Players Attempting to Unionize?

[SmoothStroke]

It sucks what they are doing to Fedor and Kristina, but they appear to be making wine out of those sour grapes

The players can begin with protesting for Fedor and Kristina, standing by their side, not playing in the events they've been banned from.
What am I thinking, forgive me, that will never happen. They are too busy cleaning the same 15 year old black sneakers they wear for every event. Most of them don't have a pot to piss in so what do they have to lose.
Union? lol

 

[justnum]

The players can begin with protesting for Fedor and Kristina, standing by their side, not playing in the events they've been banned from.
What am I thinking, forgive me, that will never happen. They are too busy cleaning the same 15 year old black sneakers they wear for every event. Most of them don't have a pot to piss in so what do they have to lose.
Union? lol

An international group of self-organized individuals representing their country to participate in sports is always welcome. Players can introduce cultural norms or styles of play in their home nation.

Its like an art society. Art Societies have annual exhibitions and sell works. For a pool society they would create standards, promoting the latest trends or billiard rooms.

 

[u12armresl]

My best guesses:
Jeanette Lee.
No.
No.

You are probably right, and still there was a go fund me.

 

[SmoothStroke]

An international group of self-organized individuals representing their country to participate in sports is always welcome. Players can introduce cultural norms or styles of play in their home nation.

Its like an art society. Art Societies have annual exhibitions and sell works. For a pool society they would create standards, promoting the latest trends or billiard rooms.

U.S. players would sell their mother out for a bologna sandwich and a beer.

 

[justnum]

U.S. players would sell their mother out for a bologna sandwich and a beer.

I don't blame them, some need the permission to compete. Its been a 2 year lockdown.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

U.S. players would sell their mother out for a bologna sandwich and a beer.

That is said I would want minimum of Bucket of Popeye’s Chicken, Dark Meat Spicy, couple of Biscuits, and Red Beans n Rice.

Plus Six Pack of good Beer.

 

[SmoothStroke]

That is said I would want minimum of Bucket of Popeye’s Chicken, Dark Meat Spicy, couple of Biscuits, and Red Beans n Rice.

Plus Six Pack of good Beer.

And free coffee.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

And free coffee.

Free Coffee is no big deal, Great Cup of Coffee is big deal.

 

[trentfromtoledo]

U.S. players would sell their mother out for a bologna sandwich and a beer.

and many of them cannot be trusted AT ALL.... From selling sponsorship equip and switching sponsors over night, all to END UP SELLING USED CARS.....


TFT

 

[sjm]

The players can begin with protesting for Fedor and Kristina, standing by their side, not playing in the events they've been banned from.
What am I thinking, forgive me, that will never happen. They are too busy cleaning the same 15 year old black sneakers they wear for every event. Most of them don't have a pot to piss in so what do they have to lose.
Union? lol

First, any one of the players could do this whether a player association is formed or not. Second, the top players probably make 75% of their prize money from WPA sanctioned events. Why on earth would they give that up just to make a political statement? I'd be surprised if there was even one top player willing to make that kind of sacrifice.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

and many of them cannot be trusted AT ALL.... From selling sponsorship equip and switching sponsors over night, all to END UP SELLING USED CARS.....


TFT

Problems that have gone of forever, and I see not ending time soon.

Player are also victims, when Tournament Pay out checks bounce, or promoter skips town with prize money, or event are advertised with guarantee add money, that gets pulled at last minute.

 

[SmoothStroke]

First, any one of the players could do this whether a player association is formed or not. Second, the top players probably make 75% of their prize money from WPA sanctioned events. Why on earth would they give that up just to make a political statement? I'd be surprised if there was even one top player willing to make that kind of sacrifice.

First, I never said they have to belong to a union or association to stand up.
Second, I don't see it political at all, although it looks that way for Fedor and Kristina.
Third, Stand up for a colleague, a fellow competitor, tomorrow it could be them, you, or me, let them hang out to dry. Protesting by not playing in an event is not like going to stand in front of a building with signs, screaming.
It's simple, we play when they play. Sometime in life you have to bite off your nose to spite your face.
Fourth, God forbid anyone would sacrifice a hair on their head for another. They won't stand up, it will never happen, that's my point.

