Peter Ebdon did something rather remarkable in Telford on Wednesday afternoon. Two miles down the road at the MacDonald Park House Hotel, Shifnal, Shropshire, a vote was being taken to determine which of the factions would win the latest battle in snooker's enduring civil war. Ebdon, meanwhile, was in The International Centre, Telford, Hall One, playing a second-round match in the unsponsored British Open. At no stage did he leave the building or communicate with the outside world.
Yet within minutes of the result of the vote being announced, and with Ebdon still preoccupied by his tussle with The Malteser (Tony Drago), a press release was handed down containing the following quote from Ebdon: 'The resolution to remove the Board was defeated despite a block vote in favour of it from one particular management company. Snooker has shown the world...' etc etc. As pretty a piece of psephology as one could wish to see.
Before a vote had been cast, Ebdon had not only predicted the result but also highlighted the existence of a pernicious block vote. However, he doesn't seem that thrilled by his prescience when he appears in the media centre. 'First of all, I must say there's been a lot of nonsense in the press,' he starts. 'So many one-sided articles and the question is, who is making a living out of this?' he continues. 'Someone out there is making a living out of absolute garbage and nonsense.'
As a critique of sports journalism, it is fairly devastating and the four snooker specialists and I have no reply. Having made his point, Ebdon graciously concludes: 'Hopefully, there can be some peace now.' Perhaps. Although the 'we've won, you're history' strategy is usually more inflammatory than placatory.
Whatever, it is not perhaps the most propitious time or venue to interview Ebdon. The International Centre, Telford, is not overburdened with facilities, so we find ourselves sitting in the corner of the press centre chattering away while behind his back various hacks may or may not be attempting 'to make a living out of absolute garbage and nonsense'. He has one ear for me and one ear on them. A two-eared job if ever I heard one, made that much more difficult for Ebdon because one of his ears is defective.
He couldn't be more charming. Appearing more relaxed than he had at the table, where he had twitched rather on his way to his first victory since becoming world champion in May. The final, in which he beat Hendry 18-17, was watched by a bigger television audience than that for the FA Cup Final.
Having achieved his ambition, he has had to come to terms with what to do next. 'You have to set yourself new goals and, to be honest, the summer was crazy. It was so busy that I didn't have time to reflect on what I achieved and it is still an ongoing process. Perhaps complex characters or people of great intensity - and I'm probably in the latter category - find it difficult to relax once they have achieved something they have been striving to do for a long time.'
He is not too concerned by the pair of defeats that have followed. 'The best-of-nines are very difficult,' he says. 'And in the game against Fergal [O'Brien] in the LG Cup [the only event in the snooker calendar sponsored by someone other than a tobacco company], we shared four centuries on the spin, which is certainly a joint world record.'
A best-of-nine affair can be something of a turkey shoot (a point perhaps proven by Ebdon losing to Alan McManus in the third round) and he prefers the longer games. 'The top players have only two chances in longer-frame matches at the UK championship and the world championship. And it's not a coincidence that last year seven out of the top eight made it to the quarter-finals of the former and all eight to the quarter-finals in Sheffield.
'My aim now is to successfully defend the world title, which no first-time winner has ever achieved. I care passionately about the game, as is obvious. To be honest, most players are very angry about the infighting, which has been down to a few greedy individuals trying to make money from the game.'
It hasn't taken much time to revert to politics. The split is much as it ever was. In one corner you have the likes of Ebdon, Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins, who support the present administration. In the other those such as Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Terry Griffiths, who do not. The latter camp requested a vote of confidence. They lost by such a significant margin that it is, says Ebdon, 'obvious that even certain of Ian Doyle's players have had enough'. The block vote failed to stand up.
Doyle is the Cromwell figure in the civil war. He believes the governing body, the WPBSA, couldn't run a bath let alone an international sport and has long been campaigning for regime change. He has offered the sport dizzy sums of money to this end and arrayed his cohorts - generally but not always players he represents - against the establishment forces. Although his name was not directly linked to the present battle, his presence guarantees the continued prosecution of the war.
The loyalist cause is headed by players who have fallen out with Doyle (ie Higgins) or never had anything to do with him (Ebdon). At the time of their last battle, they were rewarded for their loyalty with lucrative contracts by the WPBSA. 'One thing for certain is that if the contracted players hadn't agreed those contracts, the game would no longer be run for the players,' says Ebdon. 'And most if not all have renegotiated and given money back to the association.'
On Wednesday, the status quo was maintained. But how much quid the quo will be able to raise when they have the former pro Tony Knowles on the board is debatable. Prize money is down, sponsors are absent and the crowd at Telford appeared lonely.
Nor is an outbreak of peace likely. Ebdon reserves particular venom for Hendry. 'He took the association to court and cost them £1.2 million-plus, yet was never disciplined for bringing the game into disrepute,' he says. 'He actually said, "Part of me can't wait for the game to go belly up." How can a seven-time world champion say that?'
Ebdon will not continue the struggle once he retires. 'I'll be away breeding racehorses,' he says. 'I've got a computer programme with a million horses in the database and I design my own pedigrees, normally looking to the second generation and looking to reinforce superior lines.' His syndicate has just bought an Entrepreneur filly for €60,000 (about £38,000) to be trained with William Haggas and has a couple of broodmares at the Colinnstud in Newmarket. As with the similarly intense Sir Alex Ferguson, he finds that a passion for racehorses provides relaxation. And if The Coolmore set wish to extend the sphere of influence to include snooker, he will happily take their call.
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