Itaewon Pool League Members

I am your pool league president. I realize that I was not technically, or even remotely, elected as such. I was granted the right to be your pool league president, and I want to thank you for that. I also realize that I don't have the mandate of the league members, but I do have a solemn responsibility to you all.

I feel that I fell short in carrying out that responsibility regarding the A Division playoffs. And I would like to apologize for that.

As many of you may know, there was an unfortunate forfeit and disqualification in the Championship match of the A Division. It was brought to our attention during that match that one of the players was a ranked professional Korean billiards player. According to the Itaewon Pool League rules, this player was ineligible to play, and therefore the playoff match should have resulted in a forfeit.

Let's go back a week to the first of my mistakes as your president. During the quarterfinal playoff match between my team, the Boomtown Rats, and the disqualified team, one of the players on my team mentioned to me that the player in question was a professional. I was surprised to hear that, but my team told me not to raise the issue, because it would seem like a case of sour grapes and they felt that we should have won the match nonetheless. I decided not to raise the issue and wait until the season was over. At that point, I was planning to quietly investigate this and prevent the player from playing in the future, if the rumor proved to be true.

That was a mistake. And I wish to personally apologize to Scrooge Pub Wonky Dics for that. I should have stepped in at that moment to prevent further damage. I forgot my responsibility as president, and instead made that decision as a team captain and as a private individual. This apology goes out to the whole league, because my inaction jeopardized the integrity of the league.

After the final was played, there was some debate over what constitutes a professional player, and a lot of time was spent on trying to determine if, in fact, this player was a professional.

While this was unfolding on Thursday morning, I contacted the opposing captain, and that captain told me that they would accept the outcome of the match, although they felt that it was a problem that needed to be resolved for future seasons. The Executive Committee accepted that, and I contacted the captain of the disqualified team and awarded them the victory.

That was my second mistake. I once again forgot my role as your league president. In my mind, if the opposing team accepted the outcome, then the problem was resolved and peace was preserved and friendships league-wide were not destroyed.

Meanwhile, indisputable evidence was pouring in that the player indeed was a ranked professional, recognized by a major Korean billiards association. This evidence could not be dismissed.

The next morning, after yet another sleepless night, I contacted my harried Executive Committee and gave them the disheartening news that the decision needed to be reconsidered. We met one final time, and with the help of some very wise advisers, came to the conclusion that our first ruling was inconsistent with the rules and previous rulings. Many times in the past teams have forfeited playoff games due to playing players that had not met the minimum game requirement. One team was expelled from the playoffs because of intentionally losing matches in order to play in the Best of the Rest tournament. We then changed the ruling to a forfeit.

In summary, the Executive Committee did its job. It took a while, and mistakes were made along the way, but the right conclusion was reached, unfortunate as it may be.

Once again, I would like to apologize for my own part in all of this. I felt that my intentions were good, but in the end, my personal feelings should not come into play in making this type of decision. It doesn't matter if I agree with a particular rule or not, the rules are there for a reason. Rules can be amended, repealed or modified, but they cannot be ignored.

I will continue to serve you as president of the Itaewon Pool League, and I will endeavor to do so with more wisdom than I displayed on this occasion. If anyone has an issue that they would like to raise with the committee regarding this, please feel free to contact us.

Lenny Erickson