Bahrain Championship

I know this is a bit out of date as a discussion, but I am waiting for something to load at work, and I was daydreaming about snooker, and for some reason my mind wondered onto this tournament.

It seems to be remembered in a very negative light, but I never really understood why. Obviously, announcing it late meaning some players had Premier League commitments was a cock-up, but does that really mean the tournament in itself should never have run again? If World Snooker announced the tournament in plenty of time the following season, I didn't understand the problem.

I mean, Steve Davis was one of the four players involded in the Premier League that night. But with no disrespect to Steve, but at is age it was unlikely he'd be bothering the business end of the tournament if there was a full compliment of players there anyway, especially as his first match was against Ronnie O'Sullivan. (Who only wasn't at the tournament, because he couldn't be bothered to go.)

The only other problem I could see was that, the crowds weren't very big. Obviously, this is a problem, but it's a problem across the board. There are empty seats in some of the early matches at the UK. The second most prestigious. You can't really blame World Snooker for having a tournament in a rich, oil producing country. As far as we know, there might have been $$$$ in it for them. And the sport needed money at the time. Granted there are snooker loving countries out there not getting tournaments, but as far as I am concerned, the more the merrier. If there were tournaments in Germany, Poland, Russia etc AND one in Bahrain, nobody would've been moaning.

Okay, so there were aspects of it that were thrown together, but as I tournament I remember quite enjoying it. And, for every month of that season there was a ranking event. Something that didn't happen after Northern Ireland, and Bahrain vanished. Maybe it vanished because the people over there didn't want a second year, but I can't understand why so many people hated it and wanted it removed just because a few players couldn't make it (and one didn't want to), or that they considered it in the wrong tournament. I, for one, welcomed extra snooker, and a chance to see some players play that you wouldn't want to?


I know I am just kind of waffling, but what are people's thoughts? I'd be interested to know what people think.

Atendancies was woefull

Stephen Hendry was the only Crowd Puller there unfortunally it seems Barhain was not ready for snooker.

the fact the other players did not play took nothing away from the tournament itself having players missing is part of modern day sport just look at the PTC.

wildJONESEYE wrote:Atendancies was woefull

Stephen Hendry was the only Crowd Puller there unfortunally it seems Barhain was not ready for snooker.

the fact the other players did not play took nothing away from the tournament itself having players missing is part of modern day sport just look at the PTC.

I remember the poor turnouts. You'd have a quarter-final match going on in front of a crowd of four sheikh blokes. Probably why it didn't go ahead for a second. Personally, I found the randomness of it entertaining. In the same way as attending the Welsh Open in a Swimming Baths was fun. I suppose I can see why people took the rise out of it. But I do seem to remember a wave of hatred towards it, which perhaps seemed a little unjustified, considering that it was an extra ranking event to watch.

Germany, of course, would've been a more obvious location, but I wondered at the time if the two or three people watching were bunging in a lot of money considering the wealth of the country.

Was there a poor crowd because some major players were missing?

For a country that is known to pump money into sports it never really backed snooker, 35k winners prize wasn't enough unfortunately to get the players to travel. Nice idea all the same and it was a ranking event at the end of the day, just needed a bit more backing.

For what I know this is a tournament that COST a lot to WPBSA and if my memory doesn't betray me the cost of it was one of the reasons why Malta could not be organised. Clearly the attendance and return was not at all what was expected and WPBSA had believed it would.
I don't know for other players but I chatted about Bahrain with Ken Doherty a few weeks after the tournament and he really didn't like it at all.

SnookerFan wrote:

wildJONESEYE wrote:Atendancies was woefull

Stephen Hendry was the only Crowd Puller there unfortunally it seems Barhain was not ready for snooker.

the fact the other players did not play took nothing away from the tournament itself having players missing is part of modern day sport just look at the PTC.

I remember the poor turnouts. You'd have a quarter-final match going on in front of a crowd of four sheikh blokes. Probably why it didn't go ahead for a second. Personally, I found the randomness of it entertaining. In the same way as attending the Welsh Open in a Swimming Baths was fun. I suppose I can see why people took the rise out of it. But I do seem to remember a wave of hatred towards it, which perhaps seemed a little unjustified, considering that it was an extra ranking event to watch.

