Host a Challenge Tour Event!

Snooker clubs throughout England can now apply for the opportunity to host tournaments on the sport’s new Challenge Tour next season.

• Any club wishing to apply to host should email clubs@epsb.co.uk
• Applicants will receive an ‘Invitation to Tender’ pack, which should be completed and returned by 12:00pm noon on 30 April 2019.

As reported last month, World Snooker’s Challenge Tour will feature ten events during the 2019/20 season, with a new ‘play-off’ system to determine which two players are promoted to the professional circuit.

The Challenge Tour ran for the first time in 2018/19 as a secondary circuit below the World Snooker Tour. There were ten events, with six in the UK and others in Latvia, Germany, Belgium and Hungary. Brandon Sargeant and David Grace earned the two tour cards.

Next season’s Challenge Tour will include six events in the UK and four in Europe. Snooker clubs and federations will be given the chance to bid to host events. Clubs do not need to use Star tables but those in England must be affiliated to the English Partnership for Snooker and Billiards’ (EPSB) 147 Club scheme, which provides a range of benefits to its member clubs.

As well as the prestige associated with having many of snooker’s former pros or aspiring players competing in tournaments, the benefits to clubs hosting a Challenge Tour event include:

• Tables to be recovered for the event with tournament cloth
• World Snooker to provide sets of balls for the event
• Tournament Directors and Referees all provided

The EPSB is an umbrella organisation that aligns the interests of its affiliated bodies and creates projects to inspire and drive awareness of snooker and billiards to new participants in England. Its objectives are to increase participation, improve facilities and promote cue sports with an inclusive approach providing an opportunity for all.

It brings together the English Association of Snooker and Billiards (EASB), World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association Limited (WPBSA), World Billiards (WBL), World Women’s Snooker (WWS) and World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS).

For more information about the EPSB and the 147 Club, visit www.epsb.co.uk