conors9 wrote:Probably a silly question, but how many people do Snooker Island sponsor and who are they? Seen Ben today with Snooker Island on, do you go for youngsters or is there no policy?
Ultimately we aim to promote the grassroots of the game because to the casual snooker fan a lot of the lower ranked players and amateurs are unknowns and are therefore "rubbish", when the truth is they are all exceptional players and some of them will end up becoming the top players in the game. They are the player from your local club or the one everyone from your local league talks about, the one who beats everyone and who you get behind and believe they stand a chance at the big time.
Ben has been associated with us for a while now and it's a landmark to get the Snooker Island logo on tv without relying on hammers in the crowd with SI logo t-shirts (i.e. me and a few members here
).
Ben is a really nice lad who is very naturally talented and is great to watch when playing snooker. He's had around 20 maximum breaks, one of them against me when I failed in my mission of the frame; to stop him going for a max
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3245#p208573, and he even had one against his girlfriend Sunti in a 24 hour snooker marathon (according to Eurosport commentary, I'll have to ask him about that).
Ben stood out for the way he approaches and plays the game, and his enthusiasm is infectious. He loves snooker and practices hard and is willing to learn, but ultimately he has the panache which makes him one, given the choice, you have to watch.
Today was a big step for Ben. By all accounts he should have won but had a lot of bad run which you can't control obviously, but he's the type of player who seems be on the thick end more than he gets lucky. You know how Robbo and Higgins always seem to get the run? Well Ben is the one who doesn't get it when it matters, and when he does he seems genuinely embarrassed. Jimmy White was like that you know.
So watch this space for future badge wearers. The better the site does the more we can do for the grassroot players like Ben. There are plenty more worthy of inclusion.