Australia Goldfields Open

[SouthPaw]

None of this excuses the fact that with the tournament which is so important to Australian Snooker is up for renegotiation, half of the top sixteen aren't coming. Sixtyfour are going to the Wuxi and the argument about money is a nonsense as was pointed out, the eight that aren't coming are among the top money earners. The ranking points must not mean much to those players.

Not long now till ranking points are replaced with money earned, I can understand your frustration but if the players are going to snub an event it'll be the ones with the least money achievable, which the letter barry sent out to players showed this tournament down at the bottom!

[DeanH]

None of this excuses the fact that with the tournament which is so important to Australian Snooker is up for renegotiation, half of the top sixteen aren't coming. Sixtyfour are going to the Wuxi and the argument about money is a nonsense as was pointed out, the eight that aren't coming are among the top money earners. The ranking points must not mean much to those players.

so that mean half are coming

half empty/half full

[wildJONESEYE]

Not long now till ranking points are replaced with money earned, I can understand your frustration but if the players are going to snub an event it'll be the ones with the least money achievable, which the letter barry sent out to players showed this tournament down at the bottom!

there is a bigger picture here that some of the top players aren't seeing.

the same sort of attitude that put snooker at the bottom of the pile in the first place.

[pearce]

I completely agree with wildjoneseye and I'm entirely behind what Barry Hearns is doing with the expansion of the game. I do question why 64 are going to China for the Wuxi and it not being culled to 32 in England. What the eight who are not coming to Australia must think about is with the Goldfields contract now being up for renegotiation, how is Barry going to get more money for this tournament or if it will actually continue.

[mythman69]

It would be great to see Stephen Lee return to Australia . . .



I met him last year and he seemed a friendly bloke . . .

[grimreaper]

I think the only way this event will go forward is to massively increase the prize money and shift it to either Sydney or Melbourne instead of having it at the back off beyond.

[mythman69]

I think the only way this event will go forward is to massively increase the prize money and shift it to either Sydney or Melbourne instead of having it at the back off beyond.

I vote bringing it to Sydney !! Anyone know anything about the rumours that it might be going to Sydney next year??

[pearce]

I'd like to see it staged at Crown Casino in Melbourne.

[eaoin11]

I think it's cool that after being relatively unknown, the two goldfields champions Bingham and Hawkins have really followed up with big things afterwards.

[wildJONESEYE]

I think the only way this event will go forward is to massively increase the prize money and shift it to either Sydney or Melbourne instead of having it at the back off beyond.

increased cash comes from a success of a event success of a event is reliant on support from fans and not having top players there to encourage fans to go is not helpful.

its players right to pick and choose but by snubbing this event they not made negotiating easy for Barry and his team to A) Get increased sponsorship and B) Get Sydney or Melbourne interested in staging it.

[mythman69]

increased cash comes from a success of a event success of a event is reliant on support from fans

There was no merchandise for sale at Bendigo last year . . .

I asked about it and they said that they were supposed to but the guy never turned up.



If the event was held in Sydney they would get a much bigger audience . . .

[daffie]

Does anyone know from last year which local (uk or mainland Europe) times the live matches were on eurosport? I'm contemplating taking some time off from work in July. Might as well catch some Aussie snooker Cheers!

[mythman69]

Does anyone know from last year which local (uk or mainland Europe) times the live matches were on eurosport? I'm contemplating taking some time off from work in July. Might as well catch some Aussie snooker Cheers!

Here are the session times in Melbourne time:

http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.c...urnament/13370

Just work out the time difference . . .

I will be in the crowd (just look for the red and white scarf) . . .

[daffie]

Cheers for that...but where are the session times?

Edit : found the schedule and did the math...late evening and night-time sessions for me. Not sure getting up at 3am is my prefered way of time-off work

[wildJONESEYE]

British Summer Times for first 3 days

Monday 8th of July

1am

Mike Dunn v Steve Mifsud
Michael White v Shaun Daltz

Not Before 3am

Barry Hawkins v Dechawat Poomjaeng
Tom Ford v Ryan Day

Followed By

Stuart Bingham v Noppon Saengkham
Martin Gould v Jamie Cope

Not Before 10am

Neil Robertson v Marcus Campbell
Andrew Higginson v Zhang Anda

Tuesday 9th of July

2.30am

Ricky Walden v Fergal O’Brien
Dominic Dale v Mike Dunn/Steve Mifsud

Followed By

Shaun Murphy v Michael White/Shaun Daltz
Joe Perry v Xiao Guodong

Not Before 10am

Mark Selby v Ian Burns
Michael Holt v Alfie Burden

Wednesday 10th of July

2.30am

Mark Davis v Paul S Davison
Marco Fu v Ken Doherty

Followed By

Ding Junhui v Rory McLeod
Robert Milkins v Ben Woollaston

Not Before 10am

2 x Last 16 Matches