WSF/WPBSA Statement
The World Snooker Federation (WSF) and the WPBSA have noted, with regret, the aggressive and misleading nature of the public statement of the IBSF dated 5 March 2018.
The WSF is a properly constituted and legally registered not for profit international federation for snooker and billiards. The reason for its formation as well as its aims and objectives were set out in a public statement on 27 October 2017 – which can be accessed HERE.
We accept that it is ultimately a matter for the IBSF as to whether or not it accepts members who are also members of the WSF.
However, the WSF does not discriminate in this way and welcomes all national and regional federations to apply for membership and join the significant number of federations globally which are already members of the WSF.
The IBSF has no legal or other right to assert that it is the only international federation for snooker. It is also incorrect for the IBSF to state that the IOC prevent national or regional federations from being a member of more than one international federation.
The IOC will, however, only formally recognise one international federation for any given sport. For billiard sports, the WCBS is currently the only IOC recognised international federation. The IBSF itself holds no IOC recognition or association, contrary to their implication. The snooker member of the WCBS is the WSF, as explicitly set out in the WCBS Constitution adopted on the 24th April 2013 – which can be accessed HERE. Furthermore, the establishment of a formally registered WSF has in fact been encouraged for a number of years by the WCBS itself.
