Going back to the origin of the WPA --- The WPA and it's Continental Federation members were formed in order to meet the criteria required to get pool into the Olympic Games. They did come fairly close at one point, but since then, they have come farther and farther away from that ever happening.The members of the WPA are continental confederations. The members of those continental bodies are national governing bodies.
The continental bodies, like the EPBF (Europe) are responsible for overseeing/running tournaments on their continent, including continental championships. The EPBF also organizes the Eurotour.
The national bodies are responsible for running national championships and creating sports development programs. A good example of the latter is Poland where pool is offered as a sport in high schools.
Since Olympic inclusion is highly unlikely at this point and the future, there needs to be a way to allow private tours to exist and still allow the players to continue to be part of the WPA and keep their eligibility for events like the World Games and Olympics.
Back when I was on the WPA executive board, the WPBA (Women's Professional Billiard Association in the U.S.) had an opportunity to expand globally and organize a few events in a few other countries. I was told in no uncertain terms by my fellow board members and WPA President Ian Anderson that I had to tell the WPBA absolutely not. They would not be allowed to expand internationally if they wanted to remain in the WPA grid.
I didn't agree with the WPA's position on this and fought hard against this and the WPA executive board voted to kick me off the executive board, so I was demoted. My opinion is that if they're not accomplishing their goal to bring pool to the Olympics, they need to become more flexible and let go of their stranglehold on the players.
However, having said this, I do believe that the WPA does serve a very good purpose in the global pool world, particularly by preventing con artist promoters and greedy and unfair tournament tactics from taking place. Therefore, I think it's imperative to find a way to work together.
Always remember that Matchroom has a history of picking and choosing who they want, because first and foremost, they're a TV production company. They will have to play things fair if they want to organize a legitimate tour. It's not a bad thing for the WPA to take a look at that.
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