Should the World Championship Format be Reduced?

Wild wrote:

Bourne wrote:Helps players by giving them more recovery time for the biggest match in their lives, and helps the spectators because they want to see the biggest match played by two players who are able to give something like their best

they playing in a world final they should be able to run a marathon in the morning and still put in their best in the final...

seriousl;y this is some modern excuse claptrap balls.

You're a hard task-master wild

thing is after long matches using up nervous energy they wouldnt be human if they not tired in the gap between a semi and a final that nervous energy would be working overtime..its the biggest match of the season they playing and in selby's case in 2007 and Robbo last year the biggest match ever waiting all day saturday would just be torchure.

I don't think the semis should have been extended from 31 to 33...so a reduction back to 31 would be no disaster.

I am personally in favour of the Worlds starting on a Friday, and either accommodating a rest day or finishing on a Sunday for Mainland Europe fans. A Sunday finish would also mean kids in Britain and Ireland can stay up, and leaves workers have a few drinks without worrying about work the day after.

i think everything should remain the same except for one minor but significant change

the final saturday which sees the conclusion of the semi finals should have the evening session starting at 6pm and if this means starting the other sessions earlier that day which i dont think would be needed anyway then so be it

as for those who think the tournament should be reduced one way or another they can kiss my bottom they should reduce their dicks so they dont go shooting this type of crap again

I think the length of the World Champs should be increased. I want 147 days of Crucible a year.

semi-final Saturday as it is is probably the best day of snooker in the calendar year. I'm with jojo, have it start a little earlier. To change it so the final weekend has a Saturday filled with non-top level snooker would be a massive disservice to snooker.

I have a feeling if the current government has its way and moves the Mayday Bank Holiday then snooker chiefs will have a rethink. But the current set up is perfect in my opinion. I've grown up with it like this, the only change I can remember is when they increased the semis from best of 31 to best of 33, but 16 is a nicer number than 18 and to move it back to best of 31 for the semi would put it back right and shave 2 frames off those late Saturday night deciders.

I always take the Friday of the semi-finals off, have a lot of great memories of those Fridays too so it always stands out to me more than the Saturday. Probably goes with not having to go to school it's also probably why I'd like to see the last day of the semis taking place on a Friday (with the tourney also starting on a Friday)...

Best of 31 and earlier start for concluding semi-final sessions would be nice though in my opinion

Sonny wrote:semi-final Saturday as it is is probably the best day of snooker in the calendar year. I'm with jojo, have it start a little earlier. To change it so the final weekend has a Saturday filled with non-top level snooker would be a massive disservice to snooker.

I have a feeling if the current government has its way and moves the Mayday Bank Holiday then snooker chiefs will have a rethink. But the current set up is perfect in my opinion. I've grown up with it like this, the only change I can remember is when they increased the semis from best of 31 to best of 33, but 16 is a nicer number than 18 and to move it back to best of 31 for the semi would put it back right and shave 2 frames off those late Saturday night deciders.

Me too, I think they'll reduce the tournament to 16 days - hardly much shorter but it would take some reconsideration of the format - which could work as this

Two Table

Sat - Two Matches conclude (9,10) - Two Begins (9)
Sun - Two Matches begin and Conclude (9,10) - Two Conclude (10)
Mon Two Matches begin and Conclude, (9,10) To begin (9)
Tue Two Matches begin and Conclude (9.10) Two conclude (10)
Wed Two Matches begin and Conclude (9,10) - Two begin (9)

Thu - (Rest am) pm - Two Rd 1 conclude (10) - Two Rd2 begin (9)
Fri - Two Matches begin and conclude (9,10) - Two conclude (10)
Sat Two Matches begin and conclude (9,10), Two begin
Sun - (Rest AM) Remaining Rd2 games conclude (10)

Mon - Opening of Four Qfs - Two Matches of two sessions (8,8) and Two of One, (8)
Tue - Conclusion of Four Qfs Two Matches of one session (8,9) and One of One (9)

One table

Wed - Opening sessions of Semi-Finals - Best of 33 Frames (8)
Thu - Two sessions of One Semi (8,8,) - One session of the other (8)
Fri -
Sat - First two sessions of Final (8,9) - Best of 33 Frames
Sun - Last two sessions of Final, (8,10) - Best of 35 Frames

Obviously this would mean a reduction in round two from 25 to best of 19 frames, not the ideallist situation


However, there is already examples from 1985, 1990 and 1995 of the tournament starting on the Friday morning, personally I think that this should have been kept but thats just me,


But to conclude - 1982 began on the Friday evening, and the first rest session was when the set was being rerigged for the start of the Semis - so possibly having an evening start, with no matches concluded however, may be the way to go?

