Wildcards

[wildJONESEYE]

I should hope he did!!
Wildcards should be awarded to players who have a realistic chance to stay on the MT - and as BH says - everything should be done on merit not mediocracy. Giving it to a player that is inexperienced with no real achievements - just because he is from a certain part of the world - could harm the player just as much as the Tour.
I'm sure one year a player got a wildcard and didn't even turn up for a lot of matches - whether that was financial or not I can't remember - but the WSA have to be careful in who they offer them to - as they could do more harm than good to some players and destry their confidence if they're not ready.

do you think Reane Evans falls in to the catagorie of achievemant or on sex ?

im asking you as a woman/girl i persanally think its a good move but what do you think.

[madman]

No disrespect, but obviously because she is a woman. You cannot compare her achievements on the ladies tour with that of even players on the pios.

Though she can give some pios players a good run for there money, she is not in their class. She's had a fair crack on the pios for the last 2 or 3 seasons, and you can see, she has not done a lot at all.

Thus proving, it is because she is a woman and will generate some publicity for a while, but doubt she will attract sponsorship. But this could backfire, because if she keeps getting her arse kicked, it will make a mockery of her wildcard.

The otherside of the coin is, most players will fancy their chances against Reanne, and some will resent other players getting to play her, as they will see it as an easy match. So i also think it is an unfair decision to give her a wildcard as it could effect the lower ranked players quite severley.

[rivercard]

The otherside of the coin is, most players will fancy their chances against Reanne, and some will resent other players getting to play her, as they will see it as an easy match. So i also think it is an unfair decision to give her a wildcard as it could effect the lower ranked players quite severley.

I've been thinking about that too. She will be the one everyone wants to be drawn against, because quite frankly she's not at pro level at the moment. That said, there are almost always a few players who are considered an easy draw, a very young Neil Robertson being the most prominent recently when he fell off the Tour in his first season.

[goldengirl]

Anybody got any more news on the wildcards?

[snoopy2608]

presumably the 96 main tour list will be published next Monday - after the 2nd English place is decided at the weekend - then who gets the spot available due to Luca Brecel winning the Europeans plus the other unknown qualifiers (Wales,NI plus 3rd Asia) will be clear for us all to see.

[steedee]

do you think Reane Evans falls in to the catagorie of achievemant or on sex ?

im asking you as a woman/girl i persanally think its a good move but what do you think.

No disrespect, but obviously because she is a woman. You cannot compare her achievements on the ladies tour with that of even players on the pios.

Though she can give some pios players a good run for there money, she is not in their class. She's had a fair crack on the pios for the last 2 or 3 seasons, and you can see, she has not done a lot at all.

Thus proving, it is because she is a woman and will generate some publicity for a while, but doubt she will attract sponsorship. But this could backfire, because if she keeps getting her arse kicked, it will make a mockery of her wildcard.

The otherside of the coin is, most players will fancy their chances against Reanne, and some will resent other players getting to play her, as they will see it as an easy match. So i also think it is an unfair decision to give her a wildcard as it could effect the lower ranked players quite severley.

I've been thinking about that too. She will be the one everyone wants to be drawn against, because quite frankly she's not at pro level at the moment. That said, there are almost always a few players who are considered an easy draw, a very young Neil Robertson being the most prominent recently when he fell off the Tour in his first season.

Surely of the wildcard is to get new audiences and such, the inclusion of Reanne could, in theory, gain us a bigger following amongst female supporters?

thats the point of a brazillian wildcard who has only just began on full size tables so i dont see why Reanne's place could possibly make a mockery. Last two seasons we've had really poor perfomances from wildcards so why is this any different?

She did beat John Higgins in an event too. Also imagine she did qualify for an event and got Mark Allen in the first round, heat magazine could do a spread on it!

[jaybee136]

Does anybody know how many there are? For instance is Scotland nominating
I just hope they are fair to PIOS players - particularly with all the byes in the last event.

James McBain is the Scottish nomination.

[Odrl]

Surely of the wildcard is to get new audiences and such, the inclusion of Reanne could, in theory, gain us a bigger following amongst female supporters?

Well, there are a couple of opinions on this forum about what the wildcards should be for...

