Snooker fashion

Hello,I am new to this forum. I have watched snooker for 30 years. I apologise if this topic has been covered. I just wondered why the dress of the players has got so boring. Nearly all in black suits with black/white shirt and bow tie. Even a player like Dominic Dale does not wear the coloured shirts now. I realise that the sport itself should attract the viewers but this certainly doesn't help the spectacle.

it seems strange to me that about 8 or 9 years ago they got rid of the bow tie and even white shirts was banned (thats stupid thought).

now they have to wear bow ties and waistcoats even in cubicles in Sheffield.

why hasn't the dress code evolved from no bow tie in to a even more casual dress code in some events ok they can keep full Dress for the World Championship but you go back 30 Years to Doug Mountjoy at the World Championship wearing Red Shirts.

today they have gone back to the early 70s pre Alex Higgins with dress code very strange.

yes but its not just highland spring even now theres no highland spring about either players aren't imaginative or they cant be.

Well you should all be looking forward to PTC7 then. It's going pink

just looking at the old pics again there made me think that in them days there was no sponsors so the players probably delved into their wardrobe just before a tournament and picked out one of their own suits to wear, but nowadays they all prob only have one or two waistcoats with their sponsors on them so they have no choice, though its a bit of laziness on the players part.

Only recent instances of "fashion" i can think of were Gould getting Global Snooker Centre or Pro Snooker Blog to fix him up with a suit that fitted, Murphy wearing that suit with the white stripes down the side of the legs and Selby doing a BBC promo going to get fitted for a new blue suit.

The new version of Highland Spring blandness has to be all the On Q players cutting about in the same old Pink waistcoats zzzzzzz

It is something I noticed last season, but didn't care enough to discuss in too much detail.

Last year they seemed to have waistcoats which were all black, or black on the front with a colour on the back that was shiny and looked like a chocolate bar wrapper. Though the colour of the waistcoat changed, the design was the same for each player. Now, as has been stated, they seem to just be black. With no distinction between players at all. The fact that others have noticed, and even Dominic Dale is conforming, means it probably isn't a coincedence. I did wonder if World Snooker was trying to standardise what players wear, but if they are I don't see the point. You would think that with all the complaints that there aren't any characters in the game any more, trying to make them identical is a silly idea.

Personally, I don't see why they are so rigid with dress codes anyway. It's just a non-issue for me. I don't tune in to see what players are wearing. They could arrived dressed as Doink the Clown for all I care, as long as they can play. Saying that, World Snooker would want them to dress semi-sensibly to present a professional image. But, I don't see why they can't just say Smart Casual is beyond me.

What do others think?

Does anybody know what the rules are for the main tournaments? Obviously wasitcoats/bow ties are required at Sheffield for example but surely they don't stipulate that you have to wear a black shirt!

beergitte wrote:Well you should all be looking forward to PTC7 then. It's going pink

Actually, after all I said above, Mark Davis did wear pink in his final against Selby the other night. Was he dressed like that all week? At least there was some individuality there.

SnookerFan wrote:

beergitte wrote:Well you should all be looking forward to PTC7 then. It's going pink

Actually, after all I said above, Mark Davis did wear pink in his final against Selby the other night. Was he dressed like that all week? At least there was some individuality there.

Pink is the theme of ON Q Promotions which manages Mark Davis.

Wild wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:

beergitte wrote:Well you should all be looking forward to PTC7 then. It's going pink

Actually, after all I said above, Mark Davis did wear pink in his final against Selby the other night. Was he dressed like that all week? At least there was some individuality there.

Pink is the theme of ON Q Promotions which manages Mark Davis.

Oh right, in that case.

It raises a point still. Does anybody care that much what the players are wearing? Most sports stars play in kits that are comfortable and productive to what they are doing. I can't see wearing a waist coat, bow tie and trousers is particularly comfortable to play add. And doesn't add anything to the enjoyment of watching a game.

SnookerFan wrote:

Wild wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:

beergitte wrote:Well you should all be looking forward to PTC7 then. It's going pink

Actually, after all I said above, Mark Davis did wear pink in his final against Selby the other night. Was he dressed like that all week? At least there was some individuality there.

Pink is the theme of ON Q Promotions which manages Mark Davis.

Oh right, in that case.

It raises a point still. Does anybody care that much what the players are wearing? Most sports stars play in kits that are comfortable and productive to what they are doing. I can't see wearing a waist coat, bow tie and trousers is particularly comfortable to play add. And doesn't add anything to the enjoyment of watching a game.

I dont know, I do often comment on what they are wearing to my sister actually. You should see David Gilberts current outfit!

White shirt, light grey front waistcoat with silver backing and light grey pinstripe trousers! Looks very nice.

if you can think of a a costume not to play snooker in this would be it



no freedom there at all ....

players practice one way open neck then they play in a match getting choked.