Another thing - it was commented a while back on here about evening sessions obviously not overruning so I wonder about the value of some of the matches beginning with an evening session playing a 10 frame first session, obviously the risk with that comes with a 10-0 whitewash, but it was a regular feature in the early days of the crucible, and up until 1996, the semis used to be split 7789 and 8779 - obviously this years final is going to play 17 frames on Day One rather than 16

The whole point is though the BBC over a 3 day weekend want more than one match and having two semis finish on Saturday and the final on Sunday and Monday you have the potential for exciting climaxes of two matches followed by a match between the two winners so people can pick it up at the one table stage and get into it. It works great and personally speaking I stopped reading alternatively laid out scenarios ages ago because I've seen so many of them and they are all different. Keep it the same and if you lose the Bank Holiday then start it on Friday and reduce the semis to best of 31 and start the sessions earlier.

Scheduling has changed over the years.

The 1982 championship started on April 30 (way too late in my opinion). The sun was glaring through the window when Higgins beat Reardon! The last session must have started in the afternoon.

There have also been Sunday finishes in 1985, 1990, and 1995.

One scheduling error was when Tony Meo was forced to start his quarter with Tony Knowles on the same day that he had finished his second round match in 1983. He, not surprisingly finished 7-1 down after the first session.

One thing they got right was to change the morning off from from second Monday to the second Sunday, and changing the schedule for players at that stage of the event. For example in 1984, there was no play on the second Monday morning, and the 2 remaining second round matches had to play 2 full sessions whilst everyone else was resting before the quarters. Cliff Thorburn had to play until about midnight, after 2 continuous sessions, and then had to start his quarter final with Jimmy White at 10.30am the next morning. In those days play sessions started at 10.30am, 3pm, and 7.30pm.

Don't get me wrong guys. I am all for keeping it the same IF the totally insane BBC scheduling can be addressed. I only put forward the different scenario because if they do not address the scheduling then my scenario would at least give the players a rest.

What part of the BBC scheduling do you think should be addressed snooky147? Would you be happier with best of 31 semi-finals and an earlier session pattern on the last Saturday? I really don't think a 3rd/4th place play off is the answer because neither the players nor the public will care for the result. I also wouldn't personally bother watching a Snooker Legends event. Maybe the World ladies and junior finals would be something, but then with the big boys taking centre stage the difference in quality will be too glaring and will be open to ridicule by those who are ill informed.

I see you're a Dotty fan - have you read his book? He has a lot to say on this subject.

Yep, I have my signed copy. What I want to see addressed is the ridiculous time scheduling by the BBC that contributes greatly to the last few late finishes. Starting at 3pm and 8pm is just nonsense. 2pm and 7pm but preferably 1pm and 7pm but that wont happen I suspect. As for the actual format it horrifies me that Hearn will shorten it but I think he will, despite what the fans think.

Hearn made a promise when he first took over not to touch the majors. He had his lapdog test the water after the World Open talking about a one day world final. If they abolish Mayday then who knows what they will come up with.

One alternative is to speed up the transfer of two to one tables and have play on the Thursday morning, then have both semi-finals poised with only one session left on Saturday and start at 1pm and 6pm, but I don't know how viable that is.

I know he made a promise but I honestly think he will break it. I shudder at the thought though.

snooky147 wrote:I know he made a promise but I honestly think he will break it. I shudder at the thought though.

he better not or he will find out to never mess with me.

ill go down to his office drag him out by as little hair as he has and poke him up the ass with a spider and pull his guts out.

