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Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby Juddernaut88

It has been very boring not having a tournament this month (I'm not really classing qualifiers as a tournament) I'm not sure why qualifiers were needed to be brought in for the Home nation events. That could and should have been left well alone!

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby James Bentley

Juddernaut88 wrote:I'm not sure why qualifiers were needed to be brought in for the Home nation events. That could and should have been left well alone!

It's quite weird what they're doing with the Home Nations events. With the "qualifiers" involving the top 16 being held over until the tournament proper, essentially all it amounts to is playing three-quarters of the opening round a few weeks early. It can only be for reasons of schedule-filling.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby lhpirnie

James Bentley wrote:
Juddernaut88 wrote:I'm not sure why qualifiers were needed to be brought in for the Home nation events. That could and should have been left well alone!

It's quite weird what they're doing with the Home Nations events. With the "qualifiers" involving the top 16 being held over until the tournament proper, essentially all it amounts to is playing three-quarters of the opening round a few weeks early. It can only be for reasons of schedule-filling.

Yes, interminable schedule filling. They run these qualifiers on two tables, lasting 6 days for 44 matches, effectively doubling the length of the 'tournament', and several weeks before the main event. The reason? They want to boast 190 days of snooker in the season. Do they think we are fools?

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby gninnur karona

Zhou Yuelong and Zhang Jiankang newly named victims of the absolute shambles.

Withdrawn from the English Open (main event November) due to being close contacts of a Covid-19 case in mid-September.

Hopefully both are cleared to play in the Scottish Open (main event after the UK Championship). Zhou Yuelong in particular may risk further exclusion as WST is still reporting that he is scheduled to play first match of Scottish Open qualifying in six days time.

The two cases highlight the greater risks faced by players outside the top 16 during these Covid-19 times. Holding qualification events so far ahead of the main events is manifestly unfair.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby lhpirnie

gninnur karona wrote:Zhou Yuelong and Zhang Jiankang newly named victims of the absolute shambles.

Withdrawn from the English Open (main event November) due to being close contacts of a Covid-19 case in mid-September.

Hopefully both are cleared to play in the Scottish Open (main event after the UK Championship). Zhou Yuelong in particular may risk further exclusion as WST is still reporting that he is scheduled to play first match of Scottish Open qualifying in six days time.

The two cases highlight the greater risks faced by players outside the top 16 during these Covid-19 times. Holding qualification events so far ahead of the main events is manifestly unfair.

Well, having qualification rounds always fractures a tournament. Qualification rounds should be avoided wherever possible. Unfortunately WST seem to want to have more and more of them. In my case I'm a bit distraught at losing the 8-table events that I used to love. From a player's point of view it's pretty grim missing out on all the main venues - some might not get to play in front of a crowd again this season, with their best-of-5 match in the British Open their only gig. They might well feel they'd be better treated playing 9-Ball Pool.


Zhou's been very unlucky. At this rate he'll never get into the top-16. He's missed too many events because of covid, one way or another.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby cupotee

lhpirnie wrote:
gninnur karona wrote:Zhou Yuelong and Zhang Jiankang newly named victims of the absolute shambles.

Withdrawn from the English Open (main event November) due to being close contacts of a Covid-19 case in mid-September.

Hopefully both are cleared to play in the Scottish Open (main event after the UK Championship). Zhou Yuelong in particular may risk further exclusion as WST is still reporting that he is scheduled to play first match of Scottish Open qualifying in six days time.

The two cases highlight the greater risks faced by players outside the top 16 during these Covid-19 times. Holding qualification events so far ahead of the main events is manifestly unfair.

