Union Mondiale de Billiards
| Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB) |
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|---|---|
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| legal form | society |
| founding | June 1, 1959 (1923) in Madrid , Spain |
| Seat | Geneva |
| precursor | Union Internationale des Fédérations des Amateurs de Billard |
| main emphasis | Billiard World Association |
| people |
President : Farouk el-Barki Vice-President : Fernando Requena Wolfgang Rittmann (†) (Honorary President) Carlos A. Rivera Young Chul-chang Alsharif Alhussein General Secretary : Rainer Selgrath
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| Website | umb-carom.org |
The Union Mondiale de Billard ( UMB ) is the world umbrella organization for carom billiards and is affiliated with the WCBS .
history
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1903 to 1923
On 16./17. December 1923 was founded in Brussels "Café Marnix" with the Fédération Internationale des Amateurs de Billard (FIAB), the first world carom association. It emerged from the French national association Fédération Française des Amateurs de Billard (FFAB), which in turn emerged from the association of the Fédération des Sociétés Françaises des Amateurs de Billard (FSFAB) and the Fédération Française de Billard (FFB). Both associations organized world championships ( Cadre ) in parallel from 1903 to 1913 . In the association statutes it was decided to officially recognize only the FFB world championships as such, the FSFAB world championships were thus subsequently revoked. They are therefore considered unofficial world championships.
1924 to 1959
In 1924, the FIAB was renamed Union Internationale des Fédérations des Amateurs de Billard (UIFAB). As a world association, due to the lack of continental associations, it also took care of the organization and staging of continental championships. This also affected the South American national associations, which, rightly, felt that they were being bullied and patronized by distant Europe. But also European national associations, in particular the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the Saarland (initially not part of Germany after the war), were more than dissatisfied with UIFAB after the Second World War. So it happened that the aforementioned four European national associations founded the first European national association in 1956 with the Fédération Internationale de Billard (FIB), and the South Americans followed suit. Due to the decline in membership, symptoms of disintegration occurred in the following years, which then led to the dissolution or renaming of the FIB in 1958 to the newly founded Confédération Européenne de Billard (CEB), which 11 other European national associations joined. Since the UIFAB now had almost no members, it was dissolved in 1959 or merged into the UMB founded on June 1, 1959 in Madrid . All continental associations joined her. From then on she was only responsible for the worldwide marketing, presentation and development of carom billiards (including 5- cone billiards ).
The federation has the authority over the generally applicable rules of the carom billiards as well as over all tournaments with participation of athletes of several subdivided federations, in particular over world championships and world cup tournaments.
As the first board of directors, the members appointed the following people:
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Eduardo Martin-Martin, President
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Georges Troffaes, 1st Vice President (also President of the CEB and the Belgian Billiards Association) -
Alberto Conte, 2nd Vice President
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Albert Trillat, General Secretary
Since 1959
During the European crash championships in 2015 and the CEB Congress, which was taking place at the same time , Jean-Claude Dupont, previously President of the UMB, announced his resignation for health reasons. His successor was the Vice President Fernando Requena, who came from Valencia / Spain and was President of the Spanish Association from 1998 to 2012. At its annual meeting in Brandenburg, the CEB also announced that it would appoint Dupont an honorary member. The former sports director Farouk el-Barki has been the UMB's new president since 2016 .
TV marketing and expansion from 2018
Since 2010, the world association has had its tournaments marketed by the French-Korean Internet TV broadcaster Kozoom . Over the years, the initially only European tournament broadcasts were followed by Korean tournaments, then Pan-American and finally invitation tournaments such as the traditional Verhoeven Open . At the last World Cup tournament in 2017 in El-Guna, Egypt, the UMB entered into a "historic contract" with Kozoom.
"This agreement will take three-cushion to a new, higher level and unite all players under the UMB umbrella."
This contract stipulates that Kozoom will be granted all broadcast rights to UMB tournaments for the next 5 years, until 2023. In addition, Kozoom is allowed to host its own new tournaments, such as a Continental Cup and a whole series of Masters. The UMB reserves 24 weeks in its calendar for this so that there are no parallel events. Each of these tournaments will have prize money of € 150,000 each. Furthermore, the prize money for the World Cups will be increased to € 106,500, and for the World Cup to € 118,500. The prize money of all tournaments in 2018 thus also exceeded a historic mark at € 1.5 million.
Kozoom's founder and co-director, Xavier Carrer , said:
"We truly believe this is the best way for 3-Cushion to grow by keeping all players, professionals and amateurs, unified."
"We really believe that this is the best way to develop three-cushion by keeping all players, professionals and amateurs united."
The 2018 CBF conflict
In December 2017, the UMB signed new contracts with the organizers of new tournaments, including those of the three- cushion Challenge Masters (3CC). These also held the prospect of high prize money, even if there are no world ranking points for them, as the majority of these are invitation tournaments. However, this gives players the opportunity to increase their exchanges, which are known to not be comparable to those in snooker. In spring 2018, resistance from the Korean association Korea Billiards Federation (KBF) against the TV marketing rights arose. The background was the sponsors' demands for their own TV rights. However, UMB has a long-term contract with Kozoom . This was known to the KBF and also signed as such. For its part, the UMB saw no need for action regarding contractual changes. The KBF drew conclusions from this and banned the Korean players from participating in UMB tournaments after the World Cup in Porto, under threat of bans and penalties. This reminded many of the UMB's initial quarrels with the Billiards Worldcup Association (BWA) in the early 1990s.
