Prop wrote:Iranu wrote:lhpirnie wrote:Yes, a closed shop. It suits everyone to keep it that way. They are cashing in.
Probably they are hoping Yan Bingtao can quietly replace Ding Junhui and nobody will notice.
No, I think you’re being overly cynical there. Look how excited “everyone” was by Judd’s emergence as a dominant force. There was once a time when he was outside of any “closed shop”. Similar story with Yan winning the Masters.
It’s just that Q School isn’t conducive to getting exciting prospects on the tour.
It’s been a sorry state of affairs for winners but you’re basically saying “everyone” wants snooker to die within 15 yeas which doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
The qualification system needs an overhaul.
It’s the closing sentence that confuses me. Could you help us understand you mean by that, Lewis?
I'm not blaming WST directly for the failures of Michael White, James Cahill, Luo Honghao, Soheil Vahedi, Bai Langning, etc. this week. The system is only partially to blame.
My comments about 'closed shop' is because it's an increasing trend, for example the advent of the Coral, sorry Kazoo, Series. It's like they are closing the door behind Judd Trump, yes.
But they have to have one Chinese player, for promotional purposes. Whether that's Ding or Yan doesn't make much difference from the point of view of selling the game to China, or claiming that snooker is 'a global game'.
If snooker dies in 15 years, that will be blamed on the organisation
then. I suspect that many at the top of snooker have given up on the future anyway - it's not their problem. The results from Q School today tend to affirm that view.