robust as most Western countries. Therefore, lots of young people do not have a lot of things to do, so they hang out in the poolrooms. The same way a lot of us did many years ago in the USA.
Since many of them become top players, the younger players have lots of chances to watch them, learn from them, and actually interact with them.
It takes hours and hours and hours of practice to become and remain a top pool player. Western players have way more things on their minds than pool because they usually have another way of making money besides pool. That isn't necessarily the case in the Philippines.
I don't foresee the USA ever being a major force in the pool world anymore, except for a handful of players like SVB, who are committed to put the work in.
My stance, for what its worth, is as follows:
The Mosconi Cup has been a great success, it is pretty much the only recognised event for non-pool afficionados (at least in Europe, I can't speak for the US).
I could ask 1000 people if they'd ever watched the US Open, (9-Ball) World Championship etc and I'd get blank looks, but if I asked about the Mosconi Cup, at least a few may say yes, largely due to the Sky/Matchroom partnership, covering the event since the mid-90's.
For me personally, growing up in the UK, until I'd seen the Mosconi Cup, I thought pool was played on 7 foot tables with green cloth and red and yellow balls!!!
Now, the Mosconi Cup was of course modelled on the Ryder Cup and plays into the (friendly, in most cases) rivalry between the US and Europe. This in my view is of huge importance as each side can paint the other as a bit of a pantomime villain and that is a huge part of the narrative. Even with a pretty poor run for the US of late, tickets will sell in Europe as people are still keen to see the country that invented and dominated the game lose!
When the Reyes Cup was announced, I just assumed it would follow the same format, as to me it was the most logical.
Team Asia vs Team Mosconi Cup Winner, was okay, but it felt too friendly, there was no good and bad narrative (from either perspective) and that made it lack edge. Then the latest edition, Team Asia vs Team Rest of the World, lacked any edge at all, the narrative and rivalry element was completely gone and that just doesn't make things interesting for the viewer.
Now if we have the Philippines vs Team Asia, its true there isn't a good vs bad angle, but Matchroom can work that over time, the matchups are likely to be even-ish, so as a spectacle it may work a bit better. If managed correctly, Matchroom will be able to generate some sort of narrative that the fans can get behind.
I think they need to adjust the ticket prices to cater better for the local market, an empty arena isn't a good look and kills the atmosphere. In the early days of the Mosconi Cup, tickets used to be free (as Matchroom were prepared to play the long game and build up a fan base, perhaps that could be worth considering).
Of course in time it may make sense to have the Mosconi winner vs the Reyes winner, but that can obviously only happen if they go down this route.
For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not saying anyone is good or bad, so please don't take offence, I'm simply saying that these events need a narrative to work and Matchroom were quite good at generating that by using the Ryder Cup approach!
The Mosconi Cup has been a great success, it is pretty much the only recognised event for non-pool afficionados (at least in Europe, I can't speak for the US).
I could ask 1000 people if they'd ever watched the US Open, (9-Ball) World Championship etc and I'd get blank looks, but if I asked about the Mosconi Cup, at least a few may say yes, largely due to the Sky/Matchroom partnership, covering the event since the mid-90's.
For me personally, growing up in the UK, until I'd seen the Mosconi Cup, I thought pool was played on 7 foot tables with green cloth and red and yellow balls!!!
Now, the Mosconi Cup was of course modelled on the Ryder Cup and plays into the (friendly, in most cases) rivalry between the US and Europe. This in my view is of huge importance as each side can paint the other as a bit of a pantomime villain and that is a huge part of the narrative. Even with a pretty poor run for the US of late, tickets will sell in Europe as people are still keen to see the country that invented and dominated the game lose!
When the Reyes Cup was announced, I just assumed it would follow the same format, as to me it was the most logical.
Team Asia vs Team Mosconi Cup Winner, was okay, but it felt too friendly, there was no good and bad narrative (from either perspective) and that made it lack edge. Then the latest edition, Team Asia vs Team Rest of the World, lacked any edge at all, the narrative and rivalry element was completely gone and that just doesn't make things interesting for the viewer.
Now if we have the Philippines vs Team Asia, its true there isn't a good vs bad angle, but Matchroom can work that over time, the matchups are likely to be even-ish, so as a spectacle it may work a bit better. If managed correctly, Matchroom will be able to generate some sort of narrative that the fans can get behind.
I think they need to adjust the ticket prices to cater better for the local market, an empty arena isn't a good look and kills the atmosphere. In the early days of the Mosconi Cup, tickets used to be free (as Matchroom were prepared to play the long game and build up a fan base, perhaps that could be worth considering).
Of course in time it may make sense to have the Mosconi winner vs the Reyes winner, but that can obviously only happen if they go down this route.
For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not saying anyone is good or bad, so please don't take offence, I'm simply saying that these events need a narrative to work and Matchroom were quite good at generating that by using the Ryder Cup approach!