The English Open moves to Brentwood?

lhpirnie wrote:No, what I meant was that with the Home Nations occupying around 50 days on the calendar, there literally is almost no space to include any of the Chinese events. I'm assuming the World Championship, UK Championship, Masters, British Open, Champion of Champions, the Cazoo Series and the European events are certainties. Basically WST have given up on China.

This season they will have occupied 54 days in total compared with the 28 days that they had previously taken.

This could be accepted as one of a number of short-term measures to counteract the pandemic but is incompatible with any objective to grow the game.

There are probably many reasons why WST should rethink this. I have three.

All professionals deserve the opportunity to play all of their tour matches in front of a paying crowd. Many of the top 16 in interview have expressed their delight at having spectators back after a season held almost exclusively behind closed doors. The tour should be fair for all players.

Expanding events from seven days to 13-14 effectively wastes 26 days earning possibility. Combined with the freezing of prize money for these events is not an encouraging signal. Regardless of when (or if) events take place again in China WST should produce a calendar which isn't bloated with filler.

It is inherently wrong to hold qualifiers months ahead of finals. As an example of the nonsense that results: in the upcoming European Masters Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is seeded 18, Matthew Stevens 36 and Luca Brecel 45. Their rankings post the Players will be 58, 65 and 16 or 17 respectively.

gninnur karona wrote:...
It is inherently wrong to hold qualifiers months ahead of finals. As an example of the nonsense that results: in the upcoming European Masters Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is seeded 18, Matthew Stevens 36 and Luca Brecel 45. Their rankings post the Players will be 58, 65 and 16 or 17 respectively.

And also in a completely different location, or country. The qualifiers for the Welsh Open are played in Wolverhampton. I wonder what Jamie Clarke, Matthew Stevens, Jackson Page, Lee Walker, Ryan Day, Jak Jones and Jamie Jones think of that.


In addition to lower-ranked players not knowing if they will need to take time off work for the main events, they have the additional expense of travelling to two venues - one for the qualifiers, one for the main event if they make it.

This would be my ideal schedule for next season, qualifiers for home nations would be scrapped.

July 2022:
Riga Masters
Paul Hunter Classic

August 2022:
British Open
International Championship
European Masters qualifiers

September 2022:
Shanghai Masers
China Championship
6 reds?

October 2022:
World Open
European Masters
Northern Ireland Open

November 2022:
English Open
Champion of champions
UK Championship (played till December)

December 2022:
UK Championship
Scottish Open
German Masters qualifiers

January 2023:
Masters
Shoot Out
German Masters

February 2023:
World Grand Prix
Welsh Open
Turkish Masters

March 2023:
Players championship
Gibraltar Open
China Open
Tour Championship (till early April)

April 2023:
Tour Championship
World Championship qualifiers then the proper event (Until early May)

Juddernaut88 wrote:This would be my ideal schedule for next season, qualifiers for home nations would be scrapped.

July 2022:
Riga Masters
Paul Hunter Classic

August 2022:
British Open
International Championship
European Masters qualifiers

September 2022:
Shanghai Masers
China Championship
6 reds?

October 2022:
World Open
European Masters
Northern Ireland Open

November 2022:
English Open
Champion of champions
UK Championship (played till December)

December 2022:
UK Championship
Scottish Open
German Masters qualifiers

January 2022:
Masters
Shoot Out
German Masters

February:
World Grand Prix
Welsh Open
Turkish Masters

March:
Players championship
Gibraltar Open
China Open
Tour Championship (till early April)

April:
Tour Championship
World Championship qualifiers then the proper event (Until early May)

i like your calendar judders good to see the riga and paul hunter there.no indian open though.

I presume they are just trying to fill the calendar to cover up the lack of Chinese tournaments although it's still a backward step.

I think every tournament should be played in full at the venue apart from the World and UK Championships.

The odd thing is that when the PTC events were on ten years ago nearly all of them were played at venue. Yet the German Masters had qualifying in Wales. It got sillier when flat draws were introduced and you had top players needing to win two matches in Wigan to get to Berlin for a full ranking event while lower ranked players were having to travel to mainland Europe several time during the Summer and Autumn for minor events.

I've always half thought that they should just have one ranking event each in Europe and China, the European Masters and China Open. Make the others events a World Series of invitational tournaments like in Darts. There are positives I could see from that although there are negatives too.

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:I think every tournament should be played in full at the venue apart from the World and UK Championships.

