TSB - Ronnie O’Sullivan Statement

[SnookerFan]

'any World Snooker sanctioned event'

I assume with Barry now in charge, the Premier League is a World Snooker sanctioned event? and therefore even if he had wanted to enter it, he can not without signing the contract?

Was the Premier League not completely un-related to World Snooker previously?

Pretty much. The Premier League has only ever really been considered a World Snooker event since Barry Hearn took over at World Snooker. The PL now gets mentioned on the World Snooker website, and the commentators refer to Premier League results when referrring to a players head-to-head. Neither of these happened before Hearn being chairman.

[gavpowell]

At the end of the day Ronnie only acting like a spoiled brat 1 man is not bigger than the game no matter who. If he and others dont like get a real job .

He won the world championshipo and said he was going to take 6 months off. He's got to the pre-season and said he won't be playing for the foreseeable. That's entirely consistent with what he said, and as for "if you don't like it get a real job", why does it have to be a binary decision? If no man is bigger than the game, that's also true of Barry Hearn. When I didn't like the way my ex-employer was behaving, I pressed for change and to some degree got it - loads of players have complained about elements of the new contracts but so far only one person has bothered to stand up for himself and refuse to sign.

[debs]

As much as i will miss him he is quite right !!! From reading this entire thread along with how i felt about it anyway i am glad Ronnie is doing this.
My thoughts are Barry is going to regret it, what has Ronnie to regret, nowt!!! I hope Ronnie enjoys his time off so much he finds he doesnt need it in his life.
Barry is a grrr talk about one extreme to another COME ON
Claims he is an ordinary guy uh hu, omg dont they all say that!!! Sorry but i'm grrr!! Said that Marks language was dreadful, reminder sh*t pit ?? or something ok, well he wants to mix with more ordinary men i think he will find it a little riper than that.
Ok rant over

[cazmac1]

I don't know the details of the contract but from what everyone is saying here it seems like you have to play in all the events or be fined or docks points. I suppose there has to be exception IE: sickness or death in the family. But even with this I find it hard to see how this contract can be legal. As a professional you should be able to pick and choose the event's you enter. It is not a league but a series of different tournaments run by the World snooker. I would be interested to see if someone made a legal challenge. If I was a pro and was good enough to pick and choose my even't and still keep my top sixteen place, that's exactly what I would do.
Lastly there is a lot of contradiction on this thread, on one hand ppl are saying that one person is not bigger than the sport and the sport will survive without Ronnie then there saying that sponsors won't put up the money without Ronnie in the tournament!
If I was Ronnie I would turn my back on the whole thing and start a breakaway organisation. The first 5 players on my sheet would be
Ronnie
Ali
Jimmy
Stephen
and that Irish guy( sorry just can't remember his name lol)

[cally]

Terrible idea for the breakaway org caz....

And your list of players int much better fella, i mean stephen and jimmy..come on fella, ya cannot be serious (in a john mcenroe kinda way)... D'oh.....

[ferret]

Statement from WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson


Following yesterday’s news about Ronnie O’Sullivan, I’d like to clarify the WPBSA's position in relation to the official players' contract and end the misconception that players are being ‘forced’ into playing certain events.


The contract is there to protect the players’ income derived from the tour, and the sport as a whole. Once players have signed the contract they are free to choose which events they wish to play in.


The contract was sent to the players by World Snooker following an extensive consultation process with the WPBSA in which we engaged our lawyers. It is the WPBSA's duty to ensure that all of the players are treated equally and therefore it is our belief that all players should sign the same contract. We do not believe it would be in the interest of the membership as a whole if one player was allowed a different contract which could give that player additional appearance money The World Snooker Tour is expanding rapidly and consistently on a global basis and it is set to grow further. We are looking for the support of the players as a whole in order to assist this growth.


Ronnie O’Sullivan of course is free to sign the contract at any time during the season which would make him eligible to play in World Snooker events, but it is important to note that signing the players' contract does not in itself compel any player to enter any World Snooker tournaments.

[cazmac1]

Terrible idea for the breakaway org caz....

And your list of players int much better fella, i mean stephen and jimmy..come on fella, ya cannot be serious (in a john mcenroe kinda way)... D'oh.....

Just trying to stoke the fire lol

[FOXMULDER]

So, if the players contract doesn't "compel any player to enter any World Snooker tournaments" (Jason Ferguson's words) then why does O'Sullivan have a problem signing it?

[beechy1212]

Can players play in a different tournament that isn't anything to do with WPBSA? Such as the power snooker for example?

Reason i ask is that i'm very surprised there isn't at least another league by now, say a wednesday night. If you got White, O'Sullivan, Hendry, Davis etc in it, it will be more popular than the premier league.

[Gerry Armstrong]

So, if the players contract doesn't "compel any player to enter any World Snooker tournaments" (Jason Ferguson's words) then why does O'Sullivan have a problem signing it?

As I said earlier in the thread, if we actually saw a copy of the player's contract I reckon we could figure out which bit(s) Ronnie doesn't like the look of.

Jason Ferguson is certainly alluding to via his statement that there is no opportunity for players to earn appearance money and this is something that Ronnie would like to be able to do.

[GeordieDS]

it would be fairer if they didnt pay fees to play in tournaments how is a [player just getting started meant to pay over a grand per tournament its over 30 grand a season they pay

This.

A local lad aged 21 quit playing snooker this year "because i am 21 and i dont have any money" which is a shame because he had a talent for the game.

Another thing that Barry Hearn has done that i dont agree with is taking away the main tour card pass for the English Amateur champion and the E.A.S.B league winner which was won by the same person this season who must be really fed up,apparently it was only decided half way through the season.

[GeordieDS]

There were a few "pro" snooker players doing 50+ hrs in their taxis to make ends meet.

The newly crowned English amateur champion drives for the same taxi company as myself..........obviously he is not a pro as such but is a decent player who knocked in a 147 only last week at a local working mens club.

He did have a season on the main tour after he won the world u21 title i think but it just goes to show how hard it is for the lower ranked players when people of his ability cant make it.

[Particle Physics]

I simply don't believe ROS would voluntarily give up snooker, being in the form of his life. He obviously loves the game and a lot of the events. He's spoken before about blackmail letters from the WPBSA,. Until we see the contract, as some have said, we'll have to assume there are things in there that aren't helpful to a snooker player's life.

The story of the English Amateur Champion not even being able to get a card is incredibly sad. Someone should start a protest; changing the rules half way through the season is wrong. As others imply, the folk who will now become pros and go up the rankings aren't necessarily the best players but those who can flash a grand a tournament in fees + hotel bills, flights, etc, etc. That's wrong. If that money goes into the prize pot, the poorer players are subsidising the richer ones! If it goes to Hearn, even worse! There's something rotten going on.

[FOXMULDER]

It really is a disgrace that the English Amateur Champion doesn't get a main tour place, especially when you look at some of the players who have been given a place this season.

But then Hearn has made it obvious that he doesn't give a hoot about English or British snooker. No commercial advantage in it for him - so, that's that.

[Ronnie's tip]

To be honest the season doesn't really start until around November so there's plenty of time for Ronnie to change his mind. I think there's only 1 or 2 big ranking events before the UK in December so....

I'm not worried about him coming back, but as a ROS fan I'm concerned about how good he'll be. I hope he'll still practice a fair bit as I remember a year or so ago he said he felt rusty after he lost to Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham in the first rounds of the UK and Masters.