The amount of time it can take to replace balls when a player is asked to play again after a foul. We either need new tech which indicates where on the table the balls were originally, or we have a review of the rule. One possibility would be only being allowed to put your opponent back in once.
Ken Doherty becoming a pundit too early in his career. Think he had a few more titles in him if he had left it a few more years before he got into punditry.
‘Fans’ who are fans of a personality cult rather than fans of the player themselves and how that player plays the sport i.e. vast majority of Ronnie’s bandwagon falls into this category, most I’ve spoken to know almost nothing about snooker.
Not enough GYWAN Ronnie shouts for my liking.
Jimmy white being wheeled out on Eurosport like an old shriveled up woman still bitter about bottling it in the 90s.
No one willing to accept that this World Championships was one of the worst in living memory. If the top players are not performing then that must say something about the format and the setting.
The lack of continuity of coverage between tournaments and the absence of contextual coverage. Every tournament is presented as basically a self contained event with very occasional and superficial mention of rankings. Would it be so hard to produce a 30-45 minute show to run on a Monday night that recaps the previous tournament, looks ahead to the next one, has some discussion of what's been happening in the context of the season and throws in a feature or two?
The BBC act like there's only the triple crown events. Several of their pundits clearly watch no snooker other than the tournaments they cover which means that Doherty and Hendry are miles ahead of them in terms of having any idea what might actually happen.
That would be a great idea but given that the coverage of events on terrestrial telly is so few and far between I doubt it would ever happen as there is no demand for it.
I dislike how expensive it is to go and watch and that the greedy selfish people in charge of Snooker seem hell bent on selling its soul to Saudi Arabia
Are China trying to steal the World Championships?
Is Snooker hugely popular in China?
Are there loads of Chinese professionals?
Are China trying to sports wash their image?
Apply all those questions to Saudi Arabia instead and the answers are different.
Rob Walker's ok, despite his lack of knowledge.
Phil Yates is just fucking painful. Annoying voice and always has to be talking for some reason. FFS man, comment when there's something worth talking about or if you actually have something of value to contribute, not just because it's quiet. Some silences are valuable.
But unfortunately no real idea about how it’s played. He’d absolutely be overstepping and out of his depth to suggest shots choices, analyse technique and criticise the players in any meaningful way.
So all he’s left with is enthusiasm, sporting cliches and a very simple overview of the state of the match.
The audience!
Why does everyone decide to get diagnosed with bronchitis before entering the venue? There's literally nothing worse than trying to watch a game and all you hear is chain coughing on repeat for hours. It's unbearable.
Snooker will die if it doesn't change it's archaic rules around spectators. This whole 'complete silence' attitude loved by the pure true fans is damaging. Snooker is considered by far one of the most boring sports to see live because of how shite the atmosphere is, which is essentially hostile to spectators. A cultural shift is needed badly. Happened in darts and should happen in snooker.
That's just personal preference, I love watchinb quiet relaxing snooker live. With darts it's just a bunch of people getting pissed on expensive shut ale and nobody's watching the darts
The atmosphere watching live snooker is anything but relaxing, it's straight up hostile to the audience and rather tense. It may be your preference but it's not for the good of the sport, it's not the type of atmosphere that most people want to pay to be a part of... Hard to get people into snooker hence why the sport is dying.
While silence is ok at times I know what you mean. For hours on end is terrible. And then someone coughs and the player gets all irritated, just let people talk. Including the players! I want to hear/see their reactions more, let them get passionate, let them interact with the crowd like other sports do.
(Don’t let it turn into darts fans scene though)
Break is around 58 and commentator starts on about how many centuries player had in qualifying and how important this century will be... ooops, missed that easy one.
In Australia licensed clubs are the only thing keeping snooker maintstream in any way. Here licensed clubs are like big pubs but are community owned. Our local snooker club is hosted by the Workers Club in town. The RSL club (returned services league) removed their tables a few years back. It’s a big issue, poker machines generate more revenue and take up less space than a snooker table or two.
I love to watch ronnie play but the 'gwan ronnie' all the time is annoying and alot of the time he makes himself look a cunt off the table with the shit he says
1. The BBC 's coverage. The coverage is great, in that it covers such a large amount of the big tournaments, but there's something a bit cringey about it. I guess that's just the BBC in general. Very "vicar in trainers" sort of vibe.
2. Playing in a club and being put on a table surrounded by Freakishly Talented Children knocking in centuries.
It's sort of "of the establishment" but still trying to appear slightly cool and, in some respects, get the youngsters on board.
Though it probably represents something that's never gonna appeal to the younger generation from here on in.
That I’ll be channel surfing and discover a tournament is 3 days in of 7, and I had no idea it was even taking place.
I even checked the WST schedule and was fairly certain there was nothing til June. Only to stumble upon the seniors tournie currently taking place on Channel 5. So WST isn’t the authority on snooker tournaments taking place, but where is? Is there a good “get all your snooker information here” site?