Germany, of course, would've been a more obvious location, but I wondered at the time if the two or three people watching were bunging in a lot of money considering the wealth of the country.

to be honest ronnie maybe Ding aside i dont think any of the others would have made a difference to turn out it was poorly organised in the wrong country but i for one taking nothing away from Robbo winning it there was enough quality players there.

btw the points won for this will be taken off the Rankings at the second cut off point this season.

I know it counts as a ranking event win for Robbo but pah, not really in my eyes. The whole thing was a joke. Steve Davis played the only card available to him i.e. the sickie even though he was never going to play anyway, so that gave him some nice free ranking points because he got a bye (or was it 2?) when Higgins and Selby got zero. Then you had Ronnie not there, Higgins and Selby not there so that's the best 3 players in the world at the time and when was the last time that happened in a ranking event?

My over riding memory is watching Rodney Walker sat behind the brown spot with the place to himself. And also thinking "what the hell has Bahrain got to do with snooker?".

Sonny wrote:I know it counts as a ranking event win for Robbo but pah, not really in my eyes. The whole thing was a joke. Steve Davis played the only card available to him i.e. the sickie even though he was never going to play anyway, so that gave him some nice free ranking points because he got a bye (or was it 2?) when Higgins and Selby got zero. Then you had Ronnie not there, Higgins and Selby not there so that's the best 3 players in the world at the time and when was the last time that happened in a ranking event?

My over riding memory is watching Rodney Walker sat behind the brown spot with the place to himself. And also thinking "what the hell has Bahrain got to do with snooker?".

Using that logic, you could say Robertson's World Championship victory didn't count, because of the five people he beat, four were outside the top-16. He always seems to have that kind of luck though, doesn't he? His first two ranking finals where against debutants, and to be honest I can only remember that he beat Andrew Higginson, my mind has completely gone blank on who the other one was. You can only beat what's put in front of you, and there is no doubt in my mind at least, that Robertson is a class player, despite all that.

Back to Bahrain, I see three members of the top-16 being scheduled as a major cock-up, and Ronnie refusing to go was a disappointment, but not one that World Snooker can be blamed. Though, I didn't realise that World Snooker had made such a loss on this they couldn't fund another, more established, tournament. That in itself is inexcusable. If anything, the only reason I could see that they would go to Bahrain was because they were making top money out of a rich nation. The fact they didn't, or specualted that they would be lots of interest when there wasn't, was squarely their fault. And another reason why you don't see Walker as head any more.


However, just as a daydreamed memory, like I say, I kind of wish it had made money. It was a tournament I liked, despite all the absentees (and that includes the crowd), it was good to see Hendry go on a run, and the odd player outside the top-16 play there too.... There are other players then the ones in the Premier League that night. (Even if I had got tickets to the same PL event we were discussing. I brought them before Bahrain was announced). I certainly enjoyed my day off on Thursday and Friday watching that tournament.

I think you'll be in a minority of one as far as pining for the event goes. I thought it was rubbish. Actually GJ will probably join you

And yes, there is absolutely no doubt Robbo is a class player and a deserving World Champion. However I still think Selby is a better player than Robbo and would beat him if they met up in a big match which so far hasn't happened. At least with the rolling rankings the days of constant bum draws will stop happening. I think Selby had a rubbish draw for next years Crucible had they not brought in rolling rankings. And as far as Robbo is concerned, yes he's had a few wins with not the best opposition but that's not his fault but the way he played to beat Higgins in the Grand Prix last year was exceptional (albeit he was lucky right at the death) and he beat Ding in the final (was it Ding?) so there is no question about his class. But he didn't exactly have the hardest route to the win at Sheffield barring the Gould match, (Carter would've given him more of a game but for some bad run of the ball at vital moments) and Dott rolled over in the final, but he'll win it again, I have no doubts.

But the Bahrain will never count as a full on ranking win for Robbo in my book.

thats bullocks oneball2 the PTC Counts rubbish then doesent it using your stupid logic.

the barhain championship counts 100% and always will and had selby won it you would agree with me its just sour grapes bullocks on your part and that sort of atetute really pisses me off and disrespects the sport.

