Templeton Peck wrote:What i think has happened is that a player in the World Series probably got the hump about having to chuck frames against local players so tipped of the NOTW. The NOTW baited them with cash to do something that they were already doing and they bit. Hardly crime of the century, but they made it look as bad as possible. Mooney made it clear that rankers were off the agenda but it's not a distinction the media and the general public will ever understand, and I worry that Hearn is more concerned with perception rather than actual justice. The snitch better "pray to God" no-one discovers his identity.
That's part of the problem, as we are trying to turn casual fans into more hardcore fans who'd buy tickets for events. If the casual fans, rightly or wrongly, are associating one of the top players as doing this, in ranking events, then it's a problem for World Snooker. Especially at a time when snooker is trying hard to attract new fans. If you were a casual viewer, you aren't going to start attending ranking events if you've seen this. This isn't the same as just being found smoking cannabis, or being drunk and disorderley.
I take your point about exhibition events. I once watched Jimmy White play Alex Higgins in an exhibition. Alex Higgins clearly wasn't playing his best, and in a couple of frames Jimmy made a horrendously bad break off shot. He left the cue ball in amongst the reds, after opening them up leaving several reds on. Higgins got in and made a break (albeit neither of them were frame winning breaks.) Nobody on the main tour would've played a shot that bad by accident, let alone twice in a match. Yes, it was an exhibition and not a ranker, and yes he was trying to make the match more interesting for the people watching. The difference is though, Jimmy or Higgins or anybody in the event wasn't making illegal money through the bookies on this match. What Higgins has done is illegal, and in doing so he has tarnished the name of the sport.
Personally I think Hearn should come down hard on any kind of match-fixing. And not accept; "Well, the time I was caught was in the World Series" as a reasonable excuse.