English Snooker Recognised By Sport England

The English Association for Snooker and Billiards has been officially recognised as a national sports governing body by Sport England. It's the first time that the EASB, which governs amateur snooker in England, has achieved such recognition.

The WPBSA has assisted in bringing together many parties in an agreed structure, and its coaching scheme, which was launched last year, plays a vital role in making snooker a sport which provides opportunity for all.

WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: "This is terrific news and can only be seen as a major step forward for our games. This official stamp of approval will give new structure to our grass roots development in England, and the EASB will now be eligible to apply for funding through the various sport grants. This could not have been achieved without a great deal of support from around the world and this achievement demonstrates that everyone in our sport is pulling in the same direction.

"A special thank you must go to Peter Ainsworth of EASB who despite undergoing major surgery during the year has dealt with this application with such discipline.

"A great deal of support has also come from The International Billiards and Snooker Federation and their president Pascal Guillaume, representing 83 National Governing Bodies worldwide. The WPBSA is 100% committed to continuing its work with our amateur associations to ensure professional snooker is underpinned with sound sports development."

Article source - World Snooker

This is brilliant news for the sport in England as before the EASB wasn't an official sport and couldn't apply for grants and funding (via the National Lottery for example).

The likes of Terry Griffiths, Jimmy White, Stuart Bingham and Martin Gould have all won the English Amateur Championship before so it just shows that even the game's top professionals have to start somewhere and under this partnership hopefully many more opportunities will arise for players in this country.

Visit the offical website of the EASB here.

EASB Media Enquiries

Terry Teeman - Email:  t.teeman@englishsnooker.com