People who dismiss Robertson's win in Bahrain as a non-ranker or anything don't deserve an opinion on snooker.

No, the Bahrain was rubbish and not a ranker, and the PTC are full on rankers.

Bourne wrote:People who dismiss Robertson's win in Bahrain as a non-ranker or anything don't deserve an opinion on snooker.

exactly

how can snooker get a full on ranking tour where players can pick and choose tournaments to play if when players missing it doesent count.

the amount of grand slams in tennis players has won when the best player missing im sure is about 100 since time began most players did not play the Australian or the french in the 60s...

Poor excuses. The Bahrain was a joke and everyone knows it.

Sonny wrote:Poor excuses. The Bahrain was a joke and everyone knows it.

last week GJ said and i quote

the PTC is a joke and has no credability that the World Champion cant be bothered with it

bucking hell i thought shut the buck up you got a short memory .....

thats the problam with statements like that it comes back to bite you if Robbo happens to win a PTC it will have no credability if top players missing now then time will come when Selby will win a tournament and Ronnie not in it or Higgins not in it what happens if higgins banned every tournament will mean rubbish because the best player in the world is not in it.

in the 80s even 90s fans never thought like that Wattana won a tournament in early 90s it wasent Televised it wasent overseas but it was a Full Ranking Tournament no Hendry no Davis no White in it i never once thought it did not count and stil dont it counts 100%.

it really is sad for snooker that fans think like that these days.

GJ I'm afraid was particularly ill advised as I'm not sure Robbo won't be bothered with PTCs ... just that maybe being a new dad and presenting his newborn son to his family in Australia was more important right now. And it should!
As for Robbo, on his way to the final in Bahrain he beat Allen and Maguire. He played very well for the whole tournament and I can't understand people begrudging him the title.

GJ was trying to belittle a tournament because the World Champion wasent there for his own amusement without thinking Robbo was belittled for winning the barhain championship then and also now.

i find the whole thing very sad...

I thoroughly enjoyed the Bahrain Championship. I had dislocated my knee a few days before the event so I had a chance to watch the whole event and it made for great viewing. The fact three or four favourites were missing meant the other players had a great chance to win an event and it was interesting to see how they dealt with this new kind of pressure. It was also great to see Hendry and Stevens have such good runs too.

People are quick to forget that the players absent in that Bahrain tournament all played in the UK (a much, much bigger tournament) and only one of them even made it into the quarters. If they weren't able to produce their best at the second biggest tournament in the calendar, then what makes people assume they'd have got right up for a Category C tournament several thousand miles away ? Just people wanting to belittle Robertson's achievement, he was playing great that week.

nice reserch bourne

yes John Higgins lost in the quarters to Maguire a round after maguire beat Robbo 9-8.

Perry beat Ronnie and Higgins beat Ding

Robbo had a huge mental block vs Maguire before that match in Bahrain as well, had lost every match I think.

Alex0paul WC wrote:I thoroughly enjoyed the Bahrain Championship. I had dislocated my knee a few days before the event so I had a chance to watch the whole event and it made for great viewing. The fact three or four favourites were missing meant the other players had a great chance to win an event and it was interesting to see how they dealt with this new kind of pressure. It was also great to see Hendry and Stevens have such good runs too.

Lucky bastard!

I travelled to Hayward's Heath that night. I have a friend there who is a snooker fan, and a few of us booked tickets to the Premier League before Bahrain was announced. I tried to get the afternoon off to travel to the Heath, but was told that for some reason I could only have the full day. (My boss at the time was a bit of a hammer when it comes to annual leave. He spent most of his time trying to talk you into having as much as possible at times you didn't want to have it, so you didn't 'run out'.) So I ended up having Thursday off work, and Friday as a hangover day. Turned out alright, I was round my mate's watching the Bahrain championship most of Thursday before heading off. Then went back round my mate's Friday to watch some more.

May have been snake hiss poor organisation, but thoroughly enjoyed it, to be honest. The big names weren't there, but a ranking event is always more entertaining then the shot clock format, in my opinion.