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Robbo's idea of a pin-up calendar of topless snooker players

Postby Andre147

Just have a look at this after Robbo won his UK title: <laugh>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/others ... house.html

If fitness and snooker are not the most likely sporting bedfellows, new UK Champion Neil Robertson is adamant that slimming down can help your cueing action. The Australian, who became the eighth man to complete the set of World, UK and Masters titles on Sunday night in York, has installed a gym in his Cambridge home.

Instead of bulking up, he will be shaving off the excess pounds so essential is it to run the cue alongside the body as tightly as possible.

The 31-year-old said: ‘I used to do too much weight training years ago. You probably wouldn’t see it on me but I probably had a bit too much muscle. I put on about five or six kilos of muscle five years ago and I noticed a difference in my cueing. The cue was on a different spot on the chest and it affected me a lot. It’s a strange problem to have.
Slimmer figure: Neil Robertson kisses the UK Championship trophy after beating Mark Selby

Slimmer figure: Neil Robertson kisses the UK Championship trophy after beating Mark Selby

‘And Judd Trump put on a bit of size after he got to the final of the world championship and started played pretty poorly, too. He’s got back down to mega-slim now.

‘Snooker isn’t a sport where you can put on bulk muscle. It’s about the cueing and the stamina. I’ve been doing no weight training at all recently, just cardio work and core strength, things like that.

'The more muscle I’m losing, the better I’m cueing. Now I’m down to the size I want to be. I’ve got everything set up in my house now. I’m too lazy to get up and do it myself though so I’m going to get some fitness trainer or drill sergeant to come to my house four times a week to whip me into shape.

‘Look at the guys who are winning tournaments now – myself, Ding Junhui, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Marco Fu – the slimmer guys on the tour.’
Problem: The Australian has said a player's cue action is put off by too much muscle or bulk

Problem: The Australian has said a player's cue action is put off by too much muscle or bulk

As unlikely as a snooker pin-up calendar out of their waistcoats might have been in the days of giant Canadian Bill Werbeniuk, Robertson would sign up for posing topless if the sport’s supremo Barry Hearn took up the idea.

He added: ‘Yes, I’d be up for a calendar. Get me a bit of a spray tan going and I’d do that in a few months. I’m sure Judd would, too. He’ll be the first one there. Jack Lisowski as well. Maybe Barry will get it going.’

Robertson’s 10-7 triumph over Mark Selby helped him to retain the world No 1ranking ahead of the Englishman and stretched the run of successive ranking tournaments won by overseas players to six, with China’s Ding and Fu of Hong Kong the other recent winners. That run is all the more surprising given that 89 of the 128 professionals on the snooker tour are British.

Robertson believes that the wider geographical spread of tournaments under the new regime led by Hearn is the key.
Every small advantage: Judd Trump is another who is slimmer than he used to be

Every small advantage: Judd Trump is another who is slimmer than he used to be

‘Now that everybody has to travel, it is more even stevens. It used to be that a lot of the ranking tournaments were in Britain so British players could just drive an hour up the road and be there. I’ve had to travel from the other side of the world to play and live in the UK.

‘Obviously with a lot of events in China, that doesn’t suit me as much as Ding in terms of the culture and perhaps the food and weather, but all of the players are travelling now. The fact that the sport is much more worldwide is allowing the overseas players to compete and play on a more even playing field which I think is what World Snooker really wanted. It is really helping the game to boom.

‘One of the seasons that I fell off the tour I had to fly over from Australia to play one qualifying game in the first round, lost and then that was it, there were no more tournaments for five months so I had to fly back home.

‘And some of the pros have been complaining about the 128-player flat draw format that we have now. I mean, Gee Whizz. These guys are driving an hour up the road and they’re complaining because it’s a flat draw. It’s mind-boggling, it really is.
In the points: As well as Robertson, China's Ding Junhui has won several ranking events recently

In the points: As well as Robertson, China's Ding Junhui has won several ranking events recently

‘I never thought that the old system was fair. We’re all in the draw now from the first round like in tennis. It’s a much fairer system and it will benefit the game in the long run. The players who don’t look after themselves physically and mentally and the ones who like the nights out a bit too much, then they are the ones who suffer. The sport’s a lot more professional now.’

Having won the World, UK and Masters treble, Robertson now wants more of the same, beginning with next month’s Masters event at Alexandra Palace.

‘I’m just going to try and win the worlds, the UK and Masters multiple times now. That’s why I was so happy to win tonight because I’ve won all three now. I’ve got the set and I’ve won tournaments in China, so there’s nothing that I haven’t won in the game.

'It’s an amazing feeling. I just want to go to the Masters tonight and play the same way that I did in the second session tonight, try and win there and keep the run going.’

I know full well if this was extended to the refs who Snookerfan wanted to see topless rofl :-D

Re: Robbo's idea of a pin-up calendar of topless snooker pla

Postby GJ

Andre147 PGC wrote:What do you make of this brilliant idea from Robbo GJ? rofl rofl rofl



Did muppet or jewell drug him before the interview :gag:

Re: Robbo's idea of a pin-up calendar of topless snooker pla

Postby Skullman

Andre147 PGC wrote:I know full well if this was extended to the refs who Snookerfan wanted to see topless rofl :-D


Jan?

In all seriousness, typical Daily Mail to have an interview with the UK Champ and take a tiny sentence about a topless calendar to make the headline. Still, if it goes ahead, another reason to be glad that Stephen Lee's not allowed on tour anymore.

Re: Robbo's idea of a pin-up calendar of topless snooker pla

Postby Sickpotter

IMO Robertson's analysis/hypothesis that being overweight or bulking up is a negative for your cue action is somewhat short-sighted and places blame in the wrong area.

Steven Lee was/is considered to have one of the best cue actions in the game, how can that be given his build?

It's not about being big or small, it's about not changing your body build to an extent that it will change your fundamentals.

If a small guy bigs up he can't stand the same way to the shot that he used to. Same with a big guy slimming down. His alignment has changed, not his cue action.

Physical injuries are more likely to affect your cue action, physical build changes affect your alignment.

Re: Robbo's idea of a pin-up calendar of topless snooker pla

Postby Andy Spark

I've only just seen this too, but I think it's a great idea! They would obviously need to pick the players carefully (i.e. get the fittest ones in), but with snooker players now starting to take fitness levels more seriously, what better way of showing that snooker is now a serious sport where physical fitness levels are required and not a "pub" sport like darts.

The one thing to be concerned about is they would need to be careful to make it "classy"; you know the kind of thing, moody dark lighting, a proper pro job. Also, and to tie in with the classy approach, I don't think it should all be "topless", the uniform of snooker is a classic uniform with a "James bond" appeal, use it. :-)