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Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Monique

an absolute must read !

http://prosnookerblog.com/2011/11/21/da ... ification/?

and - yes allow me :emb: - see what he says of the PTCs. It's no different to what I'm saying for ages. They need better reward and the resources from the pointless ones should be re-injected in the others.
Also, the way they come fast and thick, is extremely disruptive to the players practice and I wouldn't be surprised if a few players were pulling out of the PTC 10 or just going for an early exit in order to focus on their UK preparation. It's nonsense to have this sort of event, with a very punishing schedule, only 3 days before what is the second tournament of the season in terms of importance.

Also interesting the bit over Liang Wenbo having started a family...

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Roland

The PTCs coming thick and fast with no time in between, even I've felt that with doing Ben's blog (the next one by the way will be after the next PTC and do 2 in 1 because the last one he was sick and lost). I wouldn't reduce them to 6, I would space them out more across the season and change the criteria round a bit. For them to be worth more money, you need more time to get them established.

What myself and Matt have shown with our interviews with Dominic, is just what he's like all the time! He loves talking about snooker, he's very opinionated about it and he's got a great depth of knowledge you can learn a lot from him. It's great to just sit back and listen to him go off on one.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:The PTCs coming thick and fast with no time in between, even I've felt that with doing Ben's blog (the next one by the way will be after the next PTC and do 2 in 1 because the last one he was sick and lost). I wouldn't reduce them to 6, I would space them out more across the season and change the criteria round a bit. For them to be worth more money, you need more time to get them established.

What myself and Matt have shown with our interviews with Dominic, is just what he's like all the time! He loves talking about snooker, he's very opinionated about it and he's got a great depth of knowledge you can learn a lot from him. It's great to just sit back and listen to him go off on one.

Bottom Line is Dominic is a Player and has immense Knowledge of the Game and a Great Talker BUT he is a player and these are the Very people that Run Snooker in to the Ground when they were Calling the Shots... now things have changed Barry Hearn has a long Term Plan for the SPORT...

yes Mistakes will be made along the way but regarding the PTC People are showing increadble inpatience these things takes time to get Right.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Roland

Yes on the one had he's saying scrap the UK events and only play 6 in Europe and on the other he's saying they're a great idea and if he was 20 years younger he'd be having the time of his life. In the interview I did with him he was loving the PTCs.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:Yes on the one had he's saying scrap the UK events and only play 6 in Europe and on the other he's saying they're a great idea and if he was 20 years younger he'd be having the time of his life. In the interview I did with him he was loving the PTCs.

i think what is it with Dominic not necessarily the PTC but the UK Championship had the UK Stayed BO17 that interview regarding the PTC Would be different.

he just feels as a knowledgeable historian of the Game that some of the prestige is being lost and he lashed out a bit at the PTC Following on from what other players being saying.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby SnookerFan

Wild wrote:
Sonny wrote:Yes on the one had he's saying scrap the UK events and only play 6 in Europe and on the other he's saying they're a great idea and if he was 20 years younger he'd be having the time of his life. In the interview I did with him he was loving the PTCs.

i think what is it with Dominic not necessarily the PTC but the UK Championship had the UK Stayed BO17 that interview regarding the PTC Would be different.

he just feels as a knowledgeable historian of the Game that some of the prestige is being lost and he lashed out a bit at the PTC Following on from what other players being saying.


You're blaming everything on that, aren't you? rofl

That Red or Pink debate at the Shanghai Masters was probably the UK Championship's fault too.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Wildey

SnookerFan wrote:
Wild wrote:
Sonny wrote:Yes on the one had he's saying scrap the UK events and only play 6 in Europe and on the other he's saying they're a great idea and if he was 20 years younger he'd be having the time of his life. In the interview I did with him he was loving the PTCs.

i think what is it with Dominic not necessarily the PTC but the UK Championship had the UK Stayed BO17 that interview regarding the PTC Would be different.

he just feels as a knowledgeable historian of the Game that some of the prestige is being lost and he lashed out a bit at the PTC Following on from what other players being saying.


You're blaming everything on that, aren't you? rofl

That Red or Pink debate at the Shanghai Masters was probably the UK Championship's fault too.

no dominic atetute regarding the PTC has changed in conjunction with the UK Reduction (god thats easy to say lol)

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Matt_2745

Sonny wrote:What myself and Matt have shown with our interviews with Dominic, is just what he's like all the time! He loves talking about snooker, he's very opinionated about it and he's got a great depth of knowledge you can learn a lot from him. It's great to just sit back and listen to him go off on one.


