World Championships Fund Raising

[Brad]

Hi all,

I'm just letting everyone know how the fundraising for the World Championships is going and who is benefitting from the kitty as it's been pointed out to me that some people aren't aware who is going and in what respect.

The main issue seems to be that people weren't aware that I am travelling to Blackpool as a non-playing official. I am going to the World Championships as SEPF Secretary and Assistant Manager of the Scotland Squad and, alongside the SEPF Treasurer, I have organised and co-ordinated the entire Scotland party travelling to the Worlds. I will be there to attend the daily briefs and manage the admin side of things for all the Scotland teams throughout the tournament and before each match, as well as representing the squad/Federation at the World AGM and assisting the Treasurer with the accommodation side of things.

I have openly said from the start that I am not playing but have joined in with the players from Elgin in the fundraising kitty as I have to self-fund the trip just like everyone else. This is partly due to the SEPF financial situation and also the fact that the majority of tournaments pay out 100% prize money so there aren't funds available to finance officials. The players in the kitty are all happy with this, however, I have been told today that a few people who aren't going to Blackpool feel they have been misled into exactly where their raffle/race night money is going.

The people going to Blackpool who are benefitting from the kitty (subject to them raising funds) are:

Peter Fyffe (Men's team)
Stuart Campbell (Men's team)
Susan Collins (Ladies team)
Garey Steele (U21 B team)
Cammy Spence (U21 B team)
Gary Simpson (Wheelchair singles)
Brad Wight (Asst Manager)

Thanks to everyone who has supported the raffles, race night and scotch doubles tournament, we are well on our way to reaching the target of raising £250 each to go part of the way to paying for travel and accommodation.

In the interests of transparency and for all those who have contributed, I'll post on here when we have final figures for all to see.

Thanks,

Brad.

[thecentralscrutinizer]

I must say that I was surprised to learn that you would be benefiting from these fund raisers Brad. Having taken part in Garey's event, I thought that the money raised would be going towards the players rather than the officials expenses for representing Scotland from Region 4. I feel that officials' funding is something that the SEPF should fund tbh.

However, I really appreciate that you have come on here to clarify the situation now rather than after the event. It says a lot for your commitment to transparency where finance is concerned.

I'm certain that you did not mean to mislead me (and others) on this issue but it has happened nonetheless. For future fund raising endeavors in Region 4 we must be crystal clear on who is to benefit so that we can preserve the altruism that is demonstrated in bucketloads by the players and supporters of pool in Region 4.

[Brad]

Hi Adam,

As far as I knew, everyone knew that I was part of the kitty. I apologise if I didn't explain this thoroughly but have in no way attempted to hide this fact.

As you know the SEPF don't have any money to subsidise anything at the moment, hence everyone including all players and officials having to fund their own way.

For those who don't know, this is the result of the previous treasurer 'allegedly' stealing £14,000 from the SEPF funds. The Federation under the current treasurer, Ian Moffat, has worked extremely hard over the last year or so to pay back the funds loaned to them by players and the European/World Federations and may one day soon be in a position to subsidise players' and officials' travelling and accommodation expenses as some other nations do.

Also, although I am an SEPF official, I wouldn't support a system whereby officials were financed for major competitions and the players weren't. It would have to be even across the board.

I've also looked again at applying for funding from the local authority but as you're aware, Sport Moray are unable to offer anything more than a £500 annual payment to a club (which was paid already for Malta.) Compare this to Dundee's sports council who have reimbursed their players who went to Malta for every single penny they spent on buses, flights and hotels! I was surprised to learn that this £500 annual club payment would even apply to top athletes in training and amateur football/rugby teams travelling to major comps. £500 a year wouldn't even begin to pay for anything for a kids football club or something! Unbelieveable!

Brad

[raymack]

Whilst on the subject of the world championships and although this is nothing to do with me and i'm just being nosey.

Are the players who have been selected benefitting (see quote below) in siimilar ways to players whom may have qualified through trials such as the one that has been discussed at length on the Aberdeen website.

"Entry to the Singles Event of the World Championship only.
Payment of the player’s competition entry fees, international registration fees and other admin expenses.
Two nights Bed and Breakfast Accommodation.
An extra night’s accommodation if the player progresses past the opening rounds of the competition."

And again whilst on the subject, I'm slightly curious as to how there was no imention in our region for these trials . I only found out about these trials on the ADPL site and although I'm not sure that I would have entered there may be others who would have but didn't know about it. Just trying to point out that we have a forum here but nothing was mentioned on it to my knowledge.

As i say just me being curious !!

[Brad]

Hi Ray,

The World Singles Qualifier is sold by the World Eightball Pool Federation to the venue/region at a cost of £320. You have to be sure you'll get 16 guys paying £20 each to make your money back.

I spoke to Adam about this when we were offered the chance of a place and given that quite a lot of our top players had already had a chance to go to the Worlds in one capacity or another and the fact that we had a couple of days to make a decision and the few players we did ask didn't seem interested in parting with £20 for a chance to play we decided not to take the offer up. Region 2 did the same for the same reasons. If we'd have had more notice I would have put a list up on this site to see if we could get enough players willing to pay before making a decision.

The event in Aberdeen however, is open to anyone from here to enter if they wish so if you fancy trying out, get yerself down!

The qualifiers get the benefits you quoted above as the place has been paid for by the venue, no one else gets any of them things! Note, last year's qualifier winners had their travel paid for too, this year's winner will have to pay for travel themselves, hence the reason some guys in Aberdeen aren't bothering entering this year.

Also, the qualifiers enter a preliminary group stage before the World Championships kick off. If they top their group they'll join the rest of the guys playing in the singles in the first round proper a few days later.

[raymack]

Thanks for that Brad,

As I say .....just curious, and no I wont be heading to Aberdeen !! ;D

Wasn't their qualifier supposed to take place today ?

I dont know how they did these trials in previous years but it all seems a bit 'last minute' to me

cheers

[Brad]

Tell me about it!

Yes, it was originally supposed to be today but the organisers failed to pay the £320 so the competition was taken away from Rileys and relocated to Shooters.

Date is yet to be announced but as long as it's before the World Champs there won't be a problem.

[raymack]

Aye, I've been keeping an eye on the goings on on the ADPL site, who would want to be on a committee there eh ?

[Brad]

Aye, touchy subject to say the least!

There's some great guys through there with lots of energy and passion for the game but unfortunately they're all ruling themselves out of any sort of regional committee position for one reason or another which is just leading to chaos! Hopefully things will resolve themselves before it affects the players and competitions too much.