New! The Pool Papers!
Issue No2

Independent. Investigative. Uncomfortable.


The Pool Papers – Issue No. 2 explores one of the most controversial developments in international billiards and encourages readers to examine the facts for themselves.

Special thanks to photographer Matthias Arnold, whose outstanding images accompany this publication.

Our Mission

Q-Files – Investigative Sports Journalism

At the heart of Q-Files are the players.
No decision about the future of our sport should be made without those who compete, train, and carry the game every single day.
We also listen to the federations and officials. Their perspective will be given space – not as a lobby, but to provide transparency and to explain decisions to the players and the wider community. This keeps the conversation open, rather than closed.
Sponsors and companies are part of the landscape, too – but they will never be given a lobby here. Their influence will be analyzed critically and independently.
Q-Files stands for investigative journalism in cue sports – above all in American Pool, but also in Snooker, Heyball, Blackball, and Pyramid.
We do not chase gossip or clickbait. We work carefully, fairly, and thoroughly – uncovering structures, decisions, and hidden dependencies.
Our mission: to ask the uncomfortable questions, to give context where others remain silent, and to strengthen the integrity of the sport.

Your Voice Matters

Q-Files is open for those who have something to say – players, coaches, officials, insiders.
Contributions can be made openly, under a pseudonym, or fully anonymous.
Every story must be verifiable. We do not publish rumors.
Not all documents or details have to be published – but they must be visible to us as a network, so we can confirm they have substance.
Sometimes, for the author’s protection, parts will remain unpublished if they could expose the source directly.
This way, we ensure credibility while giving a voice to those who otherwise could not speak.
Q-Files is not a rumor mill – it is a serious, investigative network.
“Our credo must be the exposure of the plunderers, the steerers, the wire-pullers, the bosses, the brokers, the campaign givers and takers. … So I say: Stew, percolate, pester, track, burrow, besiege, confront, damage, level, care.” - Wayne Barrett