21/22 calender

my apologies didn't realise motorhead had already posted will check active topics in future.

I always attend the welsh open, this seems to be later running from 28 feb-6 mar, it is usually mid-Feb.

Also the venue is tbc, i checked the motorpoint arena website and they have a pop concert arranged for 1 mar 22.

Hoping it is back to Cardiff rather than Newport.

SnookerFan wrote:I used to quite enjoy visiting The Newport Centre, and crawling round the pubs by it.

It'll be in that swanky golf course now though, won't it?

Chepstow? I’d have thought it would, yes

Yea the date change for Welsh is annoying as it’s normally half term. Was hoping to take my boy for his first experience

Sure a lot of tbc's in there. Lets hope we actually get ranking events and not more Championshit leagues slotted in to fill space.

Alex0paul wrote:Yea the date change for Welsh is annoying as it’s normally half term. Was hoping to take my boy for his first experience

Yes i've managed to be able to take my boy a couple of times during half term.

For me this schedule is a massive disappointment. Yes, I know it's only provisional, and some events may come and some may go, but they have tinkered with a few things that didn't need changing.

The big shock is that they've broken the Home Nations tournaments. The qualifiers in August looks like there will be qualifying matches for the Home Nations - maybe all four of them. So a player could be knocked out in all of them in August and not appear at any of the venues. Of course, this doesn't apply to the top-16, whose matches get held over. The intention is to trim out as many irrelevant numpties as possible, by excluding them behind closed doors in Barnsley.

In 2019-20 I went to the English Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open. The whole idea of the format was to have all 128 players under one roof, and gradually come down to one winner after 7 days. You got to see the progress of each player through the draw. For me, that is what a tournament is. By breaking it into qualifiers + main draw, the tournament loses cohesion. For example, in the Scottish Open, you'll have a player win his first round match in August and then play his second round match in December.

But of course I'm a highly unusual fan. Everyone else is only interested in a handfull of top players, and the others players are a distraction, even a nuisance. Nobody cares whether young players get the chance to play alongside experienced pros, maybe gain a bit of momentum, respect and traction on the main tour.

I'm seriously beginning to wonder if snooker really deserves a future, or is it just about cashing in on the current elite, whilst they are still here.

The Welsh Open is moved for the Winter Olympics. It was the same in 2018, 2014 etc

lhpirnie wrote:For me this schedule is a massive disappointment. Yes, I know it's only provisional, and some events may come and some may go, but they have tinkered with a few things that didn't need changing.

The big shock is that they've broken the Home Nations tournaments. The qualifiers in August looks like there will be qualifying matches for the Home Nations - maybe all four of them. So a player could be knocked out in all of them in August and not appear at any of the venues. Of course, this doesn't apply to the top-16, whose matches get held over. The intention is to trim out as many irrelevant numpties as possible, by excluding them behind closed doors in Barnsley.

In 2019-20 I went to the English Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open. The whole idea of the format was to have all 128 players under one roof, and gradually come down to one winner after 7 days. You got to see the progress of each player through the draw. For me, that is what a tournament is. By breaking it into qualifiers + main draw, the tournament loses cohesion. For example, in the Scottish Open, you'll have a player win his first round match in August and then play his second round match in December.

But of course I'm a highly unusual fan. Everyone else is only interested in a handfull of top players, and the others players are a distraction, even a nuisance. Nobody cares whether young players get the chance to play alongside experienced pros, maybe gain a bit of momentum, respect and traction on the main tour.

I'm seriously beginning to wonder if snooker really deserves a future, or is it just about cashing in on the current elite, whilst they are still here.

Are the bring back tiered qualifiers? If they are it's an awful idea.

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:...

Are the bring back tiered qualifiers? If they are it's an awful idea.

No, the plan seems to be to have a flat-128 draw, as before. But the top-16 players' first rounds are held over to the main venue, whereas the other 48 first round matches are played in a 'qualifier' week in August.


Anyone who finds themself out of form in August can have his season wrecked before the top players have even hit a ball.

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

Has it been confirmed that this is happening or are you assuming?

Couldn't the listed qualifiers be for some of the potential ranking tournaments? You'd assume part of the Nov qualifying will be the German Masters.

SteveJJ wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

Has it been confirmed that this is happening or are you assuming?

Couldn't the listed qualifiers be for some of the potential ranking tournaments? You'd assume part of the Nov qualifying will be the German Masters.

Ignore me. Ive seen it.

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

That's a very cynical view.

Dan-cat wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

That's a very cynical view.

It is and I'm quite distressed about it. The announcements from WST are always about 'developing new markets', never about 'developing a new generation of players'.


With this structure, if a player qualifies as a 'rookie' pro, but doesn't do well in his 4 trips to Barnsley in August, he's only got maybe 4 events for the next 8 months. Of course, the top players are playing most weeks.

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

I know it wouldn't be easy but they really should have moved a slight bit away from the qualifiers/ranking event format.

lhpirnie wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

That's a very cynical view.

It is and I'm quite distressed about it. The announcements from WST are always about 'developing new markets', never about 'developing a new generation of players'.


With this structure, if a player qualifies as a 'rookie' pro, but doesn't do well in his 4 trips to Barnsley in August, he's only got maybe 4 events for the next 8 months. Of course, the top players are playing most weeks.

They did try with the secondary tour as they played more than usual and teh top 2 qualified for the tour. No sign of this happening again next season though.

The_Abbott wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

That's a very cynical view.

It is and I'm quite distressed about it. The announcements from WST are always about 'developing new markets', never about 'developing a new generation of players'.


With this structure, if a player qualifies as a 'rookie' pro, but doesn't do well in his 4 trips to Barnsley in August, he's only got maybe 4 events for the next 8 months. Of course, the top players are playing most weeks.

They did try with the secondary tour as they played more than usual and teh top 2 qualified for the tour. No sign of this happening again next season though.

It never seemed enough quslification places to make all the effort worthwhile.

The_Abbott wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:https://wst.tv/2021-22-provisional-calendar/

Yes the only possible reason for wrecking the Home Nations tournaments would seem to be that they can play them using 4 tables. That would mean last-16 and Q-finals played on one day, the Friday. Possibly they felt that the Q-final day was a bit dull in the existing format.


But it gives an indication of where snooker is going. Cashing in on the top guys whilst they are still there. No interest in future development of players.

That's a very cynical view.

It is and I'm quite distressed about it. The announcements from WST are always about 'developing new markets', never about 'developing a new generation of players'.


With this structure, if a player qualifies as a 'rookie' pro, but doesn't do well in his 4 trips to Barnsley in August, he's only got maybe 4 events for the next 8 months. Of course, the top players are playing most weeks.

They did try with the secondary tour as they played more than usual and teh top 2 qualified for the tour. No sign of this happening again next season though.

"Further opportunities may become available for the top 32 players on the order of merit who do not qualify for the tour, on the WPBSA Q Tour. This remains subject to the easing of travel and Covid restrictions"