It’s official, Barry Hearn has won snooker’s latest power struggle at today’s EGM by a margin of 35-29 votes…
The word from those behind the scenes in the days leading up to today’s vote was that the vision outlined late in the day by John Davison appeared to be gaining momentum, but ultimately it is Barry Hearn who has earned the right to put his much debated plan into action and hopefully get snooker back where it should be.
Personally I am pleased to see this for a number of reasons, not least Barry’s proven track record which to me is almost beyond reproach. In addition the fact that it was only as recently as six months ago that the players voted Barry in as WPBSA Chairman meant that to have gone back on this decision so soon would have done little for the credibility of the sport in the eyes of the press and more importantly the sponsors. I think he deserves a chance to whether his plans can be a success and I am please that he has got it.
The big issue of course was that of the ownership of the sport’s commercial rights and as demonstrated by the comments of Nigel Bond yesterday, the players were far from agreed on this. Now that the decision has been made to back Hearn however, I can only hope that the dissenters will put aside their feelings and get behind him because snooker now desperately needs unity, not another war.