The CBF insisted on its position and was not prepared to talk. The chairman Nam sent internal e-mails to various players to get them to be biased. So it happened that some Korean top players were denied participation in the first 3CC in their home city of Seoul. The UMB President Farouk el-Barki set a new date for talks with the KBF. He again pointed out that this was a dangerous game by the KBF, as it could be blocked by the NOC, the next higher authority. The meeting took place on the final day of the tournament, the KBF gave in and again confirmed the regulars of the UMB. Player bans have been lifted.
The 2019 PBA conflict
After the conflict with the KBF was resolved, the next one followed at the beginning of 2019, this time with the Professional Billiards Association (PBA) , which is also based in Korea . After the first statements by the PBA initiators in 2017, the UMB sought a conversation to agree on the further procedure and the modalities. For its part, the PBA was not ready to accept the modalities for joining, hosting tournaments and television broadcasts, while the UMB was not ready to “loan” or release its players to a non-member association. A similar conflict took place in the 1980s / 1990s with the Billiards Worldcup Association (BWA), the initiator of the three-cushion World Cup . The unrest between the two associations dragged on for weeks without result. Following the award ceremony at the World Cup in Antalya, Turkey, the President of UMB el-Barki said as follows:
“We will not hesitate to ban players from participating in these unapproved tournaments for extended periods of time. We do not accept, and I stress that we will never, that players play in tournaments that are not approved by the UMB. You need to know that we will be imposing huge penalties and not only banning players but preventing them from returning for years. While two private companies are trying to destroy our sport and what we have built over the last three years, the UMB continues to work tirelessly to develop the three-band sport. "
The CEB President Diane Wild drew level with the words:
“It is clear that the CEB will fully support the UMB. A UMB sanction is automatically applied at the CEB and national level. Just like the opposite would be the case, a player who is banned from his association is automatically banned by the CEB and the UMB. "
The founder and CEO of the Kozoom Group, with a branch in Seoul, Xavier Carrer , commented on the PBA's approach as follows:
“Bravo & New, together with Kimchi, are trying to destroy what UMB and Kozoom have built up over the past three years. Bravo & New has a very aggressive strategy to take over the billiards market. They do not rely on the UMB and developing their business outside of Korea. Their business model is based not only on the media market, but also in the equipment business. The main thing is the sale of cues and pool tables. "
The two parties used several UMB tournaments to conduct further negotiations there, all without result. In May, the UMB announced a threat of ban, which it implemented on July 15, 2019, the start of the 2019/20 season, and issued a one-year ban for the following top players (list not complete):
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The specified world rankings are as of July 15, 2019.
The UMB imposes a one-year ban on every PBA tournament participation, but no longer than three years.
The disciplinary commission of the CEB gave on the weekend of 14./15. September 2019 after their consultation announced the suspension of 18 players and thus confirmed the bans of the UMB.
Board
| President: |
Farouk el-Barki
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| Vice Presidents: |
Fernando Requena (Finance) Wolfgang Rittmann (†) (Europe) Carlos A. Rivera (America) Young Chul-chang (Asia) Alsharif Alhussein (Africa)
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| Secretary General: |
Rainer Selgrath
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| Sports Director: |
Farouk el-Barki
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| Press and Marketing: |
Steve Lee
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| Other board members: |
Helmut Biermann Nishio Gaku
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Affiliated associations
The UMB are the four continental associations
- CEB (Confédération Européenne de Billard)
- ACBC (Asian Carom Billiard Confederation)
- ACC (African Carom Confederation)
- CPB (Confederacion Panamericana de Billar)
as well as the regional associations
- United States Billiard Association (USBA)
- Fédération Algérienne de Billard (FAB)
- Federação Portuguesa de Bilhar (FPB)
the USA, Algeria and Portugal.
Association structure
Board structure
Timeline
See also
- Official World Championship of FFB / FFAB / FIAB / UIFAB / UMB in Cadre
- Unofficial world championships of the FSFAB in the Cadre
Web links
- Official website
- UMB Statutes (English, PDF; 108 kB) ( Memento from December 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Dieter Haase, Heinrich Weingartner : Encyclopedia of Billardsport . 1st edition. tape 1 . Verlag Heinrich Weingartner, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-200-01489-3 , p. XIX – XX .
- ↑ Fernando Requena is the new UMB President ( Memento from May 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Jean-Claude Dupont resigns as President of the UMB. Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB), May 1, 2015, accessed on December 23, 2016 .
- ↑ Historical contract between UMB and Kozoom. December 9, 2017.
- ^ Historical agreement between the UMB & Kozoom International. December 9, 2017.
- ↑ Markus Schönhoff: President Barki invites Koreans to resolve conflicts. Kozoom , July 12, 2018, accessed July 18, 2018 .
- ↑ UMB & KBF find their way together. UMB, July 15, 2018, accessed on July 18, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d Markus Schönhoff: Korea creates a new conflict in billiards. Kozoom , February 22, 2019, archived from the original on February 25, 2019 ; accessed on September 11, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Markus Schönhoff: UMB is serious - locks are through! Kozoom, July 15, 2019, archived from the original on September 1, 2019 ; accessed on September 11, 2019 .
- ↑ Markus Schönhoff: CEB publishes the ban for 18 European players. CEB News - Lausanne (SUI). Kozoom, September 16, 2019, archived from the original on September 18, 2019 ; accessed on September 18, 2019 .
- ^ Board Members of the Union Mondiale de Billard. In: umb-carom.org. Union Mondiale de Billard, accessed January 30, 2016 .
