Dear Players

The entries to the Oceania Championships to date have not been as expected and the OBSF Executive have had to take the decision to reduce the prize monies relative to the entries for each of the events. This was a very hard decision, but one necessary to ensure that the Championship can go ahead as a number of regional players have already booked their flights to attend the events. However, if the numbers do increase then the proposed prize pools will be honoured in full.

There will be Test Matches between Australia and New Zealand in the U21 and Women's which is important for the region.

The introduction of the Masters to replace the 6 Red Championship has not been as well supported as we expected and the fact may be that to have the Masters followed directly by the Oceania Championship is too long for players to be away from work or other commitments they may have and with this in mind we have decided to not run the Masters, all Masters entry fees paid to date will be fully refunded. We are hopeful that anybody that had entered only the Masters will now switch their entry to the Oceania event. We apologise for this but we need to be mindful of the responsibility to the financial viability of the OBSF for the future.

In the future Championships it might well be that the events are to be split and there be more than one Championships to accommodate the categories without requiring too long a period for the events.

The Billiards has also not been supported to date, even with the resurgence in recent times for the discipline, and again it has been decided that unless there is a drastic change in the entries in the next few days it might well have to be cancelled. It is all very disappointing for everybody and especially after the OBSF managed to find a replacement to host the Championships after New Zealand had some difficulties and had to withdraw from hosting the Championship.

Mounties, as always have been fantastic in taking on the Championships at such short notice and I think we need to get behind them and support all the events wherever possible. They have been a stalwart of the Billiards and Snooker fraternity for many years and to see the lack of support at this time is a travesty. All the tables have being reclothed and new balls are provided for the events so we have the best conditions we can provide.

There are some with personal agendas that are actively urging players to not enter and that is such a destructive approach for our sport, so I urge you to not listen to the protestation of some that are not aware of; or in some instances choose to ignore, all the efforts that people are going to in both the preparation for these Championships, but also the future of our sport worldwide. It is to be hoped that in the near future we can see some conciliation between all major parties that will benefit all the players.

Therefore finally, we would strongly urge you all to support both the OBSF and Mounties and to enter the Championships as soon as possible to ensure they are a success.

The OBSF Executive