ROTTERDAM - The position of KNBB director (Dutch billiards federationtion) is fascinating, complex and challenging. Willem La Riviere, the 49-year-old Dutch man from Rotterdam, is managing a medium-sized sports association with about 30,000 members and 1,200 clubs affiliated associations from the federation office. He cherishes the big champions in his country (Dick Jaspers and Therese Klompenhouwer), just as well as all the other billiards players in all disciplines and ranks. "My motto is: transparent, fair and all together."
Passport:
Name: Willem La Riviere
Age: 49
Place of residence: Rotterdam
Married to: Nancy
Children: son of 20, daughter of 15
Function: Director KNBB
When started at KNBB: 2005 as board member, 2007 as sport coordinator, 2008 interim director, 2010 director
Sports: I love to watch all kinds of sports. But of course my heart lies in the billiard sport.
Kozoom interview with Willem La Riviere, director of KNBB, the Dutch billiards association:
Kozoom/Frits Bakker: For the many thousands of billiard players in the country: who is Willem La Riviere? Tell us something about yourself, not only as a director, also about your past.
Willem La Riviere: I came into contact with billiards at the age of 14 when I played with friends in a cafe on a small table almost every day. I first discovered an American pool table in the city that year. And I really fell in love with billiards. I soon played in competitions and other tournaments, I soon had my own table and made many hours of practicing. In the end, I managed to reach the Dutch top ten. I have been working for five years in various pool, snooker and billiard rooms. But unfortunately my dream suddenly ran into a nightmare after a violent robbery. I found my way in the culture sector, because graphic design, music and art are other passions. I made many productions and organized events, congresses and concerts. In 2005 I wrote The Road to Glory, in those years I was also active as a board member within the KNBB. We brought several major events to the Netherlands, like the Mosconi Cup, World Pool Masters and the World Cup of Pool. We managed to attract tv for these events. At the end of 2006, a vacancy as a Sports coordinator became vacant at the KNBB, to which I applied successfully. In 2008 I became interim director with the main task to make the federation financially healthy. After three years as interim, I was appointed KNBB director.
Kozoom/FB: Would you like to briefly explain to the outsiders the organizational structure of the KNBB. And also: the disciplines, with how many playing members. And about the office where you are the leading man.
Willem La Riviere: Within the KNBB we represent a lot of game types, which makes it so fascinating and diverse. We have the snooker section, pool section, three-cushion section and carom section that fall under the KNBB umbrella. Each section has a section board, which is mainly responsible for organizing the many competitions and tournaments. The umbrella is headed by the federal board, responsible for the entire KNBB. The board members are volunteers, doing enormous work every season, for which I have an enormous appreciation. The Federal Office falls under the ultimate responsibility of the umbrella, facilitates the sections and implements the policy determined by the Federal council.
Kozoom/FB: What is your main role as director, especially the prominent role during big events and the director behind the scenes. The organization of the federation office.
Willem La Riviere: As director of a medium-sized sports association, you are faced with an enormous complexity of tasks and questions every day. You are often brought up for discussion when there are opportunities or problems and when the KNBB must be represented. For example, I represent the KNBB within the NOC*NSF, but I also do a big part of the negotiations with partners. In addition, managing the KNBB office, where a total of 5 employees are working, we facilitate three sports associations in the office. No working day is the same for me, as well as the evenings and weekends. I like to be very close to the people and I like it when people approach me directly with their questions and ideas. My motto is transparent, honesty and be strong together. I am very proud of what we have achieved in recent years with the entire KNBB team. Just look at the many competitions in which some 5,000 teams are participating. And all the wonderful events that we manage to organize every season thanks to the power of cooperation!
Kozoom/FB: How big is the influence of COVID 19 on sport in general and billiards in particular in these recent, turbulent months? Is there a certain panic among café owners, organizers, do you receive signs of concerns about sponsorship, is there a loss of members?
Willem La Riviere: It's a very difficult time in which we now live. We have never experienced such a crisis. Not as people, not as a country and not as a sports association. The uncertainty is horrible for the billiardclub owners and the concerns they have now. Whether they can still open again, whether they will make it and take care of all employees. The worst part is that this disease is fatal for some of our members. So sad for families and friends. Ever since the Covid-19 outbreak, I've been working and worrying on corona every day. I am the meeting point of questions and I have contacts with other sports associations, government and NOC*NSF. Fortunately, there is a lot of resilience among our members. Beautiful ideas are coming up, such as the support fund for billiards catering that the KNBB has started. And the action 'sportersvoorelkaar.nl' as a good example. But it's also very special that there is so much understanding for the forced stop of the competitions. Believe me, that was a very hard decision taken by the sections and the federation. When I see that there is not only understanding and less loss of members than last year, I am truly proud and grateful to all our members. That shows the solidarity and mutual trust that we as KNBB like to radiate. A federation for and from all billiard players! There is not so much panic, but certainly in these weeks you see that many club owners are not yet sure when they can open again. We asked the club owners and 47% said they would not make it if they had to stay closed until September. That is a cause for concern, which is why we have been actively lobbying in recent weeks to open as many rooms as possible.
