The Billiards & Snooker Conflict

(Labor and Social Affairs) - In just a few months, Vietnamese billiards players and the Vietnam Billiards & Snooker Federation (VBSF) have successively received bans from international organizations.

This has had a significant impact on the development of the Billiards & Snooker movement in Vietnam.

VBSF's membership has been suspended for one year.

In a letter sent to VBSF on October 16th, the President of the World Billiards Federation (WCBS), Farouk El Barki, announced: "Vietnamese athletes are invited to participate in all international billiards events, including all multi- sport games."

Vietnamese billiards players are currently subject to numerous bans.

With this announcement from WCBS, Vietnamese billiards players will have the opportunity to participate in regional, continental, or world sporting events such as the SEA Games, Indoor Games, etc.

WCBS did not ban Vietnamese athletes because "Vietnam is an important country for the sport of billiards. WCBS and its member federations and associations, including Pool, Carom, and Snooker, have the right to organize international tournaments in Vietnam without needing the approval of VBSF."

Nevertheless, WCBS decided to issue a one-year ban on VBSF. Accordingly, VBSF is prohibited from organizing any international billiards events (including carom, snooker, and pool). Furthermore, officials and managers belonging to VBSF are also prohibited from participating in any billiards events. This is the first time VBSF has received such a ban from WCBS.

With VBSF banned for one year (until October 16, 2025), it is highly likely that the 3-cushion carom billiards World Cup leg in Ho Chi Minh City (scheduled to be held in May 2025) will also be affected, as this tournament is organized by the World Carom Billiards Federation (UMB) in collaboration with VBSF.

According to our findings, the latest ban from WCBS is due to VBSF violating Article 2, Section 5 of the Olympic Charter, by failing to manage and develop billiards in a unified manner.

Notably, Vietnam hosted the Hanoi Open 9-ball pool tournament, part of the World Nineball Tour (WNT) of Matchroom Pool – the rival organization to the World Pool Billiards Federation (WPA), in October 2023 and October 2024. Another tournament was the Hanoi Open 2024 3-cushion carom tournament, organized by the Professional Billiards Association (PBA) – the rival organization to UMB, held in August 2024.

For the same reason, VBSF has been banned from participating in tournaments for six months, from July 13, 2024 to January 12, 2025, by the Asian Billiards Federation (ACBS), the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (ISBF), and the WPA. Vietnamese players on the WPA's banned list will also be unable to participate in the 2024 VBSF National Pool & Snooker Championship, organized by VBSF, which will take place from October 21 to 25.

Conflict of interest

Over the past period, the Vietnam Billiards Federation (VBSF) has received several press releases from various billiards federations and organizations banning numerous players from participating in competitions. Following a six-month ban from July to September, the UMB banned 27 Vietnamese players from competing for one year. Subsequently, the WPA issued a ban on 87 other Vietnamese players in the pool category.

The billiards world, Asia, and Vietnam currently have many organizations, but they are mainly divided into two factions. Previously, carom games, including the World Cup and World Championship 3-cushion tournaments, were managed by the UMB (established in 1959), the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF, since 1971) managed snooker, and the World Pool Association (WPA, since 1987) managed pool.

But five years ago, the billiards landscape was drastically altered with the arrival of the Professional Billiards Association (PBA). This organization originated in South Korea and is run by FMG. The prize money for winning a PBA Tour leg is approximately $72,000, more than three times higher than a UMB World Cup leg.

It is precisely because of the conflict of interests between international organizations that the Vietnam Billiards & Snooker Federation (VBSF) and Vietnamese players have repeatedly received bans in recent times. These penalties often overlap, due to many athletes competing simultaneously in different tournament systems.

Vietnam has become a source of conflict between world federations, partly because organizations see it as a potential market for billiards development. According to billiards expert Frits Bakker, Vietnam is "the new paradise for organizers".

The number of viewers watching billiards tournaments in Vietnam, whether live or online, from 9-ball pool to 3-cushion carom, is many times higher than internationally.

At the 2024 Scottish Open under the WNT, when Vietnam's number one pool player, Duong Quoc Hoang, won the championship, the event at one point attracted over 100,000 simultaneous viewers on a domestic channel, many times higher than the international audience on Matchroom's channel.

It is understood that, after receiving the suspension notice for international activities from WCBS, VBSF will submit a report to the Vietnam Olympic Committee and the Department of Physical Education and Sports, and together they will find ways to resolve the issue or present their case to WCBS, requesting a reduction in the suspension order for VBSF.

The Department of Physical Education and Sports has worked with VBSF representatives to find a solution. Currently, there are no legal documents from state management agencies regarding the handling of specific incidents that VBSF is facing. Therefore, it can be said that we are completely passive and confused in resolving the issue, and for the time being, we are forced to comply with the bans from higher-level organizations.

From the athletes' perspective, Vietnam's number one billiards player, Duong Quoc Hoang, hopes that organizations will become truly professional and function properly based on a common goal, with the mission of developing the sport of billiards.

Mai Huong

Labor and Social Affairs Newspaper No. 129

Source: https://dansinh.dantri.com.vn/nhan-luc/cuoc-xung-dot-billiards-snooker-20241024222947476.htm