The Snooker Mastermind

By Elliott West
Introduction

Brandon Parker was well respected in the snooker community by those who worked with him and knew him. A contributor and organiser for the sport for over twenty years as a manager of players, organiser of events and as a WST director. Managing players such as Paul Hunter and Shaun Murphy, Paul can be credited for helping bring snooker to Germany with the formation of the Paul Hunter Classic and the highly successful German Masters.

The Winning Formula

Brandon Parker, a Mancunian, carved out his career in the chemical industry, working as a technical sales executive. Like many, snooker was a hobby for him, playing at a club level at his local Conservative club. A club that was influential in helping him achieve century breaks and a local champion. This local success acted as a springboard for greater success with Parker going on to form his own company, the Wheels in Motion snooker management team. Needless to say, it also caused Brandon to give up his career in the chemical industry and focus his attention on snooker.

Rather like Barry Hearn’s earlier Matchroom company, Parker drew in players to promote and mentor. A whole list of players went through this business stable through the years including Quinten Hann, Matthew Stevens, Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins, Neil Robertson, Ryan Day and Kyren Wilson. The most prolific being Paul Hunter who Brandon was with throughout most of his career, witnessing the triumphs of Hunter’s career which included three Masters titles. Unfortunately his manager also had to see Paul rapidly decline when he was diagnosed with cancer up until his sad passing in 2006, aged only 27. However Parker was determined to create a positive out of a negative and so fought to form Paul dream of creating the Paul Hunter Foundation. A charity that was formed after Hunter’s passing.

This snooker guru didn’t stop there and had already made numerous trips to Germany in the early 2000s. Identifying it a potential base for European snooker, Brandon made his first venture into promoting. A small tournament was used a vessel for kickstarting interest in the country for the game, a project that still remains live and the tournament grew to become the Paul Hunter Classic.

Subsequent to Barry Hearn becoming World Snooker in 2010, Hearn appointed him to the board as European Operations Director and through his company Dragonstars, promoted snooker across large parts of Europe such as Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The culmination came in 2011 when Parker brought the German Masters to the Tempodrom in Berlin. A gargantuan venue that holds 2,500 people and was formerly a circus, I can vouch that this is one of the most impressive events in the snooker calendar. Brandon had his finger on the pulse and drove interest in Europe through promotional tools, including the highly influential Eurosport that televised snooker with multi-lingual commentary.

Summary

Brandon Parker was frankly a breath of fresh air for snooker and was instrumental in helping develop players in the professional game and the growth of the sport across Central Europe and the formulation of new tournaments. His sad passing in 2020 after a battle with cancer, has left a large void in the sport but thankfully his achievements will remain for many years to come. As a fitting tribute to Brandon, the trophy for the German Masters will be named after him from this year.

Brandon Parker

One thought on “The Snooker Mastermind”

  1. Great piece as always Elliot. Very insightful of a major contributor to our sport.
    Many thanks
    Paul

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