Pool Cue News and Review

As most of you know, there was an incident at the Great Lakes Classic where Sarah Ellerby “allegedly” threw an elbow at Jennifer Chen during a break.  Since then, we’ve been waiting for the WPBA to at the very least release a statement about this incident.  Most were expecting a suspension from the US Open, but we all know that didn’t happen.

In fairness, I decided to send an inquiry to the WPBA about this incident.  My email was happily ignored (not a surprise), leaving me to my own speculations and opinions which is never a good thing…

At any rate, word has it that the internal response to this incident was to… wait for it… hand out the WPBA Code of Conduct to all its members.  When the WPBA drops the hammer, they really drop the hammer.  Damn WPBA, that’s hardcore.  Anyway, someone was nice enough to leak the Code of Conduct, which then got leaked to the AZ Billiards forum, which I then grabbed to be enshrined here.  For anyone interested, here it is (allegedly):

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WPBA Code of Conduct

Complaints
All questions or complaints must be directed privately, in writing, to the tournament director or to a WPBA board member. Any public criticism or complaints are not permitted and the person responsible will be fined ($100.00 up to $5000.00)

Code of Conduct
Players are under scrutiny at all times as a professional and, as such, must avoid behavior that would discredit their fellow professionals, the WPBA, or the sport of billiards.

All players will be responsible for following all rules and regulations as set forth by the WPBA by-laws, the policy handbook, and any other regulations mandated by the on-site tournament officials and hosts.

Members of the WPBA must not make or cause to be made any statements (whether verbal or in writing), or take or cause others to take action which may, in the opinion of the wpba board, bring that member, the wpba or its agents, or the sport of billiards into disrepute.

The wpba may take action against any player member convicted of a felony and restrict their participation in the wpba events.

Player members shall not address criticism of fellow players, tournament personnel, equipment, or facilities to fellow members, the press, or any others. All such complaints should be submitted in writing to the tournament director or to a wpba board member.

Tournament officials may penalize any player abusing rules or regulations of the tournament or code of conduct at their discretion, including calling fouls, awarding games to an opponent, or forfeiting the offending players match.

Code of conduct violations inside the arena- unsportsmanlike conduct, intentional sharking, abusive or profane language, public abuse of equipment-physical or verbal, drinking during a match, rudeness to officials/players/spectators/sponsors, etc.

1. Written warning (verbal inside the arena with a write-up to go in the file)
2. Fine (minimum $100) + possible penalty TBD by tournament official (fouls, loss of game, loss of match.)
3. Fine and suspension

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I just think its funny that an (allegedly) official document uses the term “sharking”.