Well, having qualification rounds always fractures a tournament. Qualification rounds should be avoided wherever possible. Unfortunately WST seem to want to have more and more of them. In my case I'm a bit distraught at losing the 8-table events that I used to love. From a player's point of view it's pretty grim missing out on all the main venues - some might not get to play in front of a crowd again this season, with their best-of-5 match in the British Open their only gig. They might well feel they'd be better treated playing 9-Ball Pool.


i actually prefer it like this , and i would imagine lower ranked players can feel somewhat relieved there's less fuss without higher ranked players in the venue , just going back to your previous post about snooker slowly fading from our television screens , then fine , so be it , if its going to be an increasingly fringe sport then let it be , of course i get the concern it could fall into relative oblivion like billiards but realistically i don't think modern pro snooker is suitable for modern television anyway , as long as it gets along as a fringe internet sport thats absolutely fine with me.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby lhpirnie

cupotee wrote:i actually prefer it like this , and i would imagine lower ranked players can feel somewhat relieved there's less fuss without higher ranked players in the venue , just going back to your previous post about snooker slowly fading from our television screens , then fine , so be it , if its going to be an increasingly fringe sport then let it be , of course i get the concern it could fall into relative oblivion like billiards but realistically i don't think modern pro snooker is suitable for modern television anyway , as long as it gets along as a fringe internet sport thats absolutely fine with me.

Well, I'm pretty sure all players would like to play with an audience, in a big venue. Shunted off to grim qualifier cubicles is not what they aspire to. Yes, there is extra pressure, but also considerably more excitement. It gives them the motivation to put in hours of practice.


But for me, a tournament is an event where everyone turns up on day 1 with their cue, and at the end there is one winner. Throughout the event you get to see players eliminated, one by one, as the draw thins out. Obviously that structure isn't possible for every tournament, such as the World Championship. But the Home Nations series were really good compact tournaments where you could go and see every player on tour, in a level field. Now there's nothing.

Snooker will fade from our television screens because our television screens will fade anyway! Terrestrial TV has been amazingly successful for the last 50 years, but its days are numbered. Online streaming will take over, it's just a question of when. It would be a mistake for snooker to rely on saturated BBC coverage forever. In fact, with streaming, snooker can reach more people than ever if it's planned wisely.

Snooker should have a future, if it's able to embrace change. My worry is that WST, and most existing fans, just want to keep everything the same as it has been for 40 years.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby cupotee

lhpirnie wrote:
cupotee wrote:i actually prefer it like this , and i would imagine lower ranked players can feel somewhat relieved there's less fuss without higher ranked players in the venue , just going back to your previous post about snooker slowly fading from our television screens , then fine , so be it , if its going to be an increasingly fringe sport then let it be , of course i get the concern it could fall into relative oblivion like billiards but realistically i don't think modern pro snooker is suitable for modern television anyway , as long as it gets along as a fringe internet sport thats absolutely fine with me.


Snooker will fade from our television screens because our television screens will fade anyway! Terrestrial TV has been amazingly successful for the last 50 years, but its days are numbered. Online streaming will take over, it's just a question of when. It would be a mistake for snooker to rely on saturated BBC coverage forever. In fact, with streaming, snooker can reach more people than ever if it's planned wisely.

Snooker should have a future, if it's able to embrace change. My worry is that WST, and most existing fans, just want to keep everything the same as it has been for 40 years.


i don't think snooker will rid itself of this image you mention until it rids itself of the bbc and possibly tv coverage itself , that may sound drastic but as said i don't think its suited for modern television anyway , have more eyes and interest towards lower ranked players and streaming at the qualifiers , that can only be good for the game , you won't and probably even shouldn't get that on the bbc , onwards and upwards , full stream ahead.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby lhpirnie

SnookerFan wrote:Bear in mind, the Turkish Open was postponed. And we'd have had Shanghai by now if it wasn't for Covid.

They really should have had a contingency. The Turkish Masters always looked doubtful. After gaining a lot of respect for getting snooker on last year, WST have allowed this season to flop.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby SnookerFan

lhpirnie wrote:
SnookerFan wrote:Bear in mind, the Turkish Open was postponed. And we'd have had Shanghai by now if it wasn't for Covid.

They really should have had a contingency. The Turkish Masters always looked doubtful. After gaining a lot of respect for getting snooker on last year, WST have allowed this season to flop.


Once it gets going, it should be alright. There's practically a tournament every week for the second half of the season.

