Cazoo Players Championship 2022

[mikee]

Starsky you , your dead right ,if you go go back to the 80's and early 90's BCE and Riley couldn't churn enough tables out ,that boom is now in Asia so the Star company can afford the WPBSA contract as its still a money spinner for them .As you say clubs in this country are closing not opening and snooker at grass roots level is pretty dead ,I don't see a time in the near future of British companys like BCE/Riley or Thurston's ever putting up tables in competitions ,I mean it would be pointless as there would be nothing in it for them apart from a bill for two million quid and having to supply tables all over the world for tv pro events for free just to showcase their product which no one would buy as the World is saturated with cheaper tables now .Tobacco advertising being banned and kids wanting to play computer games more hasn't helped either .

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Not that i’m saying you said i did but i never said or made any pretentions about knowing the amateur game , i’d be all for a strong amateur system teeming with well rounded players well equipped to hit the ground running given two year cards.

Having faced the difference in tables in ws events and the experienced players sat in the opposing chair i cant be asked with any compromise so i’d just stick to the dunstable club with its very good tables for practising and playing matches for the time being if i started playing again.

I think its a shame that world snooker ever got its hands on snooker in the first place , theres no reason why kids wouldnt want to take up the game , i know you’ve said to me before that hearn didnt run a charity but i think the collective sum of their parts has been very poor , they really should have continued the ptc series that started in 2010 and worked a way where higher ranked players didnt feel any particular need to play in them , even if there were only about three a season in britain that wouldnt have been too bad.

[Starsky]

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Not that i’m saying you said i did but i never said or made any pretentions about knowing the amateur game , i’d be all for a strong amateur system teeming with well rounded players well equipped to hit the ground running given two year cards.

Having faced the difference in tables in ws events and the experienced players sat in the opposing chair i cant be asked with any compromise so i’d just stick to the dunstable club with its very good tables for practising and playing matches for the time being if i started playing again.

I think its a shame that world snooker ever got its hands on snooker in the first place , theres no reason why kids wouldnt want to take up the game , i know you’ve said to me before that hearn didnt run a charity but i think the collective sum of their parts has been very poor , they really should have continued the ptc series that started in 2010 and worked a way where higher ranked players didnt feel any particular need to play in them , even if there were only about three a season in britain that wouldnt have been too bad.

Things are changing Trains and for the better.
I agree with you ( stop the press 😉) when you say there is a big difference between club tables and pro tour tables . Where I differ is when you’ve previously state that pro set up tables as practice facilities are for the elite etc. Where I live I have access to three different venues within a 40 mins drive which have these facilities and anybody can use them . Make that four if I’m a top amateur player and want to play in an academy.
I agree with you again that it would help new pros gain experience if they could play tournaments without having to meet high seeded players in the opening rounds and consistently getting their backside whipped.

[Starsky]

Starsky you , your dead right ,if you go go back to the 80's and early 90's BCE and Riley couldn't churn enough tables out ,that boom is now in Asia so the Star company can afford the WPBSA contract as its still a money spinner for them .As you say clubs in this country are closing not opening and snooker at grass roots level is pretty dead ,I don't see a time in the near future of British companys like BCE/Riley or Thurston's ever putting up tables in competitions ,I mean it would be pointless as there would be nothing in it for them apart from a bill for two million quid and having to supply tables all over the world for tv pro events for free just to showcase their product which no one would buy as the World is saturated with cheaper tables now .Tobacco advertising being banned and kids wanting to play computer games more hasn't helped either .

I wouldn’t go as far to say snooker at grass root level is pretty much dead. There are some notable exceptions with some great clubs who hold numerous amateur events along with individuals who go above and beyond to help at the grass root level , John Hunter at Cuestars in the South is an example but these are far and few between compared to previous years.
Getting kids playing snooker and then maintaining that interest is paramount to the future of the game in the UK especially if we want to compete with the Chinese in a few years time.
How that happens is a big problem though ..

[tomwalker147]

Things are changing Trains and for the better.
I agree with you ( stop the press 😉) when you say there is a big difference between club tables and pro tour tables . Where I differ is when you’ve previously state that pro set up tables as practice facilities are for the elite etc. Where I live I have access to three different venues within a 40 mins drive which have these facilities and anybody can use them . Make that four if I’m a top amateur player and want to play in an academy.
I agree with you again that it would help new pros gain experience if they could play tournaments without having to meet high seeded players in the opening rounds and consistently getting their backside whipped.

Good read catching up on this thread
I'd like to point out that whilst 'top' level tables may be accessible they're quite often ridiculously overpriced. Nuneaton where I reside has the Atack snooker club. The club is split into two with 'club' tables at the top and 'elite' tables at the bottom which includes Mark Selby's star table. You can't really get a game on Mark's table these days and the other tables are £6.50 plus an hour.
I say overpriced because to most people it's too expensive, ideally i'd want to play on a quality table 3/4 times per week for 3/4 hours at a time, now call me tight but 4 hours, 4 times a week at £6.50 is £104 a week and I can't afford/wouldn't want to spend that and neither would the families of young kids who're keen to learn the game.
By the way this isn't a dig at the club, Nuneaton has one snooker club they can charge what they like.

