International Billiards and Snooker Federation

The International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) is an organisation that governs non-professional snooker and English billiards around the world. As of January 2020, the organisation is headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[2]

International Billiards and Snooker Federation
SportSnooker and English billiards (amateur)
JurisdictionInternational
AbbreviationIBSF
Founded1971 (1971)
HeadquartersDubai, United Arab Emirates
President Mubarak Al-Khayarin(Qatar)[1]
Official website
www.ibsf.info

History

The World Billiards and Snooker Council (WB&SC) was established in 1971, following a meeting of a number of national associations at a hotel in Malta during the World Amateur Billiards Championship. The associations were dissatisfied that the Billiards and Snooker Control Council was controlling both the UK and international games. Player and journalist Clive Everton served as the first secretary, and his office served as the first office of the WB&SC. In 1973, the WB&SC renamed itself as the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) and began to control non-professional billiards and snooker championships.[2][3][4]

Aims and structure

The aims and objectives of the IBSF are to "co-ordinate, promote and develop the sports of billiards and snooker on a non-professional level" and to manage the following competitions:[2]

By the end of 1984, the IBSF had thirty countries as members.[5] As of January 2020, the IBSF has seventy-three affiliated countries categorised into one of the five Olympic regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The IBSF board of directors has four executive officers (president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer) plus two representatives from each Olympic region. The executive officers are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Federation and are answerable to IBSF members at the annual general meeting, which is normally held during the period of the IBSF World Snooker Championships.[2]

Relationships to other organisations

The IBSF was (alongside the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, WPBSA) one of the two snooker-focused organisational member of the World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS).[6] The WCBS is an organisation that promotes cue sports in the form of carom, pool and snooker; one of its aims is to gain the acceptance of cue sports disciplines into the Olympic Games.[6]

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) terminated its relationship with the IBSF on 31 July 2017, over conflicts involving the two organisations' relative leadership positions within WCBS, making allegations of IBSF misconduct.[7] As a result of the split, the WPBSA has revoked the Professional Main Tour cards that were once afforded to the IBSF World Men's and World Under-21 Champions. On 5 October 2017, WPBSA announced the formation of the World Snooker Federation (WSF), with stated goals similar to those of WCBS, but focused on amateur and professional snooker, and is inviting regional and national amateur snooker federations to join WSF.[8]

As the IBSF and WPBSA were unable to come to a formal agreement as required by the WCBS, both had their WCBS membership terminated in December 2018.[9] In March 2019, the IBSF was reinstated to the WCBS to represent snooker.[10]

See also

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2020.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "International Billiards & Snooker Federation". IBSF.info. Dubai: International Billiards & Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  3. "International Billiards and Snooker Federation(IBSF)". uia.org. Union of International Associations. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  4. Everton, Clive (2012). The History of Billiards. englishbilliards.org. p. 7. ISBN 978-09564054-5-6.
  5. Morrison, Ian (1987). The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker. Twickenham: Hamlyn Publishing Group. p. 59. ISBN 0600556042.
  6. "About us". WCBS-Billiards.org. World Confederation of Billiards Sports. 2017. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  7. "WPBSA Statement". WPBSA.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 31 July 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  8. "World Snooker Federation (WSF)". WPBSA.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 5 October 2017. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  9. "WCBS Statement 19th December 2018". wcbs.sport. World Confederation of Billiards Sports. 19 December 2018. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  10. "WCBS Statement 17th March 2019". wcbs.sport. World Confederation of Billiards Sports. 18 March 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
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