Matchroom.live Championship League

[Danger Steve]

Sooooo this is the Left Handed tournament??

[Danger Steve]

Never seen Slessor play before.. very good.

[Billy]

It’s just not the same without an audience. If the WC goes ahead in the same way it’ll be a sad day for snooker.

[Neil Taperell]

It doesn’t bother me with no audience .

[DeanH]

I catch myself thinking "why isn't the audience clapping that good shot?" then I remember

[Neil Taperell]

Nothing changes , lucky old Trump ....,twice in a few shots !

[Billy]

I catch myself thinking "why isn't the audience clapping that good shot?" then I remember

Exacty. It’s like watching one of the Chinese tournaments on Eurosport! So flat.

[Danger Steve]

Their a tough crowd out there!

[fkhan]

It's good to see two centuries on day 1. Shows that players are not cueing bad after the break.

[vmax]

It’s just not the same without an audience. If the WC goes ahead in the same way it’ll be a sad day for snooker.

This competition has never had an audience, to be honest I don't mind, at least there are no phones playing a west indian steel band symphony and the players can fully concentrate. I do wonder why the cue ball isn't disinfected after the break off shot and when a player goes in off as players have to position the cue ball in the D by hand, saw a couple of players taking balls out of the pockets at the end of frames also yet they have separate rests
Just shows that not all possible transmission scenarios are catered for, but if all players and referees have been tested and are known to be clear and hands are washed or sanitised immediatley before entering the playing area then there really is no need for all this.
Just my twopenneth worth.

[Zelig]

Not to go personal, I will omit the player's name as my question is general. I have watched for the first time xxxxx playing, in two different matches, and I was surprised in a negative sense: relative to what we are used to see on TV, poor shot selection, very poor positional play, missing easy frame-winning chances... maybe it was the pressure of going live on TV, or the effect of lockdown non-training, or the usual bad day. But my question remains: how "far" is the low-tier world tour player from the excellent club player nowadays? I am asking because I saw an enormous difference between xxxxx and, say, the world top 16 players.... perhaps less than the difference between xxxxx and the top 16 of a good local league? Let's say xxxxx is any player ranked 80-128. What do you think?

(Just to reaffirm, the question is not arrogant: I am a very bad player, far away from top 16 of any local league, and I can only dream of playing like xxxxx. I am just curious about the distribution of skills in snooker, and your perception of it)

[fkhan]

Have the wrist bands changed to blue?

[DeanH]

probably constant testing, colour coded for different days?
I know that the passes for back stage entry at venues are colour coded

[trains]

Not to go personal, I will omit the player's name as my question is general. I have watched for the first time xxxxx playing, in two different matches, and I was surprised in a negative sense: relative to what we are used to see on TV, poor shot selection, very poor positional play, missing easy frame-winning chances... maybe it was the pressure of going live on TV, or the effect of lockdown non-training, or the usual bad day. But my question remains: how "far" is the low-tier world tour player from the excellent club player nowadays? I am asking because I saw an enormous difference between xxxxx and, say, the world top 16 players.... perhaps less than the difference between xxxxx and the top 16 of a good local league? Let's say xxxxx is any player ranked 80-128. What do you think?

(Just to reaffirm, the question is not arrogant: I am a very bad player, far away from top 16 of any local league, and I can only dream of playing like xxxxx. I am just curious about the distribution of skills in snooker, and your perception of it)

it would be difficult or even a bit silly to attempt to gauge the difference between xxxxx and an excellent club player if they're playing on different tables , pro tables aren't widely in circulation outside of world snooker events , so if xxxxx played the excellent club player on a non pro table that xxxxx isn't used to the club player should expect to win , likewise if the club player had little to no experience on pro tables then xxxxx should expect to win if they're playing on a pro table , top echelon pro's have more access to pro tables which is a huge contributing factor to why they're more successful , for instance shaun murphy kyren wilson mark allen have tables at home , john higgins stephen maguire graeme dott and ant mc gill share a pro table , trump and robertson have exclusive access to the grove academy , they'd soon tell you where to go and their confidence would soon diminish if they didn't have that access , also that excellent club player if he somehow got an invite onto the tour , not very likely but just as an example , he more than likely would lose his pro status after two years if he wasn't getting regular practice on pro tables .
Just to further answer your question if the excellent club player was excellent or very good on a pro table then i’d expect the club player to beat xxxxx and also to most likely keep his status as a pro after two years .

[Billy]

This competition has never had an audience

Well is this the first time it’s been televised? Because if it’s always been televised then I’ve never seen it before.

i still maintain it doesn’t really work. The players are playing like it’s a quick knockabout down their local club. Going through the motions because it’s their job to.