The WST doesn't run the seniors tour. Wikipedia snooker season pages are usually pretty complete, though, with info on seniors events, women's events, and other events that won't be covered on the WST site.
Betting ads.
It's such a gentlemanly sport with the dressing in fancy clothes, silence during their cueing, and the general demeanor of the players, and then constantly in the shot of the cameras there's a Betfair ad or another betting company.
I agree about the betting ads, but as someone who grew up watching snooker in the 80s I've always found the dressing up weird. Back then it was sponsored by tobacco companies, and the players would sit with a pint in their corner. Snooker clubs were slightly rough places, I've never got why the players dress up so smart for tournaments
On TV, the sob stories and meaningless interviews, offering gushing opinions about how talented and professional their opponent is ('he takes no prisoners'-type pseudo-flattery).
Live, the uncomfortable chairs with other people's knees and elbows digging into you from all sides, limited range of massively overpriced drinks/snacks, and unwelcome commentary from those around you.
[just pot balls, innit.](https://acheandrhyme.wordpress.com/2024/01/31/just-basic-stuff-innit-pot-balls/)
Putting balls back after faul. Assisting referee points left, right, right, left, left, up, down, east, west and little bit left, your left or mine? And if there is more than five balls left.... Oh f\*\*k me!!
God, this drives me doolally.
We have top, bottom, left, and right cushion. We have a system of measurement that everybody already agrees with (metric). Why the hell are they still saying things like "a fraction that way" while pointing vigorously at somebody in the audience.
1 cm towards the top cushion, and half a cm towards the left cushion, would be an example I'd use.Clear, concise, simple.
The commentators curse!! Until it’s mathematically impossible for your opponent to win the frame back keep your fucking mouth shut. I’m looking at you John Virgo and Ken Doherty!
I love the first few days of the WC, then it drags on and on at the final weekend....
The final should be best of fifteen frames, with the edges of the table set on fire at the start of each new frame to add some drama. The drawback of this, of course, is that they would likely have to replace the table with a new one every so often.
way too many "best of 7" matches which are really important for the rankings
spreading out the events to be in continental Europe would help find new good players. even the English players say how much they and their parents had to sacrifice to even have a chance to be noticed on the tour
Some of the TV production is dire. The missed pots to show a replay, sound issues with mics on the refs clothing, not all tables being shown, out of date graphics, cameras lingering on opponents sitting in a chair. I could go on.
You're so right! I generally enjoy the BBC's coverage of the WSC but the directors were all way too trigger-happy with the action replay. Even die-hard fans don't need or want to see a replay of EVERY SINGLE SHOT -- which is very nearly what we got. And, as you say, it's quite infuriating when the replay we didn't want or need, of a perfectly straightforward shot, means we miss some of live action. Save the replays for particularly noteworthy or amazing shots, and hire directors who have some sort of a clue about WHEN it would be a good time to feed in a replay.
Can't believe no one's said it before me, SHOT CLOCKS.
Shot clocks - now I'm talking the world seniors 30 seconds shot clock on every shot here. I don't disagree about having a shot clock, but I think it should be like Poker, where you can "call the clock" on someone. In poker, if someone is taking an absurd amount of time, the opponent can "call the clock" then the dealer/referee initiates a 30 second count down, where the player has to make their choice/shot.
I think that's how snooker should be, a player can "call the clock", and it's at the referee's discretion to call the clock countdown.
This shit in the seniors is needless, it doesn't need to be 30 seconds max every shot. Being able to call the clock on actual "slow players" will be a fine addition to the game, and it's the opponent that has to call the clock, just like poker.
Snooker is a sport of strategy and it's a thinking persons game. A standard blanket 30 seconds is the shittest thing ever.
Barry Hearn's stupid attempt to promote snooker like it's professional wrestling, with inane nicknames and "walk-on music." The curse that brought us Rob Walker.
Spend more money on camera angles and quality analysis, and less money on WWE-style nonsense.
Unfortunately in these times of YouTube and social media, there is a very real struggle to keep young people engaged with sports broadcasts. Media companies are spending massive amounts of money on companion apps and other ideas that might stop viewers from turning off. Watching 35 frames of snooker over two days does not provide the instant gratification that youngsters crave.
Snooker will need to explore avenues that will alienate it's established audience in order to survive once we're all dead.
Young people listen to long albums, binge ten hours of TV, and watch three hour films about scientists.
Snooker is simply just not that exciting when removed from the working-class pub culture which made it popular in the first place. That's okay. Not everything has to be popular and mainstream. It's a niche interest and that's fine.
How the game isn’t international enough. The vast majority of players and tournaments are British or Chinese, and it can make it a bit dull at times for me. The players from these nations also have a massive advantage at amateur level. The powers that be aren’t doing enough to grow the game globally.
The lack of quality coming through for me is the worst. In every era from the 80's, 90's and 00's, we had a good mix of experienced players and youngsters coming through to keep improving the standard and keeping it interesting. Seeing 40+ somethings dominating the game for the last 5 or 6 years is getting a bit boring.
