Another Fiasco!

[Alex0paul]

http://www.worldsnooker.com/tourname...d18770)-90.htm

Five withdraw due to their visas. You have to laugh especially seeing one of them is Issara Kachiawong whom the WSