The formation of the Professional Snooker Players’ Association was announced earlier this month, with a number of the sport’s biggest names joining the players board.
John Higgins is the chairman of the new association, with Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen, Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire, Gary Wilson, Joe Perry, Ryan Day, Barry Hawkins and Jack Lisowski on the players board.
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui were named as supporters of the new venture, while Matt Selt, Higgins and lawyers Ben Rees and Mark Kenkre are directors of the PSPA.
Higgins told the BBC: ‘Snooker deserves a strong, independent players’ association that stands for fairness, transparency, and progress.’
Speaking to Rees on the specifics the association hope to achieve, the PSPA director told Metro: ‘There are serious issues around things like burnout, the calendar,distribution of prize money, the lack of voice that the players have, as well as stuff like conditions at tournaments and things that in isolation look a bit minor, but add up and multiply over time.
‘The way players have been represented historically has been really poor. When they’ve got issues and when they’ve got concerns, there is no effective formal mechanism. WPBSA Players isn’t fit for purpose, in their opinion. It isn’t a true independent voice when it comes to challenging World Snooker or the WPBSA.
‘It’s about creating that kind of entity that has the requisite strength to actually sit the governing bodies down and have meaningful conversations that are auditable. There’s a record of the meetings, there’s a record of what’s been raised and then there are proper action points.
‘That lack of voice is the big thing that was recurring to me over the years, talking to snooker players. They felt that whatever they said, it was just parked up. Even people like John and the guys who have done it all in the game, they don’t really have any sway. It’s almost like they don’t feel respected. Their views are irrelevant.’
The sport’s governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), has WPBSA Players,formed in 2020 as a Players Association and features Ken Doherty, Mark Davis, Ben Woollaston and Tian Pengfei on its board. It was announced last month that Neil Robertson had also joined the board.
The PSPA may not feel WPBSA Players has enough impact, but does want to work with with and alongside the existing powers-that-be collaboratively.
Rees explained: ‘The PSPA has been super clear in its statements up to now. We want to be collaborative, we want to work together. But that involves both sides coming to the table and working together.
WST and WPBSA rection to the PSPA
World Snooker Tour statement on PSPA: ‘WST always welcomes and encourages dialogue with all 128 players on the tour. We endeavour to create the best possible opportunities for players to achieve success in the sport and have significantly increased prize money in the last few years.
‘We look forward to meeting with this new group and hearing their ideas in further developing the sport.’
WPBSA statement on PSPA: ‘The WPBSA has always welcomed player engagement in the sport. Following reports that a new players body has been formed, WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson has reached out to John Higgins to reiterate its position in this regard. The WPBSA will continue to serve the sport in the interests of all its playing members.’
‘It’s not just about listening to what the PSPA says and carrying on as normal. It’s understanding, how we can give the players the voice and actually start to treat them as a collective properly when it comes to the direction and future of the game.
‘There are certain things that the PSPA are going to ask for that they’re not going to like. That’s inevitable, because otherwise there wouldn’t be a need for it. It wouldn’t exist. So there are certainly going to be things they don’t like.
‘They’ve got to address those points seriously and compromise. Then we get to a good outcome for everybody. The alternative is what nobody wants with everybody butting heads and divisions widening. That’s not really the direction of travel, it’s to be collaborative and see how we can make this better for everybody.’
So what is the first thing on the agenda for the PSPA when they do get to sit down with the sport’s decision makers?
‘I think the first thing’s going to be a wider, more generic conversation about player voice,’ Rees says. ‘How do we do we bake in and enshrine a proper voice for players?
‘Now there’s an independent association that represent them collectively, what is the practical reality of that for WPBSA Players, for meetings, for dialogue, routes to dispute resolution? Where does the PSPA sit formally in the structure of snooker? Because it’s not going to go away. It’s going to grow. The voice will grow, the power will grow. So that’s going to be number one.’
He continued: ‘Then I think you look at the obvious things that have been raised. How can we improve the lives of younger players, the lower-ranked players on the tour? So they’re not losing money and we don’t lose any talent.
‘Looking at the tour itself, the structure, the players all have strong views about the calendar, the way it works, the scheduling, travel and event density issues, limited welfare. Looking at a smarter design of the calendar and grouping events regionally.
‘Rest periods, there’s lots of conversation about the players burning out, being away from home for long periods. Then it’s about putting in place proper structures around welfare.
‘Looking at things like disciplinary. Independent events is a hot topic, how can we allow players to benefit from the brand that they’ve created? How can we make sure that commercially the tour is protected and the players’ rights to earn and exploit their image rights are protected as well?
‘It’s all about balance. I think if you have to sum it up, it’s about getting all these factors, all these things into the mix, and looking at at balance, which is what the players feel is lacking.’
Given it is mostly very well known names on the players board, there have been some concerns that the PSPA will be mainly addressing concerns of those at the top of the game.
Rees says this is not the case at all as the players board is just the start and membership of the PSPA will be for the whole tour.
‘When we formed this, with the likes of John, Murphy, Selby and Trump, it was made very clear by all of them that this is not about them,’ says Rees. ‘They’ve recognised their power as the top players. They understand they’ve got bargaining power. They didn’t know how to effectively channel that, which is why this has been formed.
‘But they were all very clear that without proper support for the up and coming and lower-ranked players, you get a hollowing out of the tour and at some point people just can’t afford to play. The next Ronnie, the next Trump, the next whoever, they’re going to fall by the wayside and end up doing something else.
‘That is one of the key points that hasn’t yet been dealt with properly in the press, is that this is for everybody.
‘The next phase of this is going to be growing that membership base. Membership forms have not gone out yet. Nobody’s been invited to join as a member, but that’s going to happen imminently.
‘What we expect is that all of the players join. There’s no cost for them to join, but what they gain, because of the top players backing this and setting it up, running it and putting their time and energy in, is that they will benefit from that collective bargaining position. So that point about whether this is for the top players. That’s something we need to be really super clear on and quite strong on.’