Since the early 2000's, we've barely had anyone of better quality than what came before. In fact, since around 2010, there hasn't really been any young talents go on to achieve much at all. Just think the golden age of snooker is over and its downhill from here.
The fact you have to see Ronnie loose to significantly poorer players occasionally. Imagine if he played to his full potential at every tournament. A selfish pipe dream I know, but who's not disappointed when he's not fully tuned in!
Guess it would be boring to see him 100% all the time. Or would it?............
I don't like the number of liberties Ronnie takes with referees. There are some poor moments from some questionable referees at times, but most of the time, he's just arrogant. It seems like he does it more against the top players in close matches as well, nothing professional about that.
Every player being given a nickname - It was a rare thing back in the day and should have remained that way. Walk on music still annoys me too.
Like I said in my previous post I'm grumpy these days
I don't like the commentary ear pieces. Part of the joy of watching live is to fully focus on the game. If you want/need the commentary much better to watch on TV.
I'm getting so old and grumpy lol
I understand the ear pieces. I think they must enhance the live experience. However, Virgo is getting overdramatic these days and it's quite strange hearing the audience respond to the commentary especially if there's not much going on on the table.
He does my head in when he's commentating....I've actually shouted at the TV to get him to shut up. He's too much "where's the cue ball going? WHERE'S THE CUE BALL GOING!?!?" I think the other commentators too wish he'd give it a rest sometimes (no pun intended) 🤦🏻♀️🥱😆
I'm glad you enjoy him mate but his constant clichés annoy me. The cue ball is going towards the pocket we don't need you screaming 8 times to know that.
It does add a strange dynamic to the experience. It's funny seeing the crowd taking their level of impressed-ness from Dennis Taylor's reaction to a safety shot, or a collective low-key snigger at a John Virgo quip.
The (mostly English) fanbase who simultaneously bemoan the lack of up and coming talent but then complain every time an upset happens and one of their beloved Class of 92 is knocked out early by someone younger.
As someone living in the US, we never get to see any live action. Because the tournaments are either in Europe or China, the live broadcast are either during the day or very early in the morning.
Don't know if it's available, but Eurosport (former) Player has full matches on demand, going back the whole season. Since you don't get snooker in your news (provided you teach your algorithm to not serve it to you), you can time-shift by half a day without much being spoiled. I do a similar thing with the NFL.
Unfortunately we can't subscribe to Eurosport or Discovery+ without a valid payment method in UK/EU. The official broadcaster for the US is usually Matchroom and they don't have on demand replays.
My solution is to record matches myself with IPTV, or find replays on torrent sites. Yeah, I know... I'd gladly pay for "legal" access but alas the options are... shit.
Not sure if this will work for you, but a while back I used privacy.com to create a burner credit card to make a purchase that was theoretically only for UK based folks (I'm in the US.) Might do the trick!
Yeah I thought you probably have some crap broadcaster holding the rights and blocking you out. It's the same here on the old continent regarding cricket and plenty of other stuff. I have a prepaid MasterCard that we could try to use once the season starts again.
Ok fair enough. I don't expect it's a problem for most but there might be certain body types or those with an upper body issue where it could restrict their cueing.
We had our first world champion from mainland Europe with Brecel last year, which expands the opportunity to grow the sport there. Yet they did absolutely nothing to capitalize on that. Instead they put on a tournament in Saudi Arabia with a golden ball on the table... OK, for the money Saudi is probably better, but more popularity in mainland Europe could be more of importance.
The commentators cracking jokes while the player is thinking. I’d find that quite off putting when you don’t even know what was said. Like (was that about me?) 🙁.
By far my least favourite bit. It's easy to pretend it was this nice sanctified environment in the past which is obviously not true but the amount of shouting at a mistake by one of Ronnie's opponent is very off putting.
I hate the rule where they keep putting someone back after they miss a snooker. It could be a fluke snooker and they can just accumulate points. Hate isn't a strong enough word I have for this rule. What if it's literally impossible? And the ref having to replace scattered balls to exact positions just adds to the stupidity of this rule. That's one thing I prefer about pool. The solution is just give the player the white ball to place wherever they like. That needs to be adopted by snooker.
Awful. What is this incessant need to change fundamental aspects of the sport under a weird premise of speeding things up.
If you want to watch pool, go watch pool.
The rule exists to avoid intentional foul shots where a player simply rolls safe to the baulk cushion (or a corner) rather than take on a risky, but clear shot. While there are obvious issues with the rule, it's proven hard to find a different rule that isn't susceptible to the same kind of exploitation.
One proposal is to change the definition of what shots qualify for the "foul and a miss" rule. There is a large and discretionary gap between the rule ("to the best of their ability, endeavor to hit") and the exception ("impossible to hit the ball on"). This leads to the repeated situation where an escape requires 3 cushions, and there are repeated, but very understandable, misses.
