It’s Off

The World Championship (in its real format + crowd) should take place in late November/early December, replacing the weak UK Championship.

We'd have the World Championship played twice in the same season and no UK Championship being played but I'm sure far majority of the Snookerfans would prefer to watch the real WC and not some random tournament in July.

TheRocket wrote:The World Championship (in its real format + crowd) should take place in late November/early December, replacing the weak UK Championship.

We'd have the World Championship played twice in the same season and no UK Championship being played but I'm sure far majority of the Snookerfans would prefer to watch the real WC and not some random tournament in July.

It depends which snooker fans you mean. The millions who will watch this July event on TV (if it happens) will mostly think it's wonderful, and may be the most memorable and most watched World Championship ever.

lhpirnie wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Excellent post PL.

Imagine it's scenario one, Ronnie wins, would we count this as a World Title?! Effectively it would be. The Ronettes would. Haha.

And if it's Trump, has he broken the Crucible Curse?

I think whatever the format, even if there are no qualifiers (the 128-player qualification tournament is really difficult to imagine in July) it will have the status of World Championship, even if many snooker nerds (like me) disagree.


If it's live on TV, watched by millions, with the top players there, held at the Crucible (even with empty seats), it will be a memorable enough event to count in the eyes of most people.

There were 'World Championships' in the 1960's with far less legitimacy that this.

I think it will if it in essence keeps the 'Format' without any radical alterations. Changing it to two session matches all the way through or something similar would do a lot to detriment it. It would leave whoever became the World Champion - the argument that they won the shortened WC, just as even if Liverpool were to be awarded the League title, it will be inescapable that it was 'awarded to them' regardless of the fact they are two wins away.

The World Championships will always retain a sense of aura because of what it is - even if they decided in future years to make the World Championships a non-ranking event, it would still be the event people wanted to be in, to win.

The fact that the legitimacy of the World Championships up to the decline of the event in the mid to late 1950s came into question, comes down to the fact that Joe Davis wasn't taking part in the event even though given his record in the Championship (no losses) and the other events made it clear that he remained the man to beat. Whilst you can understand Joe's decision (unbeaten since 1927, and the margins of victory slowly shrinking - to the extent that he was likely to be beaten sooner or later), it certainly didn't help the victories of Walter Donaldson and Fred Davis - even more so when you consider when John Pulman won the title in 1957 - none of the previous World Champions entered the event.

The tournaments in the 1960s - obviously are viewed back now with some kind of indifference even though the World Snooker Championship was following the lead of the Billiards equivalent and conducting a challenge format. With five professionals active, its clear to see how the same faces ended up facing three challenges for the title within seven months.

Of all sports, snooker is one that could be done behind closed doors with a minimal group of people.

Here's hoping!!

Cricket would be the easiest game to implement with the 2m apart rule

Alex0paul wrote:Cricket would be the easiest game to implement with the 2m apart rule

Or golf indeed.

SnookerFan wrote:Being serious for a moment, I wonder how likely it is that this will go ahead in July.

I know none of us can answer the question of whether we'll still be in lockdown by then, or how long it'll take for the coronavirus to clear. But Hearn was suggesting that it would go ahead behind closed doors if need be.

Would the government allow this? I mean, it's still a gathering of more than two people. Much though I love snooker, you can't say The Crucible opening to hold the World Championships constitutes key work. The problem with the 100+ players that need to turn up to qualify will still exist, even if there's no fans present. If the country's still in lockdown, why would the government allow it?

And that's assuming the BBC gives permission to show it, as well.

Oh the BBC (and other broadcasters) would be delighted to show anything. It means they don't have to have hours and hours of Olympic repeats.

The government may well allow it, because by July everyone will be gasping for anything live to watch. By then it may be the only way to make people "stay at home, protect the NHS,....". But it would look a lot more compliant if they did it with one table rather than two.

We don't yet know the exact format, the problem of the qualifiers, and what happens to the Tour Championship. I suspect that hasn't been discussed yet - they'll work something out once they've got initial agreement.

I think it’s a massive pipe dream at the moment

Alex0paul wrote:I think it’s a massive pipe dream at the moment

They are defo laying pipe. Let's hope they put something through it.

Hearn needs to be sectioned...

All things weighed up, my preference would be to scrap the UK Championship and hold the World Championship then.

Let Hearn stage it, if he can do so safely. Even if the situation does not improve in any meaningful way.

