Brandon Parker

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Brandon Parker (born April 1965 in Manchester ; † July 18, 2020 in Portugal ) was a British sports manager , promoter and billiards functionary , who worked as the manager of several leading snooker players and later as a board member of the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association or its sub- Organization World Snooker Tour made an appearance.

Life

Parker was born in Manchester in April 1965 and initially worked as a technical sales manager in the chemical industry. Snooker was a hobby for Parker at the time and he played with some success in a Manchester 'club. In the 1990s he quit his job in the chemical industry and started working for a snooker management company called Wheels In Motion . In the following years he worked as a manager for numerous top players, including Quinten Hann , Paul Hunter († 2006) and his close friends Matthew Stevens , Ryan Day , Barry Hawkins , the former world champions Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson and until his death Kyren Wilson . His protégé Paul Hunter died of cancer in 2006, after which Parker founded the Paul Hunter Foundation following Hunter's request to promote snooker among children .

Parker also began working as a promoter in the 2000s. He was involved in establishing what would later become the Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth by letting the two players come to the first edition of the tournament as the manager of Paul Hunter and Matthew Stevens. Later he was one of the organizers of the tournament after he recognized the potential of the tournament at the first edition. In addition to various exhibitions, especially in Germany, he also founded the German Masters in Berlin in 2011 . Parker thus played an important role in the spread of snooker in Germany. With his company Dragon Stars , he also organized snooker tournaments in other European countries. In 2020 he was involved in organizing the European Masters in Austria. After Barry Hearn de facto took over the world association WPBSA together with his company Matchroom Sport in 2009, he brought Parker to the board of World Snooker , which later operated under the name World Snooker Tour , as European Operations Director .

Parker lived in Sale, Greater Manchester, and had a second home in Portugal . He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in early 2018 . As a result, he stopped working and sought treatment, including surgery. In July 2020, his condition at his home in Portugal worsened and he passed away on the afternoon of July 18, 2020 at the age of 55. He left behind his wife and two children, a daughter and a son. A short time later, his close friend Shaun Murphy announced his death "with a heavy and broken heart." Barry Hearn paid tribute to Parker by saying that "his contribution to snooker [...] was a fundamental part of the success of the game".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Brandon Parker - Sale - Snooker Manager. CheckCompany, accessed on July 19, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Brandon Parker. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , July 18, 2020, accessed July 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Wieland Peter: Snooker: Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth before the end? In: Fürth News. nordbayern.de, August 9, 2018, accessed on July 19, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ a b c Rolf Kalb : On the death of Brandon Parker: Snooker Germany owes him a lot. Eurosport , July 19, 2020, accessed July 19, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Brandon Parker. In: World Snooker. WPBSA , January 31, 2018, accessed July 19, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Brandon Parker. In: wst.tv. WPBSA , July 18, 2020, accessed on July 19, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Parker, Brandon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British sports manager, promoter and billiards official
DATE OF BIRTH April 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH 18th July 2020
Place of death Portugal