Industry news

When times get tough, people play pool

The world economy is a mess and the SA economy is in recession for the first time since 1992. The cost of living has increased tremendously and economic growth is slowing, impacting on jobs. As can be expected, this has lead to a change in lifestyle for consumers. Restaurateurs report that more potential customers prefer to entertain at home — and for many, entertaining often involves a game of pool.

The sport is better positioned than ever before, says All Africa Confederation of Cue Sport president, Peter Hawley. “Youngsters don’t want to go out any more, therefore families save to buy pool tables and play at home. In that way they practise their game, while having fun at home.”

Hawley, who is also the president of the All Africa Pool Association and the executive director of the World Pool Association, says the sport has shown steady and healthy growth on a competitive level over the last five years.

“I’d be lying if I said pool hasn’t been affected by the economic crisis — but the effect has not been very significant. The reason for this is that pool is one of the few sports that is really cheap to play.”

He continues: “The bulk of our players — at least 80%, if not more — come from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. Obviously, we have been affected by all the other issues that confront the world — like unemployment — but still the passion for the sport has not subsided.”

Hawley insists that pool is not a game but a lifestyle. “We are creating champions. We have four world champions in SA. Wetsi Morake from Soweto is the number one black ball pool player in the world. He clinched the title in Swaziland in August 2008. SA is also very well established in the sport internationally.”

As tough times continue to hit people’s wallets, it certainly does seem that sports like pool and snooker can be relied upon to generate sales for retailers.

A family would be much more likely to buy more cues and replenish accessories when they are playing more often, or entertain more friends at home, instead of going to the cinema or to clubs. They would also be more inclined to spend a little more on affordable, interesting accessories.

Cape Town based De Wet Sports, which imports Riemann pool and snooker accessories, reports that they experienced a 20% increase in the sale of accessories in the past year alone. “There were price increases, but still the trend is that more people are using pool equipment. Sales have definitely increased in the past year, compared to the last couple of years,” says Kevin De Wet.

De Wet doesn’t foresee any trouble for the cue sport market in the future — even if the recession takes deep root in the country. “I don’t think it will affect us that much. The economy has been bad for a while now, but the market is alive and well.”

The pool accessory market has generated good sales, agrees Andrew Wentzel of W.E.T. Sports. “We initially started carrying a small range to satisfy some of our clients’ needs, like some basic cues and a few accessories like chalk , tips and so on.

This has grown to include triangles , cue and black balls and cue racks to satisfy the growing demand, he says.

“We find that this is a good range to carry in winter as most people like to stay indoors — and it would seem that many people have their own pool tables.”

He believes that another reason for the growth in the market for pool and snooker accessories could be because more pubs now have pool tables and “their rate of attrition on cues is high.”

Stateside Pool’s Pankaj Sanghavee concurs that it’s business as usual. “We haven’t seen a drop in the sale of pool accessories. People are unemployed, but they still want to do something and therefore go and play pool.”

One would, however, expect that the sale of expensive items like pool tables would be affected by the economy. Yet, although table manufacturers have been affected somewhat, the damage is not all that bad, says Shahin Furmie of Shoot Games.

The spending bubble of two years ago when people splashed out on extra pool tables for their holiday homes and upgraded to newer, better R20 000 customised tables has however burst, says Glenda Babaya of Day Motion. “While there is still interest, the demand for luxury items has slowed.”