We cannot stay in lockdown forever and if they are waiting for the virus to dissappear completely before starting things up again, then I'm afraid we are going to be waiting for a very long time indeed.

Pink Ball wrote:All things weighed up, my preference would be to scrap the UK Championship and hold the World Championship then.

Then we would lose a major event. The whole point of all of this is to maximise the profile events, keep the game financially viable.

Maybe Hearn should look into hiring a private island...(preferably one with a ready built venue)

SnookerFan wrote:

lhpirnie wrote:Oh the BBC (and other broadcasters) would be delighted to show anything. It means they don't have to have hours and hours of Olympic repeats.

The government may well allow it, because by July everyone will be gasping for anything live to watch. By then it may be the only way to make people "stay at home, protect the NHS,....". But it would look a lot more compliant if they did it with one table rather than two.

We don't yet know the exact format, the problem of the qualifiers, and what happens to the Tour Championship. I suspect that hasn't been discussed yet - they'll work something out once they've got initial agreement.

I'm not sure I can agree with any of this at the moment, though I'd love to be wrong.

You seem convinced that the government will allow it. I'm not. I mean, people's lives are at stake, and they're telling you not to go out unless it is absolutely necessary. How is playing the World Snooker Championship absolutely necessary? They're not NHS workers. How can that possibly be okayed under the current climate?

I also don't agree that the government are going to have this idea that having the World Snooker Championship will keep people inside. You really think the government at the moment is considering ways at the moment to keep the people inside entertained? They've got bigger worries trying to keep them alive. Snooker isn't the worlds most popular sport anyway. Hearn will try to push it, but it's just as likely that the people in charge will ignore it. What sort of message will it give if they allow one sport to continue whilst everybody around them is still being postponed? It's more likely to confuse the message to stay inside.

The BBC may or may not give permission, but bear in mind how second-rate snooker is to them. They just use it as a way of entertaining old biddies during the day, not as massive sporting event. Not entirely sold on that either.

The only way I can see it going ahead in July is if he pandemic is cleared by then, and life is back to or close to being back to normal. Hopefully that's the case, but I can't see how that can be guaranteed at the moment.

Hopefully, I'm wrong and it goes ahead. A lot of ifs and buts though.

All of your points are valid.


My argument is that by July the whole country will be utterly desperate, the government may think they need to give us some hope... As a concession they could allow a World Snooker Championship behind closed doors, referees wearing facemasks, etc. I don't think that would look bad, from a health point of view. Others have made the point that snooker is a much safer event to stage that any other sport, so whenever sport does start returning, snooker should be one of the first. It's not quite the case that only key workers are allowed to go out and work.

Anyway, that's the logic behind Barry's gamble. If it doesn't get approval, he can blame the government as his exit plan.

There’s no way the pandemic will be cleared by July, it’s impossible unless a vaccine is developed which probably won’t happen for 12-18 months by the looks of things.

Also snooker’s probably a big risk for transference if you think about it. Ok players don’t need to touch each other but they put their hands all over the table which will hold moisture as it’s fabric.

Iranu wrote:There’s no way the pandemic will be cleared by July, it’s impossible unless a vaccine is developed which probably won’t happen for 12-18 months by the looks of things.

Also snooker’s probably a big risk for transference if you think about it. Ok players don’t need to touch each other but they put their hands all over the table which will hold moisture as it’s fabric.

Oh they'd probably have to test the players and a few other key personnel. In 3 months from now there will be some capacity for testing.


But yes, your point is certainly an issue for the qualifiers, and if they have two tables in the Crucible.

News just in, they will be removing the auditorium seating so that qualifying tables can be fitted.

Dan-cat wrote:News just in, they will be removing the auditorium seating so that qualifying tables can be fitted.

Most likely you mean they will fit in two tables with the proper amount of space. That's possible yes.

It will be the top 32, Judd seeded one, and Ronnie wins.

And we will forever talk about whether it counts towards his tally.

SnookerFan wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:News just in, they will be removing the auditorium seating so that qualifying tables can be fitted.

Is this from the same source who said that Mark King was wearing a wig?

That is a very reliable source!!

SnookerFan wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:News just in, they will be removing the auditorium seating so that qualifying tables can be fitted.

Is this from the same source who said that Mark King was wearing a wig?

He does; it's just inside-out is all.

The government are going to get Hearn deported!