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Originally Posted by esquire
I think the way people bowl has changed. It used to be that most bowlers were part of leagues. Tuesday night men's league, Saturday morning kids' league, that kind of thing.
These days it's casual, drop in kind of stuff. People typically go maybe a couple of times a year.
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Definitely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by megadude
I did find it odd that China didn't have much representation in billiards when I started watching. A billion people and surely tables in plenty of bars and lounges. But then I wondered if it had to do with cramped living spaces and so only the wealthy had room at home for a table. And the average citizen didn't have the luxury of spending several hours at a billiards hall every week. And probably the lack of access to media. The Philippines meanwhile has been pumping out top class pool talent for decades now, including arguably the GOAT, Efren "Bata" Reyes.
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Sport in general holds a bit of an awkward space in Chinese culture. I won't get into it, and probably am not really the one to try and explain it anyway, but sporting isn't exactly
sexy as a profession compared to something like public service or technical labour. Only recently have more people been able to afford the ability and luxury to play sports more professionally now that hundreds of millions have been lifted out of extreme poverty over the last 50 years.
The interesting thing about snooker is that unlike sports like table tennis or soccer which are driven by government support, its growth is being driven by free enterprise. Chinese view snooker as a luxurious parlour sport of the West, so have gone about building billards halls, clubs, etc. Prior to this a lot of billiards was played outdoors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawrylyshyn
Wow this is huge! This kind of structure is much better for grassroots soccer and spreading the game, as it allows much smaller communities to compete and be part of the overall system. Exciting time!
As mentioned above, hopefully CPL will be included one day as well
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I feel as if League1 Ontario using Pro/Rel is a test balloon for the CPL using the system in the future. CPL owns L1O, and so there's definitely connection there between the two. I think a future where potential CPL promotion/relegation is driven through the regional leagues is ideal, IMO, and moves the onous of looking for expansion teams off of the CPL itself and encourages teams who have been playing and have built a following to slowly make their way up the system instead. A much better system, IMO. Very interested to see how it plays out in Ontario in the coming years because there are a few clubs who are getting very serious with their aspirations.