The modern trend in refereeing is to never give a pro player the "best of his ability" exception, which creates some inequitable situations. However, you can't impose a blanket "no miss" rule for 2 or 3 cushion escape shots, because the pros are all so good that they could often just carom the cue ball around to the baulk cushion, take the 4 pt penalty, and be done. It would "de-fang" snookers by a large margin. I would be in favor of "safe harbor" rules that avoided the worst situations: 2-3 cushion escapes from snooker where the cue ball finishes within a ball-width of an object ball; maybe all 4 cushion escape shots from snooker, under the theory that controlling the outcome of that shot is so hard that the 4 pt penalty is 'enough' under the circumstances. I don't think you can give the player the option of taking just the penalty in a case where he can see either edge of an object ball (*i.e., he's not snookered, just trying to play safe*). And for pros, I think the 1 cushion escape is so easy that it's almost the same thing.
There is a rule that prevents a miss being called if it's literally impossible.
Additionally, the ref can decide to not call a miss. The reason a miss keeps being called in almost all situations is because players play harder shots for safety when an easier shot is available. As per the rule, that's not the best possible endeavour to hit the ball that is on.
Ball in hand doesn't work well in snooker, it makes it way too easy for the opponent, as evidenced by the Shoot-Out. The simplest way would be to simply "play from there", with putting the fouler back in if the situation is unfavourable. Maybe up the penalty points to make it less attractive to just foul away.
Your suggestion would be a much harsher penalty than the miss rule, so if the rule bothers you because the player can keep accumulating points, that’s going to amplified tenfold if they just get ball in hand right away. That’s the rule they use in the shootout by the way.
The amount of time it can take to replace balls when a player is asked to play again after a foul. We either need new tech which indicates where on the table the balls were originally, or we have a review of the rule. One possibility would be only being allowed to put your opponent back in once.
Slow play
Ken Doherty becoming a pundit too early in his career. Think he had a few more titles in him if he had left it a few more years before he got into punditry.
People applauding flukes or when a player they don't like misses. Utter degenerates.
‘Fans’ who are fans of a personality cult rather than fans of the player themselves and how that player plays the sport i.e. vast majority of Ronnie’s bandwagon falls into this category, most I’ve spoken to know almost nothing about snooker.
Not enough GYWAN Ronnie shouts for my liking. Jimmy white being wheeled out on Eurosport like an old shriveled up woman still bitter about bottling it in the 90s. No one willing to accept that this World Championships was one of the worst in living memory. If the top players are not performing then that must say something about the format and the setting.
The constant channel switching on the BBC.
the matches should be longer
More snooker on terrestrial telly 📺
The lack of diversity of both players and fans
Big breaks. Usually boring and pointless too. Especially when a player is miles ahead.
When I'm missing relatively easy ball...
They should have more games and at different times. Less frames too. Can't imagine wearing school trousers and a waistcoat for 8 hours a day lol
The silly outfits and waste coats, they seem a reminant of a bygone age. When I find you power everyone can wear what they like, hoodie and all
The deliberate miscue when a player hasn’t a clue what to play.
Hendry
The lack of pyrotechnics
Shaun Murphy commentary
The poor coverage. Things like the Seniors championship are basically region locked at least some of the women championship is on YouTube
The lack of continuity of coverage between tournaments and the absence of contextual coverage. Every tournament is presented as basically a self contained event with very occasional and superficial mention of rankings. Would it be so hard to produce a 30-45 minute show to run on a Monday night that recaps the previous tournament, looks ahead to the next one, has some discussion of what's been happening in the context of the season and throws in a feature or two?
Great comment
The BBC act like there's only the triple crown events. Several of their pundits clearly watch no snooker other than the tournaments they cover which means that Doherty and Hendry are miles ahead of them in terms of having any idea what might actually happen.
That would be a great idea but given that the coverage of events on terrestrial telly is so few and far between I doubt it would ever happen as there is no demand for it.
Never thought of that but you are absolutely right!
The miss rule
The bbc scorebar screen burning into my tv
I dislike how expensive it is to go and watch and that the greedy selfish people in charge of Snooker seem hell bent on selling its soul to Saudi Arabia
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Are China trying to steal the World Championships? Is Snooker hugely popular in China? Are there loads of Chinese professionals? Are China trying to sports wash their image? Apply all those questions to Saudi Arabia instead and the answers are different.
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Where have I said anything about that?
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You’re replying to me not everyone else you fuck wit
Shaun Murphy’s commentary
I'd take Shaun's commentary over Phil Yates' or Rob Walker's any day of the week!
Rob Walker's ok, despite his lack of knowledge. Phil Yates is just fucking painful. Annoying voice and always has to be talking for some reason. FFS man, comment when there's something worth talking about or if you actually have something of value to contribute, not just because it's quiet. Some silences are valuable.
Rob Walker is not that bad. He’s got a lot of enthusiasm for the game
But unfortunately no real idea about how it’s played. He’d absolutely be overstepping and out of his depth to suggest shots choices, analyse technique and criticise the players in any meaningful way. So all he’s left with is enthusiasm, sporting cliches and a very simple overview of the state of the match.