I'm now practicing at a local bowling club which has one table and charges 50p for half an hour. I'm one of 3/4 people who play each week so i'm guaranteed a game whenever I fancy really. The tables in great nick and well looked after by a few of us however as I recently explained to DangerSteve my lack of competitions and varied practice tables mean i'm like a fish out of water going from a good club table to a fast, tight pocketed table.... that said if i was any good i'd be able to play on anything

[tomwalker147]

As for snooker at grass root level being dead. I'm 31, i'm the 4th youngest player in my local league. The game is dead, as much as we all like to pretend it isn't because we love the game so much it is in a real poor position.
You get the odd geographical snooker hotspot, somebody mentioned John Hunter's club and I know the Leeds area is a hotbed for snooker but generally it's struggling.
DangerSteve played in a pro am in Stratford the weekend just gone and if you look at the names entering it wasn't youngsters (apart from Jackson Page).

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tomwalker147 post 125 , yes i get what you're saying about the expense , the dunstable club wasn't cheap in 2017 either the last time i was there , and then theres the problem of other players or pro's wanting table time too , the owner suny singh seemed like a nice bloke he'd probably give you a discount but of course as said theres the problem of other players wanting to play too.

[itsnoteasy]

Good read catching up on this thread
I'd like to point out that whilst 'top' level tables may be accessible they're quite often ridiculously overpriced. Nuneaton where I reside has the Atack snooker club. The club is split into two with 'club' tables at the top and 'elite' tables at the bottom which includes Mark Selby's star table. You can't really get a game on Mark's table these days and the other tables are £6.50 plus an hour.
I say overpriced because to most people it's too expensive, ideally i'd want to play on a quality table 3/4 times per week for 3/4 hours at a time, now call me tight but 4 hours, 4 times a week at £6.50 is £104 a week and I can't afford/wouldn't want to spend that and neither would the families of young kids who're keen to learn the game.
By the way this isn't a dig at the club, Nuneaton has one snooker club they can charge what they like.

I'm now practicing at a local bowling club which has one table and charges 50p for half an hour. I'm one of 3/4 people who play each week so i'm guaranteed a game whenever I fancy really. The tables in great nick and well looked after by a few of us however as I recently explained to DangerSteve my lack of competitions and varied practice tables mean i'm like a fish out of water going from a good club table to a fast, tight pocketed table.... that said if i was any good i'd be able to play on anything

Table pricing is a hard thing to get right, six pounds an hour isn't expensive for two players but as you say for solo practise, which you definitely need to work on your game, the costs can be too much for most.

[Starsky]

Table pricing is a hard thing to get right, six pounds an hour isn't expensive for two players but as you say for solo practise, which you definitely need to work on your game, the costs can be too much for most.

A while back I tried to explain to Trains how important it was for an upcoming player to get free table time from a club if they aren’t able to have a table at home for whatever reason be it financial or lack of space. The problem I guess these days is the lack of traditional clubs to give out free time as a lot of players are now playing in social type clubs where sponsorship of this kind is less likely to be given but there are exceptions i presume.
I certainly feel the cost these days having to pay for a table when I never had to previously but I given the way I play now I should be paying them double

[Starsky]

As for snooker at grass root level being dead. I'm 31, i'm the 4th youngest player in my local league. The game is dead, as much as we all like to pretend it isn't because we love the game so much it is in a real poor position.
You get the odd geographical snooker hotspot, somebody mentioned John Hunter's club and I know the Leeds area is a hotbed for snooker but generally it's struggling.
DangerSteve played in a pro am in Stratford the weekend just gone and if you look at the names entering it wasn't youngsters (apart from Jackson Page).

I think leagues aren’t the best indicator of younger players in the game as traditionally they don’t play in them that much due to the finish times and schooling.
There are multiple reasons why kids aren’t taking up the game but it has to be addressed here in the UK soon. Maybe we need to look towards China and find out the reasons why so many kids are taking up the game there and not here. They have the same access to computer games etc but I guess it’s just access to tables that makes the difference as much as anything .

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[QUOTE=Starsky;n1018798]

A while back I tried to explain to Trains how important it was for an upcoming player to get free table time from a club if they aren

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reply to starsky post # 129
I think i posted on that other site previously probably the best way to get around the disconnect between the pro and amateur game and catch up to not only the tour pro’s but the very good amateurs and former pro’s on the challenge tour is just pay a set fee for amateurs to enter a certain number of pro events to play in a season , i read somewhere that the young chinese who get into the game are generally from a higher socio economic background but they have the cbsa and probably better funding , so get around it with a set fee for anyone anywhere that can afford it , sure they’ll take a whipping but its the best teacher and will benefit them in the long run, and even q school qualifiers struggle in their first year or two anyway so whats to lose other than a bit of pride and embarrassment, it really is the best teacher , too much gap to make up it seems any other way.