Yeah, you almost wish you permanently had a dictaphone on with him because you never know what he is going to come out with. That one was only supposed to be a post-match interview and it ended up covering all sorts.

Not complaining though, always enjoy talking to him whether it's for the blog or otherwise.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby SnookerFan

Matt_2745 wrote:
Sonny wrote:What myself and Matt have shown with our interviews with Dominic, is just what he's like all the time! He loves talking about snooker, he's very opinionated about it and he's got a great depth of knowledge you can learn a lot from him. It's great to just sit back and listen to him go off on one.


Yeah, you almost wish you permanently had a dictaphone on with him because you never know what he is going to come out with. That one was only supposed to be a post-match interview and it ended up covering all sorts.

Not complaining though, always enjoy talking to him whether it's for the blog or otherwise.


He's an eccentric guy, but he loves his snooker... My kind of guy.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Smart

Nice interview.

I do find some things rather strange and wonder about players who complain about lack of events, then complain about too many, then complain cos they have to travel too much, then complain cos they cannot practice enough.

Single most theme and strongest them from that interview is complaining.

Its an observation by me a non snooker player, but I am left with a feeling of would these guys prefer the old days of 6 tournies and nothing else. :gag:

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Monique

Smart wrote:Nice interview.

I do find some things rather strange and wonder about players who complain about lack of events, then complain about too many, then complain cos they have to travel too much, then complain cos they cannot practice enough.

Single most theme and strongest them from that interview is complaining.

Its an observation by me a non snooker player, but I am left with a feeling of would these guys prefer the old days of 6 tournies and nothing else. :gag:


They have gone from nearly nothing to too much. Is that so difficult to understand?
If you got to eat only once every two day you would complain that you are hungry. If you were forced to eat 12 meals a day you would complain it makes you sick. Just to take a silly example but it's pretty much to the point.
They have gone from 6 to nearly 30. Something in between like 15-20 would have been nice, that's what it was in the early 90th.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Witz78

exactly, if he had a problem with travelling what was he doing basing himself in Vienna

it suited him then cos there were few tournaments but then with the new tour suddenly his cosy little opera and arty farty lifestyle in Vienna wasnt feasible so he had to come back to the UK. Sour grapes and a poor attitude.

Its all about protection and self interest from a lot of guys and to quote Alex Higgins "ive had it up to here, infact even further, up to here"

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Bourne

Sorry, I thought these guys were meant to be pros ? :huh: Stop moaning Dom, you're a lucky bastard to be doing the job you love and be good at it and most of us would trade our position for yours. Knuckle down <ok>

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Smart

Monique wrote:
Smart wrote:Nice interview.

I do find some things rather strange and wonder about players who complain about lack of events, then complain about too many, then complain cos they have to travel too much, then complain cos they cannot practice enough.

Single most theme and strongest them from that interview is complaining.

Its an observation by me a non snooker player, but I am left with a feeling of would these guys prefer the old days of 6 tournies and nothing else. :gag:


They have gone from nearly nothing to too much. Is that so difficult to understand?
If you got to eat only once every two day you would complain that you are hungry. If you were forced to eat 12 meals a day you would complain it makes you sick. Just to take a silly example but it's pretty much to the point.
They have gone from 6 to nearly 30. Something in between like 15-20 would have been nice, that's what it was in the early 90th.


NO.

It comes across as someone who wants to be a snooker player, but wants to live abroad, wants to earn money, but does not want to be forced to compete, wants to practice, but not when he is tired. bucking joke. Get real, man up :gag:

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Witz78

up until now ive tried to be reasonable Monique......................


BUT its clear now that you just have some sort of personal gripe and fear of the sport becoming big.

Do you fear the cosy little snooker community and clique will become a thing of the past?

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Roland

Witz78 wrote:exactly, if he had a problem with travelling what was he doing basing himself in Vienna

it suited him then cos there were few tournaments but then with the new tour suddenly his cosy little opera and arty farty lifestyle in Vienna wasnt feasible so he had to come back to the UK. Sour grapes and a poor attitude.

