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eFlicker comment:
Satellites home in on the wider community
Who said that international satellite tournaments were unsuitable for the English calendar?
After 51 players attended the event in Leeds at the start of June, Peterborough followed with a record 52 two months later - an excellent turnout for the first ever event in the East Midlands city.
Some ESTFA officials had dismissed the tournaments for those ranked outside of the top 100 in the world rankings as irrelevant and suggested that, without STF points on offer, the competitions would not catch on.
But they couldn't have been more wrong, as the playing community have fully embraced the new class of FISTF event.
And who can blame them when the tournaments offer certain players the chance to actually win an event, some to reach the latter stages, and others the opportunity to simply still be involved in the main competition beyond midday.
FISTF President Vincent Copponelle's long-term aim is extend the idea by introducing "Challenger" events for those outside the world's top 200 and "Futures" for players ranked below 300, modelled on the successful Belgian domestic system.
Worldwide though, that proposition is not without potential its drawbacks. Excluding the 100 highest placed players creates a fairly accurate boundary - bar a few anomalies - between the elite and the others. The ranking table tends to become less accurate further down though, becoming more a measure of the number of tournaments played, rather than achievements within those competed at.
Regular competitors to FISTF events are able to reach the top 300, maybe even the top 200, without doing anything speculator. By doing so, they would then make themselves ineligible for tournaments designed for them. And at the same time, better players who haven't played at many international events in recent years would be allowed entry.
Just look at the rankings - Frenchman Jean-Guillaume Einsle is ranked number 249; Wales’ Phil Dacey is at 224 whilst Greg Dand of Scotland barely makes the top 300 at number 294. Fabian Brau - double international winner at South Queensferry in 2002 - finds himself now ranked 393rd in the Open rankings.
Veterans who mostly play only within their own age category, such as Martijn Bom (world number 495) and Renzo Frignani (260) amongst many others, find themselves in a similar position.
Admittedly the situation is inherent to a certain extent within the current satellite system. Einsle - one of France’s best players - won the Templeuve event in July 2005 for instance. But he was potentially beatable by other non-top 100 players there (he required overtime and shots on his route to the final), who in turn were beatable by occupiers of lower ranking positions.
There could also be an argument that, in some cases, the existence of satellites on the fixture list may affect attendance at the more prestigious international events, especially in countries with smaller playing populations.
However there is no doubting that overall satellites are working. In fact there are calls from several national federations requesting that the number allowed in each country should be increased from two, to cope with demand.
Satellites are now a fully accepted part of both the world circuit and the English calendar - no matter what the opinions of the few are.
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