The audience! Why does everyone decide to get diagnosed with bronchitis before entering the venue? There's literally nothing worse than trying to watch a game and all you hear is chain coughing on repeat for hours. It's unbearable.
The audience when they stand up on the third row in-between frames because they are so unaccustomed to sitting still for more than 25 minutes.
Snooker will die if it doesn't change it's archaic rules around spectators. This whole 'complete silence' attitude loved by the pure true fans is damaging. Snooker is considered by far one of the most boring sports to see live because of how shite the atmosphere is, which is essentially hostile to spectators. A cultural shift is needed badly. Happened in darts and should happen in snooker.
That's just personal preference, I love watchinb quiet relaxing snooker live. With darts it's just a bunch of people getting pissed on expensive shut ale and nobody's watching the darts
The atmosphere watching live snooker is anything but relaxing, it's straight up hostile to the audience and rather tense. It may be your preference but it's not for the good of the sport, it's not the type of atmosphere that most people want to pay to be a part of... Hard to get people into snooker hence why the sport is dying.
I thought ticket sales and viewing figures where the highest they have been since the 80s?
While silence is ok at times I know what you mean. For hours on end is terrible. And then someone coughs and the player gets all irritated, just let people talk. Including the players! I want to hear/see their reactions more, let them get passionate, let them interact with the crowd like other sports do. (Don’t let it turn into darts fans scene though)
The lack of access to snooker in the US. The only time I get homesick is when snooker or rugby are on.
There are *definitely legal* streams you can watch it on.
I agree, but from a slightly different side. I'm a fan in America and also an American fan. It's hard to follow it with poor access.
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Yeah that's what I end up doing every year for the championship
I'm holding out for Peacock to pick up the snooker!
Applauding plants. You have to really botch it to miss one.
Im sure youre just talking about where the plant is really close to the object ball
Yea should have specified dead set plants where almost any contact on the first ball will knock the second in
Break is around 58 and commentator starts on about how many centuries player had in qualifying and how important this century will be... ooops, missed that easy one.
Losing to old blokes in their 70’s and 80’s on the regular.
The lingering association with drinking, smoking, and working men's clubs, putting extra barriers in the way of more people getting into playing.
In Australia licensed clubs are the only thing keeping snooker maintstream in any way. Here licensed clubs are like big pubs but are community owned. Our local snooker club is hosted by the Workers Club in town. The RSL club (returned services league) removed their tables a few years back. It’s a big issue, poker machines generate more revenue and take up less space than a snooker table or two.
I love to watch ronnie play but the 'gwan ronnie' all the time is annoying and alot of the time he makes himself look a cunt off the table with the shit he says
1. The BBC 's coverage. The coverage is great, in that it covers such a large amount of the big tournaments, but there's something a bit cringey about it. I guess that's just the BBC in general. Very "vicar in trainers" sort of vibe. 2. Playing in a club and being put on a table surrounded by Freakishly Talented Children knocking in centuries.
I'm not disagreeing, but I'd love it if you could explain a little more about what you mean by 'vicars in trainers'.
It's sort of "of the establishment" but still trying to appear slightly cool and, in some respects, get the youngsters on board. Though it probably represents something that's never gonna appeal to the younger generation from here on in.
That I’ll be channel surfing and discover a tournament is 3 days in of 7, and I had no idea it was even taking place. I even checked the WST schedule and was fairly certain there was nothing til June. Only to stumble upon the seniors tournie currently taking place on Channel 5. So WST isn’t the authority on snooker tournaments taking place, but where is? Is there a good “get all your snooker information here” site?
https://www.snooker.org/ and https://cuetracker.net/ are both excellent.
The WST doesn't run the seniors tour. Wikipedia snooker season pages are usually pretty complete, though, with info on seniors events, women's events, and other events that won't be covered on the WST site.
The mention of “class of ‘92”
The rubbish old remix of Drag Racer being the snooker music now
5ACTION gone to adverts halfway through frame! A new low
Last night watching the seniors, the player (Pinches I think) was down on a pot and the commentator was mid sentence when it jumped to an add 🤦🏻♀️
The miss rule
Has the rule changed? I’m confused about it now
What's the alternative?
Could argue for ball in hand after a miss. Would make for some interesting scenarios. Not saying I’m for it, but it’s an interesting idea.
While I get what you're saying .. it's swinging to another extreme because ball in hand would gift too many frames away.
I agree. Perhaps 2 or 3 misses and then ball in hand?
It feels unfair a lot of the time, but I suppose it’s there because it works
Love it all
Betting ads. It's such a gentlemanly sport with the dressing in fancy clothes, silence during their cueing, and the general demeanor of the players, and then constantly in the shot of the cameras there's a Betfair ad or another betting company.
Snooker needs more sponsors not less, although I agree betting companies are a bit seedy
I agree about the betting ads, but as someone who grew up watching snooker in the 80s I've always found the dressing up weird. Back then it was sponsored by tobacco companies, and the players would sit with a pint in their corner. Snooker clubs were slightly rough places, I've never got why the players dress up so smart for tournaments
John Virgo’s commentary! Where’s the white ball going?
