Just 12 months ago a mere 23 players voted at the World Snooker AGM as Sir Rodney Walker comfortably retained his position as Chairman, but as discontent has increased amongst players, we are now faced with the seemingly very real possibility that he might be voted out this Wednesday.
To outline the issues at stake, read on for a special article from The Snooker Forum contributor Suzy Jardine…
“WEDNESDAY 2 December – what will you be doing ? Bit of Christmas shopping perhaps. Well as some of us will be taking on the shopping centres browsing for inspiration on what presents to buy; the top 72 snooker professionals will have to make a big decision of their own.
The question being who do they want to lead them as we approach the turn of the decade.
In the red corner Sir Rodney Walker- the current Chairman of World Snooker. Walker, who has been chairman since 2004 offered himself for re-election at the previous AGM. The 66 year old recently outlined World Snooker’s plans and hopes for the sport which aims to have nine new ranking events on the circuit calendar that so far boasts six. These it is hoped will be phased in during the first year of a new world tour.
So it now falls to the players as to whether or not they want to support Sir Rodney and World Snooker. If the players however feel that they want a change at the top then Walker could be removed providing that there is enough of a “no” vote majority against him. Should that be the case then sports promoter Barry Hearn has offered himself for the role of chairman.
And in an interview with the snooker forum Barry clearly stated that he will “absolutely not” be cutting the amount of professionals on the tour. And that should he end up occupying the Chairman’s seat that he hoped to instigate a series of 25 small tournaments over weekends that would lead up to a players championship, as on the PDC Darts tour to provide more playing opportunities.
But it is not just Sir Rodney who faces a vote by the membership as fellow board members Mike Dunn and Jim McMahon are also up for re-election. Should Dunn and McMahon be rejected by the players it would leave only Lee Doyle and Hamish McInness as sitting board members. Both McInness and Doyle are not subject to a vote by the 72 professionals but a two man board could therefore precipitate an EGM – when both Doyle and McInness could face the professionals votes.
So there you have it. The 2nd of December is a very important day- and the decison will be made by the 72 voting snooker professionals. The decison is not in my hands or yours. It is in theirs, and they will decide which direction they wish to take snooker in.”
So as Suzy says, Wednesday is a very important day indeed for snooker. I could talk about the rights and wrongs of voting for each side all night, but as someone who can only sit and await the outcome, the more pertinent question is who will win?
In the past it has been apathy that has been the winner, but in the last few days alone the likes of Steve Davis, Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy have made it clear that they will not be backing Walker this time, while Ronnie O’Sullivan has in the past spoken out in favour of Barry Hearn, notably at the Masters earlier this year. There have also been players that I have spoken to at the events who are far from happy with the current situation and just maybe enough of them will vote to effect change this time.
Who would you be voting for?