WST reaches ‘agreeable solution’ with players as snooker event postponed

John Higgins

The snooker exhibition event in Macau has been moved to December, following a clash with the Northern Ireland Open that put five top players in the center of an imbroglio and threatened with severe sanctions.

The event was slated to feature world champion Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ali Carter, who had been warned that participation in the local non-sanctioned event during a professional tournament, instead of the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast from Oct. 22-29, would constitute a breach of their contracts with World Snooker Tour (WST).

However, over the weekend, WST said in a statement, “WST can confirm that the Macau event previously scheduled for October 27-29 will now take place December 22-24 with players having received WST permission to enter.”

“As has been the case throughout, and contrary to reports, WST has dealt with all parties in a respectful and productive manner to reach an outcome which is satisfactory to all parties.

As previously stated, due to contractual obligations, the original dates promoted would have been unacceptable and potentially lead to disciplinary action for those players choosing to compete in this event rather than the Northern Ireland Open,” it added.

According to the WST, a “mutually agreeable solution has been reached to avoid further action.”

Players do not have to enter all WST events, but are contractually obliged to avoid doing ‘anything that is detrimental to the WST,’ such as taking part in any non-sanctioned event run at the same time.

WST honorary president Barry Hearn had accused the players involved of “selling their souls and themselves down the river for an extra few quid,” as cited in a BBC report.