Its all about protection and self interest from a lot of guys and to quote Alex Higgins "ive had it up to here, infact even further, up to here"


He's never had a problem with travelling if you read the SI interview with him (the great big long one :redneck: ) you'll see what he's about. He's had virtually another full PTC campaign since then as well. He's also moving back to Europe I believe which to be fair does appear to have influenced his opinion on a Europe only PTC events system.

The criteria rather than the concept is what needs to change with PTCs. Players need to be in a position where they don't lose ranking points by missing a small number of PTCs. It should be ok for Dominic to just play in the European ones and meet some sort of criteria but that should not be the case for those staying in the UK and only playing in the ones here.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Smart

Witz78 wrote:Once the tour is properly set up id agree with you Sonny

BUT i disagree with some of what you say


I think its rich for snooker players having had next to nothing to play in, to be saying there is now too much ..............

Heres the thing. Dont play in them all, but the ones you do play in (and have practiced for), make sure you do very well in those ones hence your ranking wont suffer. Thats an option for the lazy ones. :redneck:

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Monique

Witz78 wrote:up until now ive tried to be reasonable Monique......................


BUT its clear now that you just have some sort of personal gripe and fear of the sport becoming big.

Do you fear the cosy little snooker community and clique will become a thing of the past?


Absolutely not. I'm someone who probably see the players close-up more than most on here and who knows that playing in the events is only a part of the efforts they have to sustain to be competitive sportsmen and up to the task.
They have to practice, they have sponsors meetings, promo work, travel time etc... and they have families for many of them.
It's not like in other more physical sports where basically you're retired at 30 and can then think about building a family after a few intensive years. Players in snooker are still around at 40 and over. And it's not as if the price money was such that it's "worth" sacrificing everything for it (BTW I think it NEVER is ) ... Djokovic this season only has earned more than Hendry in his whole career.

Like Sonny said before the guys need time to recharge their batteries, they need time to prepare properly for majors. Mental exhaustion is not as visible but just as real as physical exhaustion and snooker takes a lot out of the players mentally and emotionally.
Just like in other sports, they should have a limited set of compulsory majors and for the rest the possibility to manage their season knowing that a pre-defined number of best results will count for the rankings.

What angers me, and it DOES anger me, is people making judgement and deciding shedules for others - the others being in this case the players - while they don't have the faintest idea what their reality is. Those "lazy" players are pros because of thousand and thousand of hours of practice, of millions of balls potted since a young age, often spending their time at the club when the other kids went out and were partying. It's a lot of hard work to become a pro snooker player. There are no lazy gits on the MT.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Witz78

And it's not as if the price money was such that it's "worth" sacrificing everything for it

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Whats the points of them even being pros and taking up snooker then ?

If the rewards and riches in this sport are far less than the likes of tennis etc then surely thats all the more reason to fully dedicate to the sport to ensure you achieve as much as you can and maximise earning potential.

This attitude of "ill play when i want but families the priority" is a nonsense, these are the elite 96 pros out of millions and millions who play the game around the world. They should embrace their talent and the opportunity they have as pros and fully 100% commit to it. END OF

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Monique

The reality witz is that most young players start with that mentality and attitude of being very hungry and focussed 100% on their sport. But the reality is also that, whatever you do, be it sport, work ... even relationships, after 15-20 years of it, some of the edge is gone.
That does not mean they have nothing to offer anymore. Just look at Steve Davis.

It's so easy to say "END OF" ... when your only motivation is that YOU want to watch snooker day in, day out. Well if you really want that, you better accept that the structure of the MT has to be adapted to make it sustainable for the players, physically, mentally and economically because at the end of the day, THEY are the game's most valuable asset.

Yes, you can have a global tour, with events every week, all over the world, but ONLY if you have enough exponents, making a good living out of it and able to manage their career, as it is the case in other successful sports.

I'm not sure the snooker is the kind of sport that will ever get really as big as tennis or golf. But I'm sure of one thing, if it is to happen, then the growth has to be controlled with a focus on quality and prestige rather than quantity at all costs and the resources, including the human resources managed properly. Sponsors are after image. Make the events "cheap" and you will be sure to devaluate the sport in their eyes.

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby SnookerFan

randam05 wrote:Dale :bowdown:

SOOOOO cant wait to see him beat trump :-) will be the highlight of my year!


You've just guaranteed Dale gets beaten 6-0. rofl

Re: Matt's interview of Dom Dale

Postby Casey

It's not just as simple as cut the PTC's in half and double the prize money. Remember the events are part funded by player entry fees.