An insight there into wild's sadistic fantasies

Bourne wrote:An insight there into wild's sadistic fantasies

hahaha

seriously though i think hes smart enough to realise there will be a god almighty war if he just thought about that.

he got in and that was a promise he made regarding the majors whatever Barry is he is honest to the point of bluntless.

im very confident he wont touch the worlds.

He's said so in every interview I can remember him giving since taking over, and I don't see any reason to suggest that should have changed now. I think he knows full well the uproar and mutiny he'd have on his hands.

i just think he is honest...

ok i might not like everything he does but hes honest with it

He's one of the shroodest business people around and knows he'd lose more fans by tampering with the Worlds than he would gain them

Bourne wrote:He's one of the shroodest business people around and knows he'd lose more fans by tampering with the Worlds than he would gain them

hes shrude but can you imagine him as Prime minister jesus he would have gone over to lybia and shoot Gadafi himself.

Wild wrote:

Bourne wrote:He's one of the shroodest business people around and knows he'd lose more fans by tampering with the Worlds than he would gain them

hes shrude but can you imagine him as Prime minister jesus he would have gone over to lybia and shoot Gadafi himself.

if he did id become a Hearn hater

Witz78 wrote:

Wild wrote:

Bourne wrote:He's one of the shroodest business people around and knows he'd lose more fans by tampering with the Worlds than he would gain them

hes shrude but can you imagine him as Prime minister jesus he would have gone over to lybia and shoot Gadafi himself.

if he did id become a Hearn hater

I think they should scrap the current format and just play a best of 1 drag shot for each match so we could get the tournament over in an hour to avoid any exhaustion.

Alex0paul WC wrote:I think they should scrap the current format and just play a best of 1 drag shot for each match so we could get the tournament over in an hour to avoid any exhaustion.

Ebdon would interprit the format wrong and think it meant he had to drag the matches out even longer

and as for Dale, hed turn up in drag

Hmmm,

Barry's in a difficult position, - he reduces the Worlds he loses us, the ones who keep it going, if he doesnt then he risks his job. - That said I think enough players would support him to keep it as it is, - I'd suggest 29 or 31 frame semi-finals, with a number of 7 frame sessions, purely because of the huge number of sessions the players play - they play 8 over 12 days, and then play 8 over 5, its draining, but as has been said, you've got to be able to do it to win, remember you play 3 sessions over 2 days to win the other ranking events, sometimes 4 over 2 - so its hardly new.

The big risk the game faces is making it look more amateurish, over 30 years, the Amateur championship has reduced by 2 frames and remains as a best of 19 affair, reducing it to that level would make it amateurish. - This is why China dont ever win the bid for the event, as they will not move away from a 9,9,9,11,19 format

A huge amount of modern day snooker history is based around the World Championships and any major reduction in schedule will seriously damage credibility. Particularly the first to 18 frame final which is one of the only snooker stats I'm personally rubbish hot on. The main crux of the World Championships is that it goes 2, 3, 3, 4, 4 sessions as the rounds progress, so apart from rounds 2 and 3 which are both first to 13, you have to play to a higher number of frames than the previous rounds.

If they can devise a way whereby the first round is no less than first to 9 and the final stays first to 18 and the number of frames needed to win gradually increases over the tournament rounds, and it is slightly more helping towards the players, then conceivably there could be a change with doesn't affect the credibility but it will be pretty negilable. Plus of course you can't go the way of the UK by having more matches played simultaneously because that more seriously than any other change will damage the credibility.

I hope this year we have plenty of close matches, come backs, easy wins by the form players and two close semis and an 18-17 final and then this disturbing topic will be put to bed.

more than anything else this "disturbing topic" as you put it so well is a topic that should be put to bed once and for all.

keeping this format alone is the only thing that would help barry turning snooker around and people would overall accept changes to other events.

the only reason they reduced the WC from the BO 61 frames etc was for TV and since they done that the WC has contributed to the best matches by far in the history of the sport so theres no sense in reduction its worked well for TV and consistantly has brought snookers highest ever ratings from peak 4 channel 1980s to multi medis era today.

best of 5s WO was not for me but i accept the change and it made that tournament different and same with the shootout that worked well.

but for them to succeed you got to give the sport history the World Championship gives it.

We need a really special semi final or preferably final this year, and stop the rubbish about reducing the Worlds once and for all