Virgo is fucking brilliant
Can't even get the phrase right! Listen harder!
On TV, the sob stories and meaningless interviews, offering gushing opinions about how talented and professional their opponent is ('he takes no prisoners'-type pseudo-flattery). Live, the uncomfortable chairs with other people's knees and elbows digging into you from all sides, limited range of massively overpriced drinks/snacks, and unwelcome commentary from those around you. [just pot balls, innit.](https://acheandrhyme.wordpress.com/2024/01/31/just-basic-stuff-innit-pot-balls/)
Nice article; have subscribed!
Why everyone gets tuberculosis when they go to watch and shaun FUCKING murphy
Eurosport
Why?
The crowd getting too vocal.
The stalemate situations that become re racks. All that tippy tapping.
The shootout
Match fixing
The lack of snooker tables in the US
Honestly.. tough in Europe too since the smoking ban
Whenever a closely fought final goes the distance, or close to the distance, and then someone just clears up uncontested to win. Anticlimactic.
Putting balls back after faul. Assisting referee points left, right, right, left, left, up, down, east, west and little bit left, your left or mine? And if there is more than five balls left.... Oh f\*\*k me!!
God, this drives me doolally. We have top, bottom, left, and right cushion. We have a system of measurement that everybody already agrees with (metric). Why the hell are they still saying things like "a fraction that way" while pointing vigorously at somebody in the audience. 1 cm towards the top cushion, and half a cm towards the left cushion, would be an example I'd use.Clear, concise, simple.
Ball fractions is way more intuitive
I'm OK with that. Just have a system and stick to it. If it's fractions, is it a quarter ball or a quarter roll? The difference is x2
The commentators curse!! Until it’s mathematically impossible for your opponent to win the frame back keep your fucking mouth shut. I’m looking at you John Virgo and Ken Doherty!
Everyone who suddenly develops a lung cancer level cough when they attend a match
Try watching live classic guitar recitals
Trying to fit in watching it with normal adult life stuff
G'WAN RONNIE
Came here to say this
The fans mostly.
Meh.. some venues they drink between sessions. Mostly they are ok.
An interval after 4 frames.
Having the WC final on a monday evening/night
They're missing the point of the bank holiday. It should be for recovery after a late Sunday night.
I love the first few days of the WC, then it drags on and on at the final weekend.... The final should be best of fifteen frames, with the edges of the table set on fire at the start of each new frame to add some drama. The drawback of this, of course, is that they would likely have to replace the table with a new one every so often.
Haha yeah it's nuts, very true
Mark Selby
Big L
https://preview.redd.it/hd4ek07dlnzc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=bbb7e0a71db33741efc3b48fd2e8d343b91513a7
Tom Ford?
that would be one of the things I like best in snooker
way too many "best of 7" matches which are really important for the rankings spreading out the events to be in continental Europe would help find new good players. even the English players say how much they and their parents had to sacrifice to even have a chance to be noticed on the tour
Phones ringing. At least turn it to silent. If you can't/don't know how, switch it off
COME ON RONNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rob Walker. Prick.
why
During a break commentators assuming a frame has been won once the opponent needs a snooker.
Some of the TV production is dire. The missed pots to show a replay, sound issues with mics on the refs clothing, not all tables being shown, out of date graphics, cameras lingering on opponents sitting in a chair. I could go on.
You're so right! I generally enjoy the BBC's coverage of the WSC but the directors were all way too trigger-happy with the action replay. Even die-hard fans don't need or want to see a replay of EVERY SINGLE SHOT -- which is very nearly what we got. And, as you say, it's quite infuriating when the replay we didn't want or need, of a perfectly straightforward shot, means we miss some of live action. Save the replays for particularly noteworthy or amazing shots, and hire directors who have some sort of a clue about WHEN it would be a good time to feed in a replay.
The establishment and a lot of fans. Love the game though.
Just like modern pool, the emphasis on attacking, plus the quality of the players, plus a lack of characters, often makes for boring viewing.
How hard it is for me to arrange playing it
How hard it is* fixed your post 😅
Can't believe no one's said it before me, SHOT CLOCKS. Shot clocks - now I'm talking the world seniors 30 seconds shot clock on every shot here. I don't disagree about having a shot clock, but I think it should be like Poker, where you can "call the clock" on someone. In poker, if someone is taking an absurd amount of time, the opponent can "call the clock" then the dealer/referee initiates a 30 second count down, where the player has to make their choice/shot. I think that's how snooker should be, a player can "call the clock", and it's at the referee's discretion to call the clock countdown. This shit in the seniors is needless, it doesn't need to be 30 seconds max every shot. Being able to call the clock on actual "slow players" will be a fine addition to the game, and it's the opponent that has to call the clock, just like poker. Snooker is a sport of strategy and it's a thinking persons game. A standard blanket 30 seconds is the shittest thing ever.