 

[sjm]

First, I never said they have to belong to a union or association to stand up.
Second, I don't see it political at all, although it looks that way for Fedor and Kristina.
Third, Stand up for a colleague, a fellow competitor, tomorrow it could be them, you, or me, let them hang out to dry. Protesting by not playing in an event is not like going to stand in front of a building with signs, screaming.
It's simple, we play when they play. Sometime in life you have to bite off your nose to spite your face.
Fourth, God forbid anyone would sacrifice a hair on their head for another. They won't stand up, it will never happen, that's my point.

Thanks for clarifying, and I admire the spirit of your post. You're right to say that there are moments in life when circumstance may dictate selfless sacrifices.

Still, it's the logistics that stand in the way. I feel a "we come back when they come back" approach would likely mean sitting out all of 2022 for those who partake. The ban of Russian players is not in the hands of the event producers but in the hands of WPA, and it's hard to imagine them lifting the ban until everything has calmed down in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Were event producers to ignore the WPA guidance, they would endanger the sanctioning of their events, so it's not likely to happen. Finally, no amount of protesting by the players would enable the Russian players to violate the terms of the visas that presently permit them to stay in the United States. Yes, the situation is political, and I wonder whether a partial boycott of major events would have any impact at all.

 

[Jimmorrison]

if Putin is your guy, why should you get a free pass?

 

[ribdoner]

Ii doubt that Fedor or the gal are political and i'll lay large they don't support russia's invasion

i'd be shocked if more that 20% of the russian population are card carrying communists, why punish everyone for what the commie pukes do

the wpa should implement their over ride capabilities on a case by case basis

 

[Fatboy]

And free coffee.

Where?!?!??!?

I’m there!

 

[jasonlaus]

Listenign to Darren's interview, all the intentions are great. I think anyone would agree to that. One of his main points was standardizing the game.

But listening to him about his preferred rules, they are different than other pro's preferred rules. For example he is a strong proponent of alternate break. With a player's organization, you will have many different viewpoints, many different opinions, within the group. It just human nature. So if they all vote and say they like alternate break, and the promoters all switch to alternate break, there will be a bunch of players and fans both, that don't like it. That is just one example. You can extrapolate that to any type of rule. Then maybe as this goes further along, the dissenting players will form their own "union" and make the rules the way they want them. Take that a few more rounds and you are back to square one. Which is what has happened the past 100 years.

The way it is now, with the Wild West of Pool, you have many choices. If you like one hole, there are one hole tournaments. If you want to run racks, there are winner break 9 ball tournaments. If you want to dress like a bum, there are tournaments you can do that. If you want to stay in bed for 6 months, and only come out to play twice a year, you can do that.

If there was one rule set, it would take away all this autonomy pool players have now. At the extreme, you'd have one game, one rule set, one table, one ball, one cue stick you must shoot with, one outfit you must wear, must do charity work with kids before your match, etc.

That takes away the autonomy of pool. That was what I meant a few posts back when I said players will never form an organization, because it goes agains the pool player psyche. Pool is one of the last activates you can do where you can figuratively get on a horse with a gun on your side and ride across the country and do battle. I suck as a pool player and even I did that a few times, and had a blast.

Too much organization takes that all away. Turns us all into working stiffs. Look at what happened to Fedor and Kristina. The organizational push of pool got them banned from the professional events, for something they had nothing to do with. When/if pool is completely organized, look out, because it might no longer be fun to be a pool player. It might just turn into a boring dayjob.

Respectfully, and IMO

Tell that to golfers making millions.

Nobody is forcing them to play on a tour, if they don't like it they can keep enjoying living in their backseat

 

[jasonlaus]

if Putin is your guy, why should you get a free pass?

You can't be serious???

 

[garczar]

Where’s Kevin Trudeau when you need him?

still in the joint afaik.

 

[joelpope]

The entire union issue is more of a non-issue in that unions use the power of withholding valuable services in order to get concessions. e.g. stop harvesting crops, making cars or unloading boats. What valuable service would pool players threaten to withhold? More important, based on my personal experience with the ill fated attempt of the ABP in 2012 the pool players themselves couldn't reach consensus on key issues let alone present a unified front to manufacturers, promoters and fans. To a certain extent unions rely on trust and a willingness to take a personal hit for the greater good, not something I saw the slightest inclination of.