Kozoom/FB: Is the KNBB in constant dialogue with NOC*NSF, especially during this Coronia period? How does that body deal with the RIVM guidelines, for example?
Willem La Riviere: We have received a lot of support from NOC*NSF since the outbreak. Within NOC*NSF we immediately switched to digital meetings and workgroups in order to start working subject-related. Such as working group 1.5 meters, working group associations, crisis team and directors' meeting. We also receive weekly updates and there are separate meetings. A few weeks ago, we successfully argued with other sports associations, which are mainly related to catering, for a separate position within indoor sports. And as KNBB, we quickly published a protocol specifically for billiards that included a lot of suggestions and we recently published a third version. The most important question, which we have previously tested with authorities, is the chance of transmission of contamination by materials such as cloths.
Kozoom/FB: What does NOC*NSF do financially for federations and clubs during this time of crisis?
Willem La Riviere: During the first phase of the crisis, NOC*NSF and federations mainly used to open government support measures to sports clubs and sports organizers. I can say that it worked. There is not a single scheme for KNBB that we can use, because we hardly have loss of revenue during this period, but fortunately, due to our good financial policy in recent years, we have built up enough buffer to absorb a few blows.
Kozoom/FB: How has the crisis affected your work, ambitions and priorities for the KNBB. Media attention (like NOS/Ziggo/ Kozoom) during major tournaments was one of the spearheads of promoting billiards in the Netherlands.
Willem La Riviere: We were well on our way with the promotion of our wonderful sport. We finally saw years of investing in relationships and public relations translated into an increase in media attention for billiard sports. With the many hours on ZiggoSport at the World Cup in October as one of the highlights. That's a big reason why every billiard lover, association, location and fellow association should commit to the KNBB. The bigger we are together as billiards sport, the more we get done. Not only to achieve more events and media attention, but we can also set up a stronger lobby towards government and business. See how important the lobby now is in this time of crisis. It's terrible that small and big events had to be cancelled due to Corona. So bad for all those people involved in the organization. But it is very nice to see that we successfully have turned this disappointment into positive energy. Very much appreciation for the flexibility of the sections and organizers such as the BEN organization. The fact that the joint effort and ambition has resulted in the organization of the European 3-Cushion championship 2021 and the World Cup 3-Cushion until 2024 is fantastic for the future of our sport. I am therefore confident that we can continue the positive line we had before the crisis.
Kozoom/FB: Which position does the KNBB take in the Netherlands with its number of members?
Willem La Riviere: The KNBB has approximately 30,000 members and 1,200 affiliated clubs. We are quite a big billiard federation internationally. The extent to which this relates to other countries is not so interesting. Which is interesting is, how is it possible that the KNBB has a professional organization and many of the federations in our surrounding countries do not. You can clearly see the advantage of cooperation in this. Because we have bundled three cushion, pool, snooker and carom in the Netherlands, we are not only bigger than if we were all separate, but we can also offer and organize more. You can imagine: if the fellow organizations in our country and all other billiard lovers also would join us, together we could do much more for the future of billiards sport! NOC*NSF has 76 sports federations and we are now in the top 25 in terms of membership. I think now, if you add other players of fellow federations in our country, we would go to top ten.
Kozoom/FB: How do you see the future of global billiards after the split between UMB and PBA, the temptation for top players to yield to a professional contract. What should the world federation do to keep top players within its organization?
Willem La Riviere: I believe in collaboration, together you come further than apart. But I also believe in the sport rules that we have agreed internationally under the banner of the IOC and WCBS. Think of a safe sports culture for everyone who participates. These sport rules are guaranteed within the UMB, of which we as KNBB are part of the CEB. For example, look at topics such as match fixing, doping. Of course, my personal opinion is that it is very unfortunate that there is a split and that players feel that they have to choose. But I have faith in the parties involved that they will eventually come to a form of cooperation in which all organizations respect the sport rules. As a result the billiard sport will flourish even more.
Kozoom/FB: Dutch three cushion can enjoy the best male player (Dick Jaspers) and best female player (Therese Klompenhouwer) in the world. That is unique for such a small country. Did it inspire the KNBB top to attract all those big tournaments?
Willem La Riviere: It's indeed fantastic that we have two great, global champions in our house. I am proud that we have two of these ambassadors. I remember how our ladies world champion, Therese, entered the old KNBB office every day for her daily training with the coach, Christ van der Smissen. Many thousands of hours and days of practice have brought her to the top and that deserves a lot of respect. And indeed, that gave us inspiration. Not only for other players to practice more, also to the KNBB. Thanks to the big events, the billiard fans can see the matches live in the stands on kozoom, or on tv. They can watch the fantastic sports of three cushion. I am convinced that they all take it back home and feel a little like Dick Jaspers or Therese Klompenhouwer.