The odd thing is that when the PTC events were on ten years ago nearly all of them were played at venue. Yet the German Masters had qualifying in Wales. It got sillier when flat draws were introduced and you had top players needing to win two matches in Wigan to get to Berlin for a full ranking event while lower ranked players were having to travel to mainland Europe several time during the Summer and Autumn for minor events.

I've always half thought that they should just have one ranking event each in Europe and China, the European Masters and China Open. Make the others events a World Series of invitational tournaments like in Darts. There are positives I could see from that although there are negatives too.

That is exactly the reason why I advocate an incremental ranking system. It's impossible to have the tournaments we need around the world if everything has to be flat-128 draw. Note that broadcasters (and some players) devalue tournaments if they aren't 'ranking'. That's why everything needs to be ranked - ideally all the way down to amateur club level.

gninnur karona wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:No, what I meant was that with the Home Nations occupying around 50 days on the calendar, there literally is almost no space to include any of the Chinese events. I'm assuming the World Championship, UK Championship, Masters, British Open, Champion of Champions, the Cazoo Series and the European events are certainties. Basically WST have given up on China.

This season they will have occupied 54 days in total compared with the 28 days that they had previously taken.

This could be accepted as one of a number of short-term measures to counteract the pandemic but is incompatible with any objective to grow the game.

There are probably many reasons why WST should rethink this. I have three.

All professionals deserve the opportunity to play all of their tour matches in front of a paying crowd. Many of the top 16 in interview have expressed their delight at having spectators back after a season held almost exclusively behind closed doors. The tour should be fair for all players.

Expanding events from seven days to 13-14 effectively wastes 26 days earning possibility. Combined with the freezing of prize money for these events is not an encouraging signal. Regardless of when (or if) events take place again in China WST should produce a calendar which isn't bloated with filler.

It is inherently wrong to hold qualifiers months ahead of finals. As an example of the nonsense that results: in the upcoming European Masters Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is seeded 18, Matthew Stevens 36 and Luca Brecel 45. Their rankings post the Players will be 58, 65 and 16 or 17 respectively.

I have heard Dave Hendon mention on his podcast one reason for Qualifiers is that WST have a contract to stream all matches in China. Which means if they have 8 tables at the venue, they have to stream all 8 and lose money on that. Whereas if they only stream 4 tables they make money. Which is also why the Qualifiers are being stretched out over 5-6 days using only 2 tables this week.

If that's the case, it may explain why it is not changing back for next season.

Juddernaut88 wrote:This would be my ideal schedule for next season, qualifiers for home nations would be scrapped.

July 2022:
Riga Masters
Paul Hunter Classic

August 2022:
British Open
International Championship
European Masters qualifiers

September 2022:
Shanghai Masers
China Championship
6 reds?

October 2022:
World Open
European Masters
Northern Ireland Open

November 2022:
English Open
Champion of champions
UK Championship (played till December)

December 2022:
UK Championship
Scottish Open
German Masters qualifiers

January 2023:
Masters
Shoot Out
German Masters

February 2023:
World Grand Prix
Welsh Open
Turkish Masters

March 2023:
Players championship
Gibraltar Open
China Open
Tour Championship (till early April)

April 2023:
Tour Championship
World Championship qualifiers then the proper event (Until early May)

I don't think the calendar will look anywhere near as 'normal' as that. I don't think any China events will happen in 2022 at all.

Also, the UK Championship is being moved to early November so it doesn't clash with the Football World Cup.

I did hear mentioned somewhere (maybe on Dave Hendon's podcast as well) the World Cup is happening. Not sure of the dates or venue though, but I think it may be around August.

Interesting tidbits there, Minimum. Ta!

Minimum break that was what my ideal schedule would be like. I didn't say it was going to be like that.
Although to be honest I did forget about the UK championship being moved earlier.

Juddernaut88 wrote:Minimum break that was what my ideal schedule would be like. I didn't say it was going to be like that.
Although to be honest I did forget about the UK championship being moved earlier.

I think the only sure thing is that like this season's, when next season's Calendar is released there will be a lot of 'Potential Ranking Event' and TBC on it.

Also, if you check this link they are advertising the winner of the Asia Pacific 6 Red Tournament in March will get entry into the Sangsom 6 Red in Thailand, which could mean that is happening in September.

https://absc.com.au/calendar/2022/3/12/ ... mpionships