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hypothetical question....

Postby Smart

If 2 players were booked to play a challenge match over 3 days, best of 35, would you watch it....?

I'm asking as life seems to be moving into a wham bam era. Tournaments are condensed, matches are condensed, shot clocks are sometimes used.

I'd like to hark back to the old smokey conservative club type atmosphere with gents sat round a table and 2 top players slugging it out......LONG DISTANCE.

For me its what's missing from modern day snooker.

I think watching that Rack Pack drama has triggered this thread.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Wildey

Great post

and in answer to the hypothetical question.

For me prestige comes from the challenge faced and a 4 session match no matter the event is a challenge and therefore will be higher in prestige than the UK Championship

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Smart

Wildey wrote:Great post

and in answer to the hypothetical question.

For me prestige comes from the challenge faced and a 4 session match no matter the event is a challenge and therefore will be higher in prestige than the UK Championship


Its the biggest issue for me in snooker. When each tournament comes initially of course I'm interested and then they are all a bit samey.

Like you say session snooker is something to cherish - so why not more than just once a year at the worlds ?

Session snooker totally works as a concept.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Wildey

Smart wrote:
Wildey wrote:Great post

and in answer to the hypothetical question.

For me prestige comes from the challenge faced and a 4 session match no matter the event is a challenge and therefore will be higher in prestige than the UK Championship


Its the biggest issue for me in snooker. When each tournament comes initially of course I'm interested and then they are all a bit samey.

Like you say session snooker is something to cherish - so why not more than just once a year at the worlds ?

Session snooker totally works as a concept.

Its important to have variety and Short matches are over killed at the moment just too much of the same format from May to April.

The UK Needs to step up and be counted as a major once again.

Going back to the 80s when "Snooker Ruled the World" there was Best of 35, 31, 25 and 23 frame finals.

so if snooker was so popular back then why change things.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Cloud Strife

Smart wrote:If 2 players were booked to play a challenge match over 3 days, best of 35, would you watch it....?

I'm asking as life seems to be moving into a wham bam era. Tournaments are condensed, matches are condensed, shot clocks are sometimes used.

I'd like to hark back to the old smokey conservative club type atmosphere with gents sat round a table and 2 top players slugging it out......LONG DISTANCE.

For me its what's missing from modern day snooker.

I think watching that Rack Pack drama has triggered this thread.


Yes, I would watch. I'd go further and say increase it from 35 frames to best of 49 over 3 or 4 days, and it'd be spectacular IMO.

You could have a challenge match to kick off the season between the current world champion versus the current world number 1 or 2. Best of 49 frames played over 3 days. Chuck in 50k to the winner and broadcast it Sky Sports.

It could be snooker's version of the Community Shield or UEFA Super Cup.

I'd probably be more excited for this than some of the other invitational stuff like the Masters or CoC. I want something I can get my teeth into, so much of today's snooker is wham bam, as you pointed out.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Smart

Cloud Strife wrote:
Smart wrote:If 2 players were booked to play a challenge match over 3 days, best of 35, would you watch it....?

I'm asking as life seems to be moving into a wham bam era. Tournaments are condensed, matches are condensed, shot clocks are sometimes used.

I'd like to hark back to the old smokey conservative club type atmosphere with gents sat round a table and 2 top players slugging it out......LONG DISTANCE.

For me its what's missing from modern day snooker.

I think watching that Rack Pack drama has triggered this thread.


Yes, I would watch. I'd go further and say increase it from 35 frames to best of 49 over 3 or 4 days, and it'd be spectacular IMO.

You could have a challenge match to kick off the season between the current world champion versus the current world number 1 or 2. Best of 49 frames played over 3 days. Chuck in 50k to the winner and broadcast it Sky Sports.

It could be snooker's version of the Community Shield or UEFA Super Cup.

I'd probably be more excited for this than some of the other invitational stuff like the Masters or CoC. I want something I can get my teeth into, so much of today's snooker is wham bam, as you pointed out.


I do like that idea. For TV access you could have the challenge match over Friday, Saturday and Sunday....very early September. SKY could cover it and have some proper snooker, and they would love it as it would fill up their schedule nicely. <ok>

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby LC

I much prefer the longer matches, but it won't happen in today's climate, in fact I worry the world champs is reduced in length

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Smart

LC wrote:I much prefer the longer matches, but it won't happen in today's climate, in fact I worry the world champs is reduced in length

Probably if that happened it would kill the sport for me. I'm not being over dramatic. Serious. :wave:

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Pink Ball

Smart wrote:
LC wrote:I much prefer the longer matches, but it won't happen in today's climate, in fact I worry the world champs is reduced in length

Probably if that happened it would kill the sport for me. I'm not being over dramatic. Serious. :wave:

It would absolutely kill my love of snooker.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby Cloud Strife

Smart wrote:
LC wrote:I much prefer the longer matches, but it won't happen in today's climate, in fact I worry the world champs is reduced in length

Probably if that happened it would kill the sport for me. I'm not being over dramatic. Serious. :wave:


Snooker would be dead to me if that happened. I would no longer watch at all, true story.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby SnookerFan

Yeah, snake hissing around with the format to the World Championship would be the worst thing to ever happen to snooker.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby LC

Probably something similar to the U.K. Where matches are finished in one session or one day, no three or four sessions , all because apparently with people's modern life Styles we don't have the time or patience

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby eraserhead

Maybe if there where a couple of exhibition best of 35's it would show Hern interest in them, I would love to see the uk get 2 session semi finals at least . I've been to legends events and it just isn't the same, can't take Ronnie v White seriously. Drama comes from occasion, title, opponent.

Re: hypothetical question....

Postby KrazeeEyezKilla

The World Championship wont be changed as it stands because it has 17 days of TV coverage with twelve morning sessions, if you cut the length of matches you simply wouldn't have enough snooker to cover. That's the difference between it an the UK which has only nine.

The Challenge match idea is good but would be a risk. If it ended up a close and entertaining game then it would be great. The danger is that you could end up with a one-sided game that finishes early. Or a match like the World Final in 2010 which was poor to watch and was only saved by the importance of the occasion, which wouldn't be the case at any other event.

In general I think with long format ranking events you need about two weeks to do it right. You wouldn't run off a tennis Grand Slam in nine days. You could reduce the Masters to eight players which would allow long matches with the CoC taking over the Masters format.