Here’s how I detailed it out to some folks on Reddit recently.
There’s some nuances to the bans. The WPA is comprised of member associations: ACBS (Asia), BCA (North America), EPBF (Europe), CPB (Latin America), OPBA (Oceania), and AAPA (Africa). Each continental member has a vote with the WPA.
When Matchroom announced they would stop sanctioning with the WPA, they started the divide where they sought to operate a commercial tour independent of Olympic-affiliated federations. That frees them to operate without having to deal with Olympic-affiliated bureaucracy like sanction fees, Olympic campaigns, political bans, inefficient drug testing agencies, etc. Matchroom has cut those ties in other sports successfully so it’s no surprise.
But Olympic-affiliation isn’t without some merits. In some countries you can get access to government funds for programs, events and participation in Olympic-affiliated sports. It happens all over the world where athletes get rewards for winning medals, cities pay money to help host an event, athletes get travel support, etc. The extent of that can vary and perhaps at times be exaggerated. But often there are rules where access to those funds are only permitted with Olympic-affiliation and not available for purely commercially organized sports.
Matchroom has achieved enough success to organize events without those perks and question the value of aligning with the WPA. But it is fair to say some of the athletes Matchroom is productizing were the products of that Olympic structure.
The WPA threatened bans to players participating in unsanctioned events, threatening to cut their ties to the perks of Olympic-affiliation including a series of events that equal or exceed the prize funds of Matchroom. A major blow to pro athletes potential income. Especially with Predator being aligned with the WPA and questions of what that means for sponsorship. And Matchroom gained major ground by getting the top 128 pros to sign with them and announce it.
But the WPA has made attempts to bring Matchroom back into the fold with some major concessions like free sanctioning and staying off their backs. It would be like letting a monarchy continue to exist and be willing to bend a knee and kiss the ring in ceremony only but allow the state to actually rule itself. It is a compromise but Matchroom just doesn’t see the necessity of it. And at the moment that is the stand-off they are in.
Meanwhile, remember those continental federations? Well the Asian one is very interesting because it’s new. The Asian federation used to be the APBU but they had some concerns with the WPA. They accused the WPA president of financial mismanagement. They harped on them to produce financial statements. They annoyed them so much, the WPA kicked them out. And turned to the ACBS, the Asian governing body for snooker and carom with no ties to pool, and had them join as the governing body for pool in 2022. Some of the old APBU leaders (like from Qatar) assumed leadership roles in the ACBS.
Keep in mind under the WPA, each continental federation is allowed to make its own policies and rulings in its continent and in terms of players from its continent playing worldwide. So the Asian federation can ban its own players and the other federations must respect it. Or if international players play an unsanctioned event in Asia, the ACBS can ban them and the other federations must uphold that. It’s like a “your territory, your rules, and everyone else honors that”.
One year in, the ACBS bans all Singapore athletes (carom, pool and snooker) because a city in Singapore hosted an unsanctioned Carom world championship. Kind of sad Singapore pool players like Yapp was banned from playing pool based on something unrelated to pool. That ban lapses and everyone moves on.
Later Matchroom realizes Vietnam is a hotbed for pool based on their market analysis and schedules the Hanoi Open. They get help from Hanoi for hosting the event. Hanoi’s sports authority approves the use of funds at the behest of a local pool federation that is not Olympic-affiliated (not a member of the ACBS). The ACBS wants to be the only authority able to make those arrangements. They threaten legal action against the parties involved. They threaten bans from any Asian players that participate. Many Asian players pull out.
Later on more events are hosted in Asia and ACBS bans them too. The Hanoi Open comes up and Matchroom again secures support from the cities sports authority. New legal maneuvers come up. And this time the ACBS bans every athlete from Vietnam (pool, snooker and carom). This is the ban all the pros are protesting. When the pros announced standing together, they are talking about this.
And looking ahead, the WPA was willing to treat all Matchroom events as sanctioned except the Hanoi Open because the ACBS wouldn’t have it. So upcoming when that event occurs, it’ll be the new test for whether the WPA will uphold their ban threats.
So the question is what happens next. Does the other continental members continue to support the autonomy of the ACBS? Do they kick them out and bring in a new member like the APF? Do they overrule the ACBS? Do they enforce worldwide bans? And keep in mind some continental members are not in support of what’s happening, e.g. the BCA because the policy of the US government is to not directly provide financial support to sports (Olympic-affiliated or not) so it’s an easy choice. But other continental members do have that luxury and that is at stake.
The whole thing is a joke to me. Unfortunately, Albin and Josh were placed in a compromising position during a MR event and fell for the bait where they signed a statement that could have them boycotting their own sponsor's event. What a joke!
