United Table Tennis Players Association

[TTHopeful]

Saw this hasnt been posted yet here. Players have all got together on Instagram and posted and shared this:

A new chapter for table tennis

Athletes from all 5 continents have come together to found the United Table Tennis Players (UTTP) - an association to bring a collective voice for those at the very center of our sport.

We believe that the future of table tennis should be shaped with the insight, experience and perspective of the players. The UTTP was born out of a shared commitment to contribute to a stronger, fairer and more transparent professional environment.

Our mission is rooted in the following core principles:

▶️ To promote ethics and integrity throughout the sport

▶️ To encourage transparency in governance and event organization

▶️ To support fairness in prize distribution and working conditions

▶️ To protect players from abuse, discrimination and exploitation

▶️ To ensure true representation for athletes of all genders, nationalities and levels of competitiveness.

It’s time to put the players at the core of professional table tennis - where we belong.

Source.

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Would be interesting to know who the current members are.

United Table Tennis Players

 

[Gtsnake]

A players union. It was inevitable...

Maybe FZD will be one of the first members and Ma Long will be on the board of directors.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Would be interesting to know who the current members are.

United Table Tennis Players

currently has 26 members
Collaborator of the post includes Manika Batra, Dima, Bruna, Hugo, Felix.

then there is another post that has Groth, Kirill, Truls, Dang Qiu, Anton, Nina

and another, Gauzy, Darko, Mino, Pavade, Aruna

 

[Dr Evil]

About time. If it's anything like tennis, it will take about 5 years to gain meaningful influence (boycotts, negotiation power), and about 20 years to get shared control of the pro tour.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

About time. If it's anything like tennis, it will take about 5 years to gain meaningful influence (boycotts, negotiation power), and about 20 years to get shared control of the pro tour.

lets see how long this could hold
it says founded in Zurich, Switzerland

 

[igorponger]

This all looks like CHEATERS OF THE SPORT, UNITE

All players known to apply oily stuff onto rubbers, behind a curtain, with apparent disdain of any human morality. 🤧
_________
Fair play first.

 

[pong99]

Most likely will have minimal impact

The sport must be making real money before a players union can credibly threaten the league operators

The NBA players union get about 50% of revenue because they can tell the owners union this "You can have half of $10 billion this year or all of zero"

TT players have no leverage

 

[Matt Hetherington]

When I was on the ITTF Athletes Commission my most clear opinion was that any athletes union or commission should operative independently of the ittf group umbrella in order to have any influence and to be independently funded and free from conflicts of interest. This is a good move for the players because as a union they will have collective bargaining power!

 

[ThePongCommenter]

When I was on the ITTF Athletes Commission my most clear opinion was that any athletes union or commission should operative independently of the ittf group umbrella in order to have any influence and to be independently funded and free from conflicts of interest. This is a good move for the players because as a union they will have collective bargaining power!

What collective bargaining power do they really have?

 

[Attitude]

What collective bargaining power do they really have?

A simple thought.
Less than a handfull of players made wtt question and change their own ruling and decisionmaking.
Now think what way more important players might achieve.

The only issue i see currently is the lack of chinese players. They will need them because ittf and wtt is way too much in the hand of China.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

A simple thought.
Less than a handfull of players made wtt question and change their own ruling and decisionmaking.
Now think what way more important players might achieve.

The only issue i see currently is the lack of chinese players. They will need them because ittf and wtt is way too much in the hand of China.

That was Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng, the players in this union are not them and don't have that level of influence, nor can they seriously consider/threaten retirement like FZD and CM could.

 

[Lizh with skVII]

A simple thought.
Less than a handfull of players made wtt question and change their own ruling and decisionmaking.
Now think what way more important players might achieve.

The only issue i see currently is the lack of chinese players. They will need them because ittf and wtt is way too much in the hand of China.

Any Chinese player who don't want to retire won't join this,because once they do so they will be forced to quit the team immediately.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Any Chinese player who don't want to retire won't join this,because once they do so they will be forced to quit the team immediately.

I was going to say this too.

There will still be an uphill battle between players and member association, yet along with international federation.

 

[Dr Evil]

Most likely will have minimal impact

The sport must be making real money before a players union can credibly threaten the league operators

The NBA players union get about 50% of revenue because they can tell the owners union this "You can have half of $10 billion this year or all of zero"

TT players have no leverage

You might have noticed advertiser and sponsor logos plastered all over the place at tt tournaments. Where there's advertisers there's money, which means the players have leverage. If they can end up with a player-run tour (like the tennis players managed after 20 years of bargaining), hard to believe they won't do better than they're doing now on a tour that's becoming almost unplayable for many of them.

 

[JackJohnson]

I was going to say this too.

There will still be an uphill battle between players and member association, yet along with international federation.

A player from the CNT will never join this unless they are retired such as Xu Xin, Liu Shiwen, ZJK, ML etc.

Apparently Ma Long is now Vice President of the CTTA since LGL resigned and WLQ is taking over so theres a small chance things could change.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

You might have noticed advertiser and sponsor logos plastered all over the place at tt tournaments. Where there's advertisers there's money, which means the players have leverage. If they can end up with a player-run tour (like the tennis players managed after 20 years of bargaining), hard to believe they won't do better than they're doing now on a tour that's becoming almost unplayable for many of them.

What are these players going to threaten to do to have leverage? Say they're going to retire from WTT? They aren't FZD and CM, who were legitimately fine with going down that route after winning the Olympics and in Meng's case being on the tail end of her career.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

A player from the CNT will never join this unless they are retired such as Xu Xin, Liu Shiwen, ZJK, ML etc.

I don't even think retired players will do it.

Apparently Ma Long is now Vice President of the CTTA since LGL resigned and WLQ is taking over so theres a small chance things could change.

WLQ has taken over indeed.
that doesn't mean LGL is totally out. Won't be surprise if LGL still have authority and power over CTTA.

Ma Long - i'm also eager to see.
technically, he needs to first retire as a player. he has only "retired from the world ranking".

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

What are these players going to threaten to do to have leverage? Say they're going to retire from WTT?

The problem is, these players don't have language barrier
a Chinese player can say "retire from world ranking", while taking a photo of the form that says retirement from international table tennis.
English speakers can't make the same mistake

They aren't FZD and CM, who were legitimately fine with going down that route after winning the Olympics and in Meng's case being on the tail end of her career.

and yea, so many players have been challenging MA and ITTF/WTT over the years.
For this to work, it will need to take years and with a lot of money/resources.
and it ain't like that players will all of the sudden give a percentage of their earnings to fund this organization.

This is really Player Vs MA/WTT/ITTF

 

[Dr Evil]

What are these players going to threaten to do to have leverage? Say they're going to retire from WTT? They aren't FZD and CM, who were legitimately fine with going down that route after winning the Olympics and in Meng's case being on the tail end of her career.

You're right, individual players on their own have little to no leverage. Leverage requires acting together. Then they can stop individual tournaments or the entire tour from being played. Most players earn close to nothing from the tour, so they don't have much to lose.