Yes, maybe there should've been a contingency for Turkey. Or at least some other tournament in Britain held as well in some of the dead time.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby James Bentley

SnookerFan wrote:Talking of which, according to the WST Website, Northern Ireland starts on a Saturday.

Is that correct?

Seems unlikely, as that would mean it's on at the same time as the Scottish Open qualifiers, which run from 24-29 September.


Snooker.org has the Northern Ireland Open as 9-17 October.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby Prop

Man, so much negativity.

We seem to forget that snooker pretty much led the charge in sustaining itself as a sport in the middle of a pandemic. We complained about Milton Keynes. We complained about no crowds. We’ll complain about anything, given half a chance.

Nothing in snooker is ideal right now, but the wider world is far from being back to normal. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be to even create something of a season. I wouldn’t claim to have the slightest clue how to do it right, what to change, what decisions to make. But seemingly this forum is bursting at the seams with people who could do an even better job than the people in charge. Hmmm.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby James Bentley

Oh sorry, on a Saturday. I read that as on Saturday, as in this coming Saturday, my bad.

Yes, I think it runs from a Saturday to a Sunday. That's not unusual is it?

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby lhpirnie

James Bentley wrote:Oh sorry, on a Saturday. I read that as on Saturday, as in this coming Saturday, my bad.

Yes, I think it runs from a Saturday to a Sunday. That's not unusual is it?

It's very unusual for tournaments like this. Originally, they had the Home Nations main event running from Monday-Sunday. But then they came under pressure to have a few wildcards (e.g. Scottish or Welsh players outside the top-16), so they needed an extra day. It wasn't planned. It creates a problem when the UK Championship finishes on a Sunday, and the Scottish Open is played the next week.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby gninnur karona

It appears that despite having the option to reschedule the Scottish Open Zhou Yuelong versus Lee Walker match (to a 29th September evening slot, for example) WST have opted to replace Zhou Yuelong by John Astley.

Zhou Yuelong, the 17th seed, thus excluded from the Scottish Open. The first matches involving any of the top 16 seeds will take place on 6th December.

Speechless.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby SnookerFan

James Bentley wrote:Oh sorry, on a Saturday. I read that as on Saturday, as in this coming Saturday, my bad.

Yes, I think it runs from a Saturday to a Sunday. That's not unusual is it?


The Home Nations usually start on a Monday.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby csprince

SnookerFan wrote:
James Bentley wrote:Oh sorry, on a Saturday. I read that as on Saturday, as in this coming Saturday, my bad.

Yes, I think it runs from a Saturday to a Sunday. That's not unusual is it?


The Home Nations usually start on a Monday.


the irish is a saturday start oct 9 the english and scottish and welsh start on a monday.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby csprince

gninnur karona wrote:It appears that despite having the option to reschedule the Scottish Open Zhou Yuelong versus Lee Walker match (to a 29th September evening slot, for example) WST have opted to replace Zhou Yuelong by John Astley.

Zhou Yuelong, the 17th seed, thus excluded from the Scottish Open. The first matches involving any of the top 16 seeds will take place on 6th December.

Speechless.


i've seen some buck ups from world snooker but zhou's matches at the english and scottish could have been held back shows the stupidity of playing the first round in advance if o'sullivan or trump or ding were no17 there matches would of been held back.well done world snooker another great decision.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby gninnur karona

Tom Ford out of the Northern Ireland Open after testing positive for COVID-19.

German Masters qualifiers begin on 18th October. Tom Ford is scheduled to play Joe O'Connor on the opening day.

It would be sensible to reschedule to allow Tom Ford to compete in a tournament whose final stages take place during the last week of January 2022.

But of course WST set a precedent in not doing that for Zhou Yuelong's Scottish Open qualifier.

A quandary for the powers that be.

Re: This Season has been an absolute Shambles

Postby Prop

csprince wrote:
The_Abbott wrote:I haven't watched any snooker since the World's.

I am turning into Dennis Taylor.


playing golf and stalking vicki ?


<laugh>