Acronyms and Acrimony
Enthusiasm for pool in the United Kingdom has spawned a host of aspiring governing bodies, an epidemic of acronyms and of course the inevitable inter-organisational squabbling.
In the 1970s and 1980s pool really took off in the UK and the first national organisations were set up.
The British Association of Pool Table Operators (BAPTO) was formed in 1975.
BAPTO was established as a non-profit organisation seeking to unify the activities of those who supplied pool tables to the licensed trade. BAPTO published a standardised set of pool rules and ran their first national event in 1976.
By the mid-80s the English Pool Association (EPA) had developed a county pool structure on behalf of England's players and leagues.
It is regrettable that these two organisations, BAPTO and the EPA, had somehow contrived to implement differing versions of the rules.
Attempts to establish a common set of rules in 1985 ended in bitterness. The ill will generated at that time affected the development of the game for years to come. The EPA subsequently affiliated to the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) and the different rules and conflicting interests further intensified the divisions between the United Kingdom's pool organisations at both national and league level.
Following the dust-up between BAPTO and the EPA another national organisation came into being.
The United Kingdom Pool Federation (UKPF) was formed to represent the interests of Britain's 8ball players and to organise national pool events throughout the United Kingdom.
BAPTO and the UKPF for a while at least became best buddies.
UKPF/BAPTO rules may be thought of as the forerunner of blackball pool rules. Many of the organisations which played to UKPF rules in the 1990s continue in existence today (in one form or another) and now recognise blackball as the premier rule-set for the small table game.
In 1992 the following organisations were associate members of the UKPF....
- BAPTO British Association of Pool Table Operators
- SNPC Scottish National Pool Council
- WPA Welsh Pool Association
- NIPA Northern Ireland Pool Association
- PPPO Professional Pool Players Association
The other organisations listed above continue to this day (2016).
English representation in the UKPF in 1992 was conspicuous by its absence.
The English Pool Counties Federation (EPCF) was not formed until 1995. That organisation's remit was to administer the selection of players and teams which were invited to compete in national UKPF events.
The EPCF is now the English Blackball Pool Federation (EBPF).
Unsurprisingly the relationship between the UKPF and BAPTO was not entirely without acrimony. In the late 1990s there were disputes over the staging and location of national events.
It seems that all too often in the history of the game there have been officials, not up to the job and motivated by personal ambition, who have been unwilling to step down or accept compromise. Inevitably this has not been in the best interests of the players.
The UKPF broadened its role and became the European & United Kingdom Pool Federation (E&UKPF). In 2005 it was renamed the European Blackball Association (EBA).
Minor changes to UKPF rules were introduced in the late 1990s but the most far-reaching changes came about in 2004 when blackball pool was sanctioned by the World Pool and Billiards Association (WPA).
Thankfully blackball pool rules are now very much in the ascendancy in the United Kingdom and worldwide.