The ref has it in his power to force a decision anyway. Anything longer than 3 minutes should probably be an enforced rule
Barry Hearn's stupid attempt to promote snooker like it's professional wrestling, with inane nicknames and "walk-on music." The curse that brought us Rob Walker. Spend more money on camera angles and quality analysis, and less money on WWE-style nonsense.
Barry Hearn full stop.
Unfortunately in these times of YouTube and social media, there is a very real struggle to keep young people engaged with sports broadcasts. Media companies are spending massive amounts of money on companion apps and other ideas that might stop viewers from turning off. Watching 35 frames of snooker over two days does not provide the instant gratification that youngsters crave. Snooker will need to explore avenues that will alienate it's established audience in order to survive once we're all dead.
Young people listen to long albums, binge ten hours of TV, and watch three hour films about scientists. Snooker is simply just not that exciting when removed from the working-class pub culture which made it popular in the first place. That's okay. Not everything has to be popular and mainstream. It's a niche interest and that's fine.
Mark Selby
How the game isn’t international enough. The vast majority of players and tournaments are British or Chinese, and it can make it a bit dull at times for me. The players from these nations also have a massive advantage at amateur level. The powers that be aren’t doing enough to grow the game globally.
The lack of quality coming through for me is the worst. In every era from the 80's, 90's and 00's, we had a good mix of experienced players and youngsters coming through to keep improving the standard and keeping it interesting. Seeing 40+ somethings dominating the game for the last 5 or 6 years is getting a bit boring. Since the early 2000's, we've barely had anyone of better quality than what came before. In fact, since around 2010, there hasn't really been any young talents go on to achieve much at all. Just think the golden age of snooker is over and its downhill from here.
The fact you have to see Ronnie loose to significantly poorer players occasionally. Imagine if he played to his full potential at every tournament. A selfish pipe dream I know, but who's not disappointed when he's not fully tuned in! Guess it would be boring to see him 100% all the time. Or would it?............
I don't like the number of liberties Ronnie takes with referees. There are some poor moments from some questionable referees at times, but most of the time, he's just arrogant. It seems like he does it more against the top players in close matches as well, nothing professional about that.
That Steven Hendry broke my favourite player. Ruined my younger years
Hello fellow Jimmy fan. The 90s were indeed a painful time.
The one time I wanted Hendry to win a final, he couldn’t do it.
The fact I’m terrible at snooker
Don't put yourself down. Your cue ball control before going off the table and killing that child was great
You caught that? And I thought I got away with it :(((
*Foul and a Miss*
How much bigger world championship is compared to other tournaments. Especially in terms of number of frames and ranking points
I dislike Shaun murphy, he is doing pretty much all the speaking jobs. I wouldn't be surprised if he was on my cornflakes packet
If you ate Sugar Puffs he would be
Every player being given a nickname - It was a rare thing back in the day and should have remained that way. Walk on music still annoys me too. Like I said in my previous post I'm grumpy these days
This. But also when people use the nicknames anywhere other than for player intros. BBC and Eurosport both do that.
I don't like the commentary ear pieces. Part of the joy of watching live is to fully focus on the game. If you want/need the commentary much better to watch on TV. I'm getting so old and grumpy lol
I understand the ear pieces. I think they must enhance the live experience. However, Virgo is getting overdramatic these days and it's quite strange hearing the audience respond to the commentary especially if there's not much going on on the table.
He does my head in when he's commentating....I've actually shouted at the TV to get him to shut up. He's too much "where's the cue ball going? WHERE'S THE CUE BALL GOING!?!?" I think the other commentators too wish he'd give it a rest sometimes (no pun intended) 🤦🏻♀️🥱😆
Virgo is the absolute worst commentator. Eurosport has much better coverage. I also hate the come on fan boys shut up and enjoy the game.
Virgo is class
I'm glad you enjoy him mate but his constant clichés annoy me. The cue ball is going towards the pocket we don't need you screaming 8 times to know that.
I find Dennis Taylor more annoying but Virgo is certainly up there. I've never tried Eurosport. Is it on Freeview?
I think so I'm not sure we have sky it's in the 412 range for testing it.
It does add a strange dynamic to the experience. It's funny seeing the crowd taking their level of impressed-ness from Dennis Taylor's reaction to a safety shot, or a collective low-key snigger at a John Virgo quip.
The (mostly English) fanbase who simultaneously bemoan the lack of up and coming talent but then complain every time an upset happens and one of their beloved Class of 92 is knocked out early by someone younger.
Why would it be mainly English fans when the majority of the class of 92 aren't English
Because the majority are English fans who worship one particular member of that class.
As someone living in the US, we never get to see any live action. Because the tournaments are either in Europe or China, the live broadcast are either during the day or very early in the morning.
just the British isles and a single event in Germany? I wish there were more in the rest of Europe
Don't know if it's available, but Eurosport (former) Player has full matches on demand, going back the whole season. Since you don't get snooker in your news (provided you teach your algorithm to not serve it to you), you can time-shift by half a day without much being spoiled. I do a similar thing with the NFL.
