There are Majors like US Open,China Open, All Japan. Why is there no Major in Europe?

spartan · Oct 11, 2015

Usually majors ( or so called Grand Slam events ) in tennis or golf are in countries that are traditionally strong in the sport. In pool, WPA Majors (excluding W9B, W10B, W8B) are US Open, China Open and All Japan, Surprisingly strong pool nations/ regions like Philippines, Taiwan and Europe do not have their own majors. Philippines used to have a very strong Phillppines Open considered one of toughest events at one time but due to apparently some politics the event disappeared, Taiwan always had their own National Championships but not any Major - probably now that sponsorship and popularity dried up so even less likelihood of one anytime soon
Which brings us to Europe
Europe has probably most vibrant Eurotour (at least 200+ players) with tonnes of emerging countries like Poland , Romania throwing up tonnes of new talents. Partly cos of govt support to push the sport. And they have the top pool promoter Matchroom which has been helming top quality events like World Cup of Pool, Mosconi Cup, World Pool Masters. Euroutour has many medium size events like Austria Open , Dutch Open (only 1000 to 2000 WPA points to winner). Why don't they just merge some of these events and make it into international major, up the added money attract bigger international field. Right now very very few international players play in Europe events.
So why has Europe not come up with a Major event. Major event as in an annual event that is attracts international players with at least $75K added money, little dead money, some qualifiers and award 4000 WPA points or more to winner.

Why?

Wedge · Oct 11, 2015

That is a great question

One would think with all the great German players that Germany would host a major event...great question Spartan. Perhaps Mr Bond could address it on the next Billiards Radio broadcast!

Wedge

MapleMan · Oct 11, 2015

I think that the world 9 ball should leave Qatar and rotate like the Olympics to places like Europe, Asia etc.

That being said I would guess that the promoters in Europe just aren't putting together the right kind of tournament. It could be lack of money or lack of organization

pooler · Oct 11, 2015

It seems Europe does not want to go anywhere close to anything BB-like

j_zippel · Oct 11, 2015

Wedge said:
One would think with all the great German players that Germany would host a major event...great question Spartan. Perhaps Mr Bond could address it on the next Billiards Radio broadcast!

Wedge

Billiards radio? What's this you speak of?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wedge · Oct 11, 2015

In case you were not kidding

j_zippel said:
Billiards radio? What's this you speak of?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

http://www.americanbilliardradio.com/

Wedge

david(tx) · Oct 11, 2015

MapleMan said:
I think that the world 9 ball should leave Qatar and rotate like the Olympics to places like Europe, Asia etc.

That being said I would guess that the promoters in Europe just aren't putting together the right kind of tournament. It could be lack of money or lack of organization

I think that the world 9 ball should leave Qatar and rotate like the Olympics to places like Europe, Asia etc

The person that funds World 9 Ball is from Qatar and he probably funds it to draw attention to Qatar as a proud national and pool was an inexpensive way to do it relative to other games or sports . The head of the WPA did or still does live in Qatar .

Why doesn't Canada have a major ?

Black-Balled · Oct 11, 2015

pooler said:
It seems Europe does not want to go anywhere close to anything BB-like

Yeah? Well then I don't want to go anywhere close to anything Europe-like.

Ahh, I am lying. I'd love to get back over there, so what if it doesn't love me.

pt109 · Oct 11, 2015

david(tx) said:
I think that the world 9 ball should leave Qatar and rotate like the Olympics to places like Europe, Asia etc

The person that funds World 9 Ball is from Qatar and he probably funds it to draw attention to Qatar as a proud national and pool was an inexpensive way to do it relative to other games or sports . The head of the WPA did or still does live in Qatar .

Why doesn't Canada have a major ?

If you're a golfer that can win a major, the place to move to is the USA.
As bad as the shape that pool is in, the best place in the world to be a pool player is the
USA...there is always something going on, whether it's action or tournaments or teaching.
You'll notice that many Europeans agree...like Immonen, Homann, Shaw, Corr, both Fishers, Crosby.....

As for Canada, we haven't had a world class pool tournament since the Dufferin Open in
1991...won by David Howard, who beat Nick Varner in the finals....Efren got 3-fouled by
a Canuck...we're mean dudes...lol.
The big problem is we are big...second largest country in the world, area-wise.....
...but our population is less than the state of California....we just don't get together enough.

shinobi · Oct 11, 2015

pt109 said:
Efren got 3-fouled by
a Canuck...we're mean dudes...lol.

Ahh, guess Efren needed to work on his kicking skills

iusedtoberich · Oct 11, 2015

Does the Eurotour have a yearly finale event? That could be a major.

pt109 · Oct 11, 2015

shinobi said:
Ahh, guess Efren needed to work on his kicking skills

I think it made him mad....he beat the guy 11-2

Vahmurka · Oct 28, 2015

just take a look how many players in average attend every Eurotour event. Some majors would be embarrased

:smile: Problem is players from other regions hardly have wishes or opportunities to travel to Europe. The farthest the US players go is All Japan or might be Manny's 10-ball. Okay, might be Qatar is the farthest, but it's Worlds so not every player is entitled to even be there.

In my opinion, geography is one of the main issues here.

mjantti · Oct 28, 2015

Vahmurka said:
just take a look how many players in average attend every Eurotour event. Some majors would be embarrased :smile: Problem is players from other regions hardly have wishes or opportunities to travel to Europe. The farthest the US players go is All Japan or might be Manny's 10-ball. Okay, might be Qatar is the farthest, but it's Worlds so not every player is entitled to even be there.

In my opinion, geography is one of the main issues here.

Agreed 100%. The Eurotour is really tough and hardly anyone outside Europe are coming there to play with their own money.
On the other hand, an idea of a Eurotour final event with a 500€ entry fee sounds pretty good. I'm sure some of lesser players would drop out, but the field could be filled with top players around the globe. At least the money would be pretty good, especially when European countries could organize local qualifiers for the final.

Vahmurka · Oct 28, 2015

mjantti said:
an idea of a Eurotour final event with a 500€ entry fee sounds pretty good. I'm sure some of lesser players would drop out, but the field could be filled with top players around the globe. At least the money would be pretty good, especially when European countries could organize local qualifiers for the final.

if only someone from EPBF could read it. Someone like Gre Leenders or David Morris.

There are Majors like US Open,China Open, All Japan. Why is there no Major in Europe?

spartan

AzB Silver Member

Wedge

WO Wedge Lock

MapleMan

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pooler

Europe - TD, TL & Ref

j_zippel

Big Tuna

Wedge

WO Wedge Lock

david(tx)

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Black-Balled

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pt109

WO double hemlock

shinobi

kanadajindayo

iusedtoberich

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pt109

WO double hemlock

Vahmurka

...and I get all da rolls

mjantti

Enjoying life

Vahmurka

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