My major gripe with snooker

Since Barry Hearn came in, snooker is in a great position, it really is. I genuinely thought the game was dying a few years back,now it's at its strongest since the eighties and that's brilliant.

However, I feel we really lack in major tournaments. Okay, the worlds has always been the benchmark, but I loved the UK. I respect that people disagree, but I don't see the masters as a major because it has one-session matches all the way through. If it had best of 17's, I would see it as a major.

But at least we had two majors, as the UK had best of 17's, and it was still a major without its best of 31 final. Now it's just a slightly longer ranking tournament. Now the international is my second favourite, but two two-session semi finals isn't enough.

Without two-session matches, a competition is not a major.

At the moment, I feel this is really affecting my love of snooker,though I respect that people disagree.

At the moment I feel like we've loads of enjoyable tournaments and one really serious one, one 'major'. It's not that the other tournaments don't matter, they all do, but give me multi session snooker a thousand times over one session matches.

I remember as a boy in the 80s I was way more hardcore, in that I didn't watch the tournaments with shorter matches (best of nines) like the minor rankers, I didn't feel they were a good enough test.

Yeah, it feels like we really only have one big tournament a season now. Hearn has done well, but his 'stack them high, sell them cheap' mentality has not worked at all when it comes to creating big events that can capture the public's imagination.

I still really look forward and enjoy the Welsh, Masters, CoC, UK, the German, Crucible, and the big China one, despite some of them having shorter matches in the early rounds.

So I'm a pretty happy snookerfan. Certainly way more so than the few years prior to Hearn.

There are also more narratives created throughout the year due to the fight for the top 16, and players dropping off the tour and trying to qualify for the invitationals. Matt at Pro Snooker Blog details these, although not sure what's going to happen now that he's moved to World Snooker - hopefully he'll be providing similar content for them.

Cloud Strife wrote:Yeah, it feels like we really only have one big tournament a season now. Hearn has done well, but his 'stack them high, sell them cheap' mentality has not worked at all when it comes to creating big events that can capture the public's imagination.

According to Barry 'knows everything' Hearn, the public don't have the attention for long matches.

I love the German Masters actually, but it's still not a 'major'

I think the UK should definitely be longer matches.

I suppose it may be a good thing that the World is now completely different to all other tournaments which will keep it special.

dale or swail wrote:I think the UK should definitely be longer matches.

I suppose it may be a good thing that the World is now completely different to all other tournaments which will keep it special.

Even one more would be fine...

Your thoughts are very similar to mine Pinky.

Barry has brought snooker into a fast food era, its wham bam thank you mam. All tournies bar the Worlds are so very similar in format. There is no long distance snooker other than the Worlds.

The UK is now nothing special. It lost its prestige when the format was bastardised to such an extent that it is unrecognisable from its former glory.

I'd go as far to say that the only tournie worth booking hols for or calling in sick for is now the Worlds - what a sad state of affairs.

Pink Ball wrote:I love the German Masters actually, but it's still not a 'major'

The venue is so great it seems to elevate it. I miss the conference centre

sundaygirl wrote:

Pink Ball wrote:I love the German Masters actually, but it's still not a 'major'

The venue is so great it seems to elevate it. I miss the conference centre

Yes if it wasn't for the brilliant venue the German Masters wouldn't be half as great.

On this your thoughts are exactly the same as most if not all Snooker fans.


Barry Hearn is being pig headed on this subject when people approach the subject with him..

He says he is giving the public what they want but regarding this he is CLEARLY not.

Best of 7s, Shootout, etc etc wont attract new viewers/fans its been clearly proven because most fans got turned on by snooker watching the World Championship not PTC.

Wildey wrote:Best of 7s, Shootout, etc etc wont attract new viewers/fans its been clearly proven because most fans got turned on by snooker watching the World Championship not PTC.

You nailed it Wildey.

Wildey wrote:On this your thoughts are exactly the same as most if not all Snooker fans.


Barry Hearn is being pig headed on this subject when people approach the subject with him..

He says he is giving the public what they want but regarding this he is CLEARLY not.

Best of 7s, Shootout, etc etc wont attract new viewers/fans its been clearly proven because most fans got turned on by snooker watching the World Championship not PTC.

Aye, I agree with all of this. I mean I think the main reason I don't see the masters as a major is because it's all best-of-11s, and now I can't even see the UK as a major either. Best-of-11 is NOT a format befitting of a major, end of.

Best of 7's are fine for the PTCs, no problems there,but at ranking events too,and a prestigious invitational? No way.

Even if the UK was restored, that would be plenty to keep me ticking over, but preferably the masters too.

Masters always had Best of 11 format, at one time they even had Best of 9s...

So I guess you never regarded The Masters a Major in all these years

Andre147 wrote:Masters always had Best of 11 format, at one time they even had Best of 9s...

So I guess you never regarded The Masters a Major in all these years

No, I haven't. I respect that most people do, but I always have thought it paled in comparison to the World and UK.

Smart wrote:Your thoughts are very similar to mine Pinky.

Barry has brought snooker into a fast food era, its wham bam thank you mam. All tournies bar the Worlds are so very similar in format. There is no long distance snooker other than the Worlds.

