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Snooker the old man's Game

Postby Wildey

After the Conclusion of The International Championship only 5 players under 30 will be in the Top 32.

Ding Junhui 26
Judd Trump 24
Mark Allen 27
Liang Wenbo 26
Xiao Guodong 24

For so long snooker has been referred to as a Young mans Game but is that true anymore as players in their Late 30s to early 40s are all of a sudden having their best ever run.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:Experience and knowledge counts for a lot clearly.

its interesting to note though following on from the Ranking events Asian invasion 3 out of 5 under 30s are Chinese. with only one English man under 30 in the top 32 6 years younger than the Next youngest englishman Tom Ford followed closely by Mark Selby both 30.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby Witz78

just getting a chance to finally reply to this as obviously a dig at me haha

ive been proven right with everything with regards to the Hearn era so far and ive no doubt I will be proven right over this.

I have always said the fair time to judge this fully is after a 2 year period of flatter tournaments (ie. the end of next season)

whilst the youngsters rising to the fore may seem minimal at the moment, there has been a few signs, namely from the Asian players this season.

Ive got to admit im very disappointed in the attitude and form of some of the supposed leading European "youngsters" this season and I use the term Youngester loosely as I still class Trump as the leading figurehead of this and his attitude and form this season is laughable.

Others like Jamie Jones, Jack Lisowski, Michael White seem to have taken a step back in their careers when they really ought to be progressing and becoming serious contenders now swatting the older guard of journeymen to the side on their way to the top.

Another disappointment is Brecel, only tonight I see hes posted pics of his new 18 grand Rolex on facebook, yet another seemingly happy to enjoy the trappings and material goods (remind yous of someone else?) before hes achieved anything of note in the pro ranks.

If these guys don't dedicate themselves fully then im afraid they'll be no marks against the imminent wave of Asian robotic winning machines who are totally focused and dedicated.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby Wildey

Witz78 wrote:just getting a chance to finally reply to this as obviously a dig at me haha

ive been proven right with everything with regards to the Hearn era so far and ive no doubt I will be proven right over this.

I have always said the fair time to judge this fully is after a 2 year period of flatter tournaments (ie. the end of next season)

whilst the youngsters rising to the fore may seem minimal at the moment, there has been a few signs, namely from the Asian players this season.

Ive got to admit im very disappointed in the attitude and form of some of the supposed leading European "youngsters" this season and I use the term Youngester loosely as I still class Trump as the leading figurehead of this and his attitude and form this season is laughable.

Others like Jamie Jones, Jack Lisowski, Michael White seem to have taken a step back in their careers when they really ought to be progressing and becoming serious contenders now swatting the older guard of journeymen to the side on their way to the top.

Another disappointment is Brecel, only tonight I see hes posted pics of his new 18 grand Rolex on facebook, yet another seemingly happy to enjoy the trappings and material goods (remind yous of someone else?) before hes achieved anything of note in the pro ranks.

If these guys don't dedicate themselves fully then im afraid they'll be no marks against the imminent wave of Asian robotic winning machines who are totally focused and dedicated.


flat system hasent exactly stopped older players getting further than they been for years even Marco up to 6th as a 35 year old highest hes ever been before.

No system will stop Good play the young guns aren't coming along at the adequate Level Jack Lisowski going backwards faster than he came forward.

under Barry Hearn so far more over 35s having the time of their lifes compared to under 25s.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby Witz78

I think the likes of Lisowski and others have slacked off bigtime and must have the arrogant attitude of "oh theres tons of events so i'll come good in a few of them and have decent runs"

that's pretty much a straight quote from Ronnies book and its pretty true id say. Players just thinking the law of averages means they'll do well at some point. Whereas the DIngs and Fus of this world are adapting to playing well in every event and being thoroughly professional.

I think at the moment the over 35s (the so called journeymen in many cases) are grasping the additional playing opportunities far more, as they remember snooker in the bad old days when playing and earning opportunities were few and far between, so there desperate to grab what cash from the game they can before the inevitable happens and they are over run by the new generation.

I'll make a bold prediction right now that by the 2016 World Championship half of the top 16 will be under 25 and also that half of the top 16 will be Asian.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby Wildey

Did Ronnie say that then

well i agree with him

Young players should think "im going to not only win every tournaments but destroy my opponents in every one of them"

For years hearing players say "ohhh its tough out there so many good players about" snake hissed me right off such a defeatist attitude before they reached the table.

to even begin to be a winner you cant think like that.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby Witz78

Yeh he followed it up with the analogy that modern players don't have the mentality of a Davis or a Hendry which we've all said at some point.

Yeh the hunger and right attitude just doesn't seem to exist with a lot of players at the moment, worryingly a lot of the young players who should be the hungriest. I think its partly down to a generational thing where over time generations get lazier than the generation before them and expect everything handed to them on a plate.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby SnookerFan

Didn't Judd make some comment on twitter before the IC, claiming he was going to win and make a 147?

Okay, he was the defending champion and has won other tournaments, so he's obviously above the likes of Lisowski. (In that Judd isn't an up and comer any more, he's fully arrived.)

However, it does highlight how some of the younger players enjoy the fame and adulation side of the game almost as much as the winning tournaments.

Re: Snooker the old man's Game

Postby roy142857

Witz78 wrote:I think the likes of Lisowski and others have slacked off bigtime and must have the arrogant attitude of "oh theres tons of events so i'll come good in a few of them and have decent runs"

that's pretty much a straight quote from Ronnies book and its pretty true id say. Players just thinking the law of averages means they'll do well at some point. Whereas the DIngs and Fus of this world are adapting to playing well in every event and being thoroughly professional.

I think at the moment the over 35s (the so called journeymen in many cases) are grasping the additional playing opportunities far more, as they remember snooker in the bad old days when playing and earning opportunities were few and far between, so there desperate to grab what cash from the game they can before the inevitable happens and they are over run by the new generation.

I'll make a bold prediction right now that by the 2016 World Championship half of the top 16 will be under 25 and also that half of the top 16 will be Asian.


I think you're right that the current crop of older players are reacting to the changed system, but not sure it's just 'grab the cash'. I think a lot felt cheated by playing in an era with so few opportunities, and they're hungry for what success they can grab too. There's an element (as you say) of the younger players thinking they have lots of time so 'why worry' too.

The Chinese clearly think along the same lines as yourself, in that when they have opportunities to enter players into tournaments, they ignore the older players in the belief that the young ones are the future and need the experience. So an older player such as Jū Rètí doesn't get wild card opportunities or get entered into the IBSF World Championship (16 year old Zhào Xīntóng and 15 year old Zhōu Yuèlóng entered for this years Mens Championship for instance, rather than just the Under 21 Championship).

However, I'm not sure I share your opinion - I think players with outstanding natural ability will emerge young, but I think most players need to learn a lot about shot choice, different ways of playing in different circumstances etc and they also need to learn to focus more, and so will emerge from the pack at a whole variety of ages.

I think the flat 128 draw is a bit of a barrier too, at least unless the way it is managed is altered. A declining player ranked between 50 and 64 gets to play their first ranking tournament match against a lower ranked player, probably half the time against players below 96. Whilst an up and coming young player ranked 65 - 80 (say) plays their first match against a higher ranked player, and half the time draws a player in the top 32. I just wish they'd only seed the top 32 or top 16 or whatever in some ranking tournaments - varying it is the key to not having players protected at some point in the rankings. So whilst I prefer flat draws, I think we've moved from one system that protected players who are in decline, to another system that does the same, although to a lesser extent.