Yugo World Pool Championship

raphcleary said:
https://www.azbilliards.com/publication/national-billiard-news-april-1985/ Page 8

In an article from 1985, it states that the "Yugo World Pool Championship" won by Jim Rempe was sanctioned by the "Professional Pool Players Association",
although according to this, it is not listed on the World Eight-ball Champions list-

List of world eight-ball champions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

should it be?
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The game was blackball (or English 8 ball) not American pool. The article makes it seem that it was basically an exhibition event done to promote the sponsor rather than a genuine world championship. Is there any record of qualifiers? There were only four players. Rempe is referred to as the defending champion, so presumably there was a 1984 event. The event seems to predate any championship sanctioned by a sports organization.

If you're going to put it on the list of blackball champions, I think it needs a fair amount of explanation.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The game was blackball (or English 8 ball) not American pool. The article makes it seem that it was basically an exhibition event done to promote the sponsor rather than a genuine world championship. Is there any record of qualifiers? There were only four players. Rempe is referred to as the defending champion, so presumably there was a 1984 event. The event seems to predate any championship sanctioned by a sports organization.

If you're going to put it on the list of blackball champions, I think it needs a fair amount of explanation
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Good point, I'll let you decide whether it is an Exhibition or a real World Championship.

This was the event that Rempe won the year before called the "UK World Masters", this allowed him to qualify.
www.azbilliards.com

National Billiard News - April 1984

National Billiard News - April 1984
www.azbilliards.com www.azbilliards.com
Page 13

These are the other qualifiers of the event-
https://www.azbilliards.com/publication/national-billiard-news-february-1985/ Page 12
https://www.azbilliards.com/publication/national-billiard-news-march-1985/ Page 11
 
raphcleary said:
Good point, I'll let you decide whether it is an Exhibition or a real World Championship.
...
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Judging from the articles, they did a pretty good job of assembling a quality field. It is interesting that most of the participants were not English 8 ball players. I'd say it is as close to a world championship as E8B had at the time. If it's added to the E8B page results listing, I think it needs some explanation.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Judging from the articles, they did a pretty good job of assembling a quality field. It is interesting that most of the participants were not English 8 ball players. I'd say it is as close to a world championship as E8B had at the time. If it's added to the E8B page results listing, I think it needs some explanation.
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Thanks, yea it was many different players from dozens of different countries competing, I think that qualifies it. Should I put a note * that some players were invited, what do you mean?
 
raphcleary said:
Should I put a note* that some players were invited, what do you mean?
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I mean that simply listing the top finishers is not useful to most people reading the Wikipedia article. Maybe mention that the event was before any formal sanctions procedure and drew 17 (?) contestants from snooker and pool along with E8B, including Eddie Charlton and Cliff Thorburn from snooker, and Rempe.
 

the highlights were shown on the World of Sport and millions of people were watching in the U.K.
I believe at this point, in 1985 snooker was one of the most viewed sports in the world, so not surprised English Eightball got so much viewership.
 
I have a distant memory of watching this, Jim Rempe won, it was shown on “World of Sport” and to the young me it was a legitimate world title. Playing on unfamiliar tables and conditions he did tremendously well to win. I also remember he was constantly talking and jumped on the table when he won the title. Something which was not the normal behaviour - Just a culture clash I guess, as he seemed a really nice guy.

I also remember Jim trying his hand at Snooker and player for the “Rest of the World” in the World Cup. And to be honest he didn’t make an impact.

For me this achievement in English Pool should be officially recognised somewhere, as it deserves recognition!
 
There is some content on this in 'On Cue' by Mark Shepherd - which is a very thorough book on English pool, albeit around 15 years old now.
From the strength of the field, it seems fair to think of it as a 'real' world championship, IMO.
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raphcleary said:
Wow, 7 million people watched the finals, that's quite amazing, cue sports in the UK was and still is hugely popular.
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I was shocked by that too. Snooker was huge here around that time, but I had no idea pool had ever had that kind of audience, until I read about that event. Sadly it seems to have been a one-off.
 
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