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Templeton:
In the late 80's when I was trying to get on the tour the pro ranks were frozen at 128. At that time a pro kept his ticket for life and the bottom 40 or so pros were mostly retired and played very little.
Freezing the pro ranks resulted in a super-strong amateur game, especially in the UK where the top amateurs were better than the bottom pros. The only way to qualify was to come in the top 8 of a series of 3 tournaments held by the WPBSA and then play the bottom 8 pros for their tickets.
This resulted in stagnation in the pro ranks with very little new blood coming through and the likes of Steve James, David Roe, Dave Harold, Mark Johnson-Allen, Martin Clarke and a host of other really good amateurs competing against each other for their pro ticket and of course some of them didn't manage to make it through to the last 8 as these matches were short (best-of-7's I believe) and some others who weren't quite so good were getting through.
The only way snooker can survive and thrive is to open it up again, but perhaps not to the degree that happened somewhere around 1989 when the WPBSA accepted 400-500 new members. This had the effect of diluting the sport and also made arranging the qualifiers a nightmare.
Snooker needs a system whereby foreign players can compete and qualify WITHOUT HAVING TO MOVE TO BRITAIN. Golf, Tennis, football and a few other sports are able to do this. How many golf and tennis 'pros' are there, even though a lot of them never make it to the final rounds in any of the major tournaments they ALL are allowed to play in the preliminaries and at least have the chance to prove themselves.
I disagree completely with closing down the pro ranks as it's been proven over and over again the only way to keep a sport vibrant and vital is to allow any player based anywhere in the world an equal oppotunity to qualify for first his or her pro status and then to be able to compete without having to move almost permanently to a foreign country.
What's really needed is NOT less players, but MORE sponsorship to support world-wide programs and generate interest in countries where snooker has a tenuous foothold (as for example Canada, United States).
What would you forecast will happen in Brazil now that one of their own almost won the World Amateur Championship? Igor is a definite one-off in that he must be a natural since his ability to play other good players in Brazil must be limited but somehow he managed to become the second best in the world amateur.
It's exactly successes like Igor's that most countries need to get snooker popular and this means there must be a method whereby non-British players can get the opportunities to show off their skill and also compete against other top players. I'm pretty sure there are dozens of little Ronnie's out there who will eventually give up the sport due to lack of opportunity.
Terry
In the late 80's when I was trying to get on the tour the pro ranks were frozen at 128. At that time a pro kept his ticket for life and the bottom 40 or so pros were mostly retired and played very little.
Freezing the pro ranks resulted in a super-strong amateur game, especially in the UK where the top amateurs were better than the bottom pros. The only way to qualify was to come in the top 8 of a series of 3 tournaments held by the WPBSA and then play the bottom 8 pros for their tickets.
This resulted in stagnation in the pro ranks with very little new blood coming through and the likes of Steve James, David Roe, Dave Harold, Mark Johnson-Allen, Martin Clarke and a host of other really good amateurs competing against each other for their pro ticket and of course some of them didn't manage to make it through to the last 8 as these matches were short (best-of-7's I believe) and some others who weren't quite so good were getting through.
The only way snooker can survive and thrive is to open it up again, but perhaps not to the degree that happened somewhere around 1989 when the WPBSA accepted 400-500 new members. This had the effect of diluting the sport and also made arranging the qualifiers a nightmare.
Snooker needs a system whereby foreign players can compete and qualify WITHOUT HAVING TO MOVE TO BRITAIN. Golf, Tennis, football and a few other sports are able to do this. How many golf and tennis 'pros' are there, even though a lot of them never make it to the final rounds in any of the major tournaments they ALL are allowed to play in the preliminaries and at least have the chance to prove themselves.
I disagree completely with closing down the pro ranks as it's been proven over and over again the only way to keep a sport vibrant and vital is to allow any player based anywhere in the world an equal oppotunity to qualify for first his or her pro status and then to be able to compete without having to move almost permanently to a foreign country.
What's really needed is NOT less players, but MORE sponsorship to support world-wide programs and generate interest in countries where snooker has a tenuous foothold (as for example Canada, United States).
What would you forecast will happen in Brazil now that one of their own almost won the World Amateur Championship? Igor is a definite one-off in that he must be a natural since his ability to play other good players in Brazil must be limited but somehow he managed to become the second best in the world amateur.
It's exactly successes like Igor's that most countries need to get snooker popular and this means there must be a method whereby non-British players can get the opportunities to show off their skill and also compete against other top players. I'm pretty sure there are dozens of little Ronnie's out there who will eventually give up the sport due to lack of opportunity.
Terry
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