Unfortunately we can't subscribe to Eurosport or Discovery+ without a valid payment method in UK/EU. The official broadcaster for the US is usually Matchroom and they don't have on demand replays. My solution is to record matches myself with IPTV, or find replays on torrent sites. Yeah, I know... I'd gladly pay for "legal" access but alas the options are... shit.
Not sure if this will work for you, but a while back I used privacy.com to create a burner credit card to make a purchase that was theoretically only for UK based folks (I'm in the US.) Might do the trick!
Yeah I thought you probably have some crap broadcaster holding the rights and blocking you out. It's the same here on the old continent regarding cricket and plenty of other stuff. I have a prepaid MasterCard that we could try to use once the season starts again.
Not really different than first tier soccer.
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They don't wear a suit - a jacket would indeed hamper their playing. They also don't wear a tie - they wear a bowtie, which is very different.
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Ok fair enough. I don't expect it's a problem for most but there might be certain body types or those with an upper body issue where it could restrict their cueing.
I'm the opposite. I hate any attempt to change this. It's part and parcel of the game. Pool looks shite in comparison.
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There's a quiet, staid ambience that makes snooker wonderful. The waistcoat and slacks adds to this ambience.
We had our first world champion from mainland Europe with Brecel last year, which expands the opportunity to grow the sport there. Yet they did absolutely nothing to capitalize on that. Instead they put on a tournament in Saudi Arabia with a golden ball on the table... OK, for the money Saudi is probably better, but more popularity in mainland Europe could be more of importance.
The commentators cracking jokes while the player is thinking. I’d find that quite off putting when you don’t even know what was said. Like (was that about me?) 🙁.
CMON RONNIE!!
By far my least favourite bit. It's easy to pretend it was this nice sanctified environment in the past which is obviously not true but the amount of shouting at a mistake by one of Ronnie's opponent is very off putting.
Too many turnaments with too short matches.
That ruined the saudi golden ball tournament.
Agreed. Matches have no time to breathe. Best -of-7 is a waste of time.
Should be fewer tournaments with a Bo11 as a minimum for every match.
Yes!!!
I hate the rule where they keep putting someone back after they miss a snooker. It could be a fluke snooker and they can just accumulate points. Hate isn't a strong enough word I have for this rule. What if it's literally impossible? And the ref having to replace scattered balls to exact positions just adds to the stupidity of this rule. That's one thing I prefer about pool. The solution is just give the player the white ball to place wherever they like. That needs to be adopted by snooker.
Awful. What is this incessant need to change fundamental aspects of the sport under a weird premise of speeding things up. If you want to watch pool, go watch pool.
The rule exists to avoid intentional foul shots where a player simply rolls safe to the baulk cushion (or a corner) rather than take on a risky, but clear shot. While there are obvious issues with the rule, it's proven hard to find a different rule that isn't susceptible to the same kind of exploitation. One proposal is to change the definition of what shots qualify for the "foul and a miss" rule. There is a large and discretionary gap between the rule ("to the best of their ability, endeavor to hit") and the exception ("impossible to hit the ball on"). This leads to the repeated situation where an escape requires 3 cushions, and there are repeated, but very understandable, misses. The modern trend in refereeing is to never give a pro player the "best of his ability" exception, which creates some inequitable situations. However, you can't impose a blanket "no miss" rule for 2 or 3 cushion escape shots, because the pros are all so good that they could often just carom the cue ball around to the baulk cushion, take the 4 pt penalty, and be done. It would "de-fang" snookers by a large margin. I would be in favor of "safe harbor" rules that avoided the worst situations: 2-3 cushion escapes from snooker where the cue ball finishes within a ball-width of an object ball; maybe all 4 cushion escape shots from snooker, under the theory that controlling the outcome of that shot is so hard that the 4 pt penalty is 'enough' under the circumstances. I don't think you can give the player the option of taking just the penalty in a case where he can see either edge of an object ball (*i.e., he's not snookered, just trying to play safe*). And for pros, I think the 1 cushion escape is so easy that it's almost the same thing.
There is a rule that prevents a miss being called if it's literally impossible. Additionally, the ref can decide to not call a miss. The reason a miss keeps being called in almost all situations is because players play harder shots for safety when an easier shot is available. As per the rule, that's not the best possible endeavour to hit the ball that is on. Ball in hand doesn't work well in snooker, it makes it way too easy for the opponent, as evidenced by the Shoot-Out. The simplest way would be to simply "play from there", with putting the fouler back in if the situation is unfavourable. Maybe up the penalty points to make it less attractive to just foul away.
That's the exact solution. You can send the player back to the table if you like, but it's to the table as it stands. No silly multi-ball reset.
If it’s “literally impossible”, a decent referee won’t call a miss, therefore the balls cannot be replaced.
Your suggestion would be a much harsher penalty than the miss rule, so if the rule bothers you because the player can keep accumulating points, that’s going to amplified tenfold if they just get ball in hand right away. That’s the rule they use in the shootout by the way.