I strongly believe that the point of wildcards is to ensure that the 96 best players in the world compete on the Main Tour. That's always the problem for a sport that has so little presence in most parts of the world, so it's hard to rely on the normal qualifying channels to do the job. But wildcards do provide an opportunity to correct things with common sense decisions. So I think they should always be given to the best players that haven't already qualified on their own.

I do agree that wildcards were wasted last year though, especially the ones that went to Gray, Preece and Norman. But I also think it was an even worse decision to give one to Evans, because she is even further from those 96 best players. As for the commercial benefits of this decision, I'm skeptical about that too. It's very unlikely that she will be appearing in the televised stages of any event, so how is she going to get any sort of following at all?

And yes, she did beat Higgins last year, but that was not a snooker event.

[steedee]

I do agree that wildcards were wasted last year though, especially the ones that went to Gray, Preece and Norman. But I also think it was an even worse decision to give one to Evans, because she is even further from those 96 best players. As for the commercial benefits of this decision, I'm skeptical about that too. It's very unlikely that she will be appearing in the televised stages of any event, so how is she going to get any sort of following at all?

And yes, she did beat Higgins last year, but that was not a snooker event.

She's struggle to do worse than Preece and Norman they lost all but one of their first round matches, even if she lost all her matches she'd only have done what Mcbreen and Georgiou did in 08/09 and they qualified legitimatly

[rivercard]

Unless the qualifiers will be completely reorganized I'm not sure how much new fans/viewers Evans' wildcard will get. I think the majority of people who watch snooker (and I'm not talking about this forum) haven't got a clue who McBreen, Georgiou or even Mark Joyce or Jimmy Robertson are. Unless you can make it to the televised stages, only the hardcore fans will know that you're on the Main Tour at all. Needless to say these hardcore fans will watch snooker no matter who gets the wildcards in the end.

She's struggle to do worse than Preece and Norman they lost all but one of their first round matches, even if she lost all her matches she'd only have done what Mcbreen and Georgiou did in 08/09 and they qualified legitimatly

Same could be said about Alex Higgins and he would draw more fans than Reanne Evans.

And BTW, I'm not against Evans getting a wildcard, I just don't think she has the game to stay on the Tour for too long.

[steedee]

anyone any idea how many competative centuries she's managed?

[JanieWatkins]

presumably the 96 main tour list will be published next Monday - after the 2nd English place is decided at the weekend - then who gets the spot available due to Luca Brecel winning the Europeans plus the other unknown qualifiers (Wales,NI plus 3rd Asia) will be clear for us all to see.

Wales IS Andrew Pagett

WSA have confirmed to EBSA that the nominations of Jak Jones (Euro Un19) and Kurt Maflin (Euro Play Off) have been accepted. That was last weekend BEFORE Luca won the european, so we don't know what's happening with that yet.

3rd Asian ticket usually, but not always, goes to runner up in the Asian championship.
(excus my typing i'm on a train!)

[Mr P]

anyone any idea how many competative centuries she's managed?

Sorry to stroll off-topic, but I was just looking at your list of achievements and you've most probably been the most successful TF member that exsists!!

[Matt_2745]

Wales IS Andrew Pagett

Ooh, cheers, has he topped the national rankings then?

[steedee]

Sorry to stroll off-topic, but I was just looking at your list of achievements and you've most probably been the most successful TF member that exsists!!

Until next season, but cheers!


Back on topic, how would people feel about a wild card going to one of the promising youngsters that fell off the tour last season?

I ask because they gave it to Lui Chaung a couple of seasons ago on the strength of him qualifying for the worlds, (and maybe for the chinese audiences) it didnt work out obviously but looking at the final rankings, a wildcard for someone like Daniel Wells who has had a poor year but had previously shown an awful lot of promise couldnt possibly be detremental to the tour.

Also, along the same lines of the Chaung wildcard Mei Xiwen and Li Hang both missed an early ranking event through visa trouble, they probably would have needed to get to the venue to save their place on the tour but who knows?

surely handing them out to someone at the start of their career who had a bad time of it as opposed to Gray and Preece who had had already established themselves and then fell away would be a worthy option?