Thorpe blasts ‘one of the dumbest rules’ after becoming ineligible for USA Mosconi Cup team

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Thorpe blasts ‘one of the dumbest rules’ after becoming ineligible for USA Mosconi Cup team - Absolute Pool

Billy Thorpe has criticised the Mosconi Cup qualifying rules after obliviously becoming ineligible for the USA team
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Billy Thorpe has severely criticized the Mosconi Cup qualification rules after being told that he’s no longer eligible moments before a match at the recent US Open Championship.

Rules for earning a spot on the respective American and European teams state that players must not miss more than two events that are considered majors on the World Nine Ball Tour calendar.

Thorpe skipped both March’s European Open in Bosnia and Herzegovina and May’s UK Open due to financial reasons, and then didn’t enter last month’s Arizona Open, unaware that he would therefore become ineligible.

The two-time Mosconi Cup champion was informed of the ruling just before heading out to play eventual runner-up Robbie Capito in the US Open last 16, an unexpected conversation which came as a significant surprise to him.

“Right before I went out to play Robbie in the final 16, the Mosconi Cup somehow got brought up,” Thorpe said on social media. “That’s when I was told I’m not eligible to play because I missed too many ‘majors’.

“In my opinion, this is a terrible rule for our sport. Players shouldn’t be forced to attend events they can’t make or events that simply don’t make financial sense for them.

“At the end of the day, I’ll take responsibility for my part. I guess I needed to read my emails better and know the rules. If I had known missing Yuma would make me ineligible, I would’ve gone to Arizona even though, financially, it made absolutely zero sense for me.

“It was single elimination and three to four hours from the nearest airport. For me, that’s a terrible financial decision. But if I had known I needed to attend to remain eligible for the Mosconi Cup, I would’ve sucked it up and gone.

“I also heard through the grapevine that certain players were being ‘told’ or ‘warned’ that they needed to go to Yuma to qualify. I obviously wasn’t one of those players. I have no idea if that’s actually true and that’s simply what I heard, so I’m not accusing anybody of anything.

“At the end of the day, it was my responsibility to know the rules, and it is what it is. So when you see the rankings and don’t see Billy Thorpe anywhere across the board, there’s your answer as to why.

“In my opinion, it’s one of the dumbest rules I’ve seen in pool. We shouldn’t be forced to attend any event in our careers. Period. End of story. It’s already hard enough to make a living playing this game.

“With that being said, I have zero chance of being on the Mosconi Cup team this year because I’m not eligible, and that’s all good. I’ll still be rooting for Team USA to win no matter what.”

Lukas Fracasso-Verner will be impacted by the same ruling after missing the US Open, the Florida Open and the Arizona Open due to a car accident, despite a potential injury or health clause in the contract being unknown.

World number seven Johann Chua and Chinese Taipei Open runner-up Ronel Nalaunan, meanwhile, was ruled out of Reyes Cup contention as the potential highest-ranked Filipino player after missing numerous major events.
 
easy-e said:
I read his whole post on Facebook. Didn’t seem like severe criticism to me. I know he doesn’t like it and he’s not stoked about it, but these press releases need to stop making it seem like a bigger deal than it is.
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He is sort of stating the obvious, but with it being so hard to make events work in the fiscal end of it,
can this be ignored forever?

Probably will be because no one is really creating pro support from the ground up and they need that
to remain Pros for their lifetimes.

Somehow the business has to make sense on paper, especially for advertisers and sponsors.
 
Scrutinizing the costs of attending an event like Yuma in isolation is missing the point when you are someone like Thorpe or Woodward and essentially have a guaranteed $20k payout at the end of the year, plus visibility and sponsorship opportunities, if you play even half decent pool along the way.
 
garczar said:
I 'sorta' see his side but the WNT/MC is not at fault because he's broke. If he skips qualifying events whose fault is it?? BTW, he's just now figuring out playing pool to eat is a bad deal for most?
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Looks like he didn’t pay attention to what he needed to do.

Knowing this, what if someone pays their entry fee and just didn’t go and took a forfeit at any of these tournaments?
 
336Robin said:
He is sort of stating the obvious, but with it being so hard to make events work in the fiscal end of it,
can this be ignored forever?

Probably will be because no one is really creating pro support from the ground up and they need that
to remain Pros for their lifetimes.

Somehow the business has to make sense on paper, especially for advertisers and sponsors.
Click to expand...
I agree. But all I see today on Facebook is “Billy severely criticized…” or “Billy blasts WNT…”

He was very professional and PC with his post. How about something like “Billy ignored his emails and disqualifies himself from the cup”?
 
Of course, this is a shame for Billy, and he can call it as he sees it, but I'll back Matchroom on this one.

The lucrative free rolls (high added money, no entry fee) that come with the Matchroom Invitational events SHOULD be a reward for those that have shown the most loyalty to the WNT Tour. No, it is not a dumb rule but a smart one if it will be applied uniformly across all the Matchroom invitational events (Mosconi, PLP, WPM, Reyes Cup).

This explains why Bergman, who has shunned travel for his entire career, must head to Asia. He missed the European Open and the UK Open, so missing the Philippines Open, a major per the WNT website, would make him ineligible. I applaud him for making the trip.

All of this said, with the upcoming Reyes Cup, January's rebirth of the World Pool Masters, and February's Premier League Pool, unless Matchroom applies the same rigorous standard for eligibility, it would be hypocritical and this policy will look arbitrary. Either the "free roll" events require loyalty to the tour (as defined by no more than two majors missed) or they do not. On this, I'll reserve judgment.
 
After reading Thorpe's post, I feel he knows erred, and merely wants to be human and lessen the pain by calling it "one of the dumbest rules."

However, it's not dumb at all.... the WNT provides our great players an opportunity to play and MAKE MONEY. It's structure is clear and it's website is relatively comprehensive. Information a player needs to stay abreast is available.

I don't think I have heard anyone complain about the WNT format until I read Thorpe's post.
I think WNT has it right so far. If players and fans alike wish to enjoy pool's seemingly watershed moment, we have a responsibility to stay informed.
There are only two ways for this to happen: 1) share information with each other and 2) READ!
 
easy-e said:
I agree. But all I see today on Facebook is “Billy severely criticized…” or “Billy blasts WNT…”

He was very professional and PC with his post. How about something like “Billy ignored his emails and disqualifies himself from the cup”?
Click to expand...

Yeah that seems to be what happened.
Pool isn't changing anytime soon. He must be more focused on whatever he
is doing for gainful employment.
 
The main thing I would fault Matchroom for is not publicizing its rules for Mosconi qualification. Players AND fans should be able to see what the rules are in writing, especially since they appear to have changed a few times in the past few years.

Before Thorpe's post, the rumored rule was that a player had to attend at least two Matchroom majors. Now it seems the rule is a player can't miss more than two major WNT events.

If that's true, Thorpe would have had to attend the Arizona Open and the upcoming Philippines Open to quality. He's right - it's costly for him to attend both. It also would have been costly to play in either the UK or European Open earlier in the year.

If Bergman goes to the Philippines, as he has stated, he would qualify. Woodward will also have to go to the Philippines Open if the Matchroom requirement is as Thorpe stated. Woodward also missed both majors in Europe.
 
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