It just seems to be a conversation that has come up before. (No insult meant Potblue.) It seems a lot of fans are against the waistcoat-bowtie look. And the ones that aren't, don't care either way. It serves no particular purpose. So I wonder why they don't just tone it down a bit. I've never heard anybody strongly asserting this tradition should be kept.

LOL, I just remembered 'naked snooker'

SnookerFan wrote:It just seems to be a conversation that has come up before. (No insult meant Potblue.) It seems a lot of fans are against the waistcoat-bowtie look. And the ones that aren't, don't care either way. It serves no particular purpose. So I wonder why they don't just tone it down a bit. I've never heard anybody strongly asserting this tradition should be kept.

ill be honest maybee 8 or 9 years ago id have liked the tradition kept but since then we have had colour shirts,PL Shirts, no ties etc used and players looked good and it was not a issue at all and for some bizarre reason its always reverts back to Joe Davis tradition.

I always like to feel loose and free when i play.

I remember meeting a mate to play directly after work and hed brought a change of clothes but i had to play in my shoes, suit trousers and shirt, took my tie off and undid a few buttons but still didnt feel as comfortable playing in suit trousers compared to how i normally feel wearing jeans or that.

for the record I blew leads of 3-0, 4-2, 5-4 and 6-5 to lose 7-6 on the final black !!

Witz78 wrote:I always like to feel loose and free when i play.

I remember meeting a mate to play directly after work and hed brought a change of clothes but i had to play in my shoes, suit trousers and shirt, took my tie off and undid a few buttons but still didnt feel as comfortable playing in suit trousers compared to how i normally feel wearing jeans or that.

for the record I blew leads of 3-0, 4-2, 5-4 and 6-5 to lose 7-6 on the final black !!

ive never been dressed playing snooker always been casual T Shirt,Jeans etc but ive been in a wedding and had a game of pool and i felt bloody choking so took off my tie but as you say even then it felt unnatural trying to bend down to play.

I think im the only person here supporting waistcoat and bow tie then? I like the look. It gives the game a good image, the image it should have. A class above other sports. A formal sport. It makes the players stand out. Its a different type of fashion you dont see much these days and a tradition thats been going probably 100 years. So why should it end suddenley?

But I am all for polo shirts in tournaments off camera.

I dont see why at the PTC's in particular it can't be casual dress up until the final day. Then the normal dress code to give it the sense of occasion.\

I'm not against waistcoats/bow ties, just a bit more colour would be nice.

By the way I seem to remember it was always ties during the day and bow ties at night for tournaments. Is this correct?

I'm not against bow ties, I'm just not for them either. If players are happy to wear them, fine. But I'd hazard a guess that several of them aren't. They are restrictive. I'd be happy seeing them in a T-Shirt and jogging bottoms if they were playing good snooker. But then I've always been a slob, and a scruff. So I would say that.

I quite like the way you see Steve Davis, JP and Hazel Irvine dress up for the last session of the final, make it look a big event. But could easily do away with that as well.

POTBLUE wrote:I'm not against waistcoats/bow ties, just a bit more colour would be nice.

By the way I seem to remember it was always ties during the day and bow ties at night for tournaments. Is this correct?

i think having Bow Ties and Waistcoats from World Final to Last 128 of a PTC is the issue here but also the Blandness of Players choices these days.

Mark Johnson Allen turned up at the Crucible once wearing a Black and white Suit where he had Black Down the Left and White down the right on the Waistcoat and vice versa on the Trousers he looked like a chess board.

Let be imaginative even as has been mentioned Dominic Dale has toned Down.

Wild wrote:
Let be imaginative even as has been mentioned Dominic Dale has toned Down.

god knows what youd find in Dominics closet

The players looked much better in the 80's and 90's when they didn't have sponsors on their waistcoats. Theres a limit to how you look when you have to have some contractors stuck there. I don't know why the dress code is so strict. Somw would say you have to look professional but if you over do it then it's just laughable. Having to wear a bow tie for a match in a cubicle on a weekday morning or afternoon with no-one watching other than the referee is stupid. There was a story on SSB a while ago about a player who was in qualifying during the early 90's and who woke up at 09.40 with his match on at 10am. He was 20 minutes walk away and had no car so he had to get a lift on a steam roller while wearing a dress suit with a visibility jacket over it.

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:The players looked much better in the 80's and 90's when they didn't have sponsors on their waistcoats. Theres a limit to how you look when you have to have some contractors stuck there. I don't know why the dress code is so strict. Somw would say you have to look professional but if you over do it then it's just laughable. Having to wear a bow tie for a match in a cubicle on a weekday morning or afternoon with no-one watching other than the referee is stupid. There was a story on SSB a while ago about a player who was in qualifying during the early 90's and who woke up at 09.40 with his match on at 10am. He was 20 minutes walk away and had no car so he had to get a lift on a steam roller while wearing a dress suit with a visibility jacket over it.

he killed 2 birds with 1 stone there though cos the steam roller was also used to iron his suit