The UK is now nothing special. It lost its prestige when the format was bastardised to such an extent that it is unrecognisable from its former glory.

I'd go as far to say that the only tournie worth booking hols for or calling in sick for is now the Worlds - what a sad state of affairs.

I think this season's UK will be the last I take work off for. It's depressing watching it now, like a new episode of the Simpsons in comparison to former glories.

Pink Ball wrote:

Smart wrote:Your thoughts are very similar to mine Pinky.

Barry has brought snooker into a fast food era, its wham bam thank you mam. All tournies bar the Worlds are so very similar in format. There is no long distance snooker other than the Worlds.

The UK is now nothing special. It lost its prestige when the format was bastardised to such an extent that it is unrecognisable from its former glory.

I'd go as far to say that the only tournie worth booking hols for or calling in sick for is now the Worlds - what a sad state of affairs.

I think this season's UK will be the last I take work off for. It's depressing watching it now, like a new episode of the Simpsons in comparison to former glories.

As a kid growing up the UK was something very special its lost that now which is very sad.


But i also feel Barry Hearn has treated us like Mugs his reasoning at the time when the tournament was reduced to best of 11 was so that all matches will appear on TV.

that happened for only 2 years 2011 and 2012 then he brought flat 128 system with god knows how many matches not shown on TV.

i think the event would have more credibility if from the last 16 matches was best of 17s and play best of 11s in last 128 to last 32 then at the business end we get proper session snooker.

i dont like a best of 19 final either theres so much tournament with best of 19 final including the UK theres 8 BO 19 finals surely the UK deserves to be elevated above that.

Wildey wrote:

Pink Ball wrote:

Smart wrote:Your thoughts are very similar to mine Pinky.

Barry has brought snooker into a fast food era, its wham bam thank you mam. All tournies bar the Worlds are so very similar in format. There is no long distance snooker other than the Worlds.

The UK is now nothing special. It lost its prestige when the format was bastardised to such an extent that it is unrecognisable from its former glory.

I'd go as far to say that the only tournie worth booking hols for or calling in sick for is now the Worlds - what a sad state of affairs.

I think this season's UK will be the last I take work off for. It's depressing watching it now, like a new episode of the Simpsons in comparison to former glories.

As a kid growing up the UK was something very special its lost that now which is very sad.


But i also feel Barry Hearn has treated us like Mugs his reasoning at the time when the tournament was reduced to best of 11 was so that all matches will appear on TV.

that happened for only 2 years 2011 and 2012 then he brought flat 128 system with god knows how many matches not shown on TV.

i think the event would have more credibility if from the last 16 matches was best of 17s and play best of 11s in last 128 to last 32 then at the business end we get proper session snooker.

i dont like a best of 19 final either theres so much tournament with best of 19 final including the UK theres 8 BO 19 finals surely the UK deserves to be elevated above that.

I think the Beeb forced his hand with the best of 11's, and I'd be genuinely hopeful that the old format would be restored if it moved to ITV... which I feel is actually an inevitability.

The whole thing about having every match televised was always spin and nobody ever believed that.

But I agree with you that the above format would be good if they insisted on sticking with a 128 format... which they definitely shouldn't in the case of the UK

SnookerFan wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:I remember as a boy in the 80s I was way more hardcore, in that I didn't watch the tournaments with shorter matches (best of nines) like the minor rankers, I didn't feel they were a good enough test.

Were you alive in the 1980s?

Don't take this wrong, but I thought you were a fair bit younger than me.

I sure was! I'm a time traveller

It should be and in many cases it is a great time to be a snooker fan. Particularly in this country when we have got seven (plus one) events available on free to access television but the fact that so many events are of the same format means some pale into insignificance. A top 16 player losing a first round match in a PTC doesn't attract as much attention as a top 16 player losing in the first round of the UK or a different ranking tournament.

The opposition to the UK changes wouldn't have been so widespread if we had loads of events with best of 17 but the ones that are tinkered with are the few with the testing formats.

Isn't the Masters a 'major' because of the quality of the field, nothing to do with the frames.

dale or swail wrote:Isn't the Masters a 'major' because of the quality of the field, nothing to do with the frames.

Yes, but personally I've never really been that fussed about The Masters. If it had best-of-5's it wouldn't be a major even if it was only opened to the two greatest players of all-time in a titanic duel to decide who was the outright king of snooker. I respect some people love the Masters and I'm in the minority, but it never did it for me, whereas the UK Championship used to. And now it doesn't.

I like repetition tho. Yes I do.

I like repetition.

I think the hardcore fans will always prefer the longer sessions but the part time fans which make up the bigger numbers will prefer the 1 session snooker.

Speaking personal I know of several friends and even the brother who watch all the major snooker tournaments but never/rarely will watch the first sessions in the worlds.

I don't have the figures but I would say the difference between 1st Session/2nd Session would be why Barry Hearn prefers the 1 session snooker.

Boys I'm sick of repeating myself too, but it seems like one person after another cant believe I think the masters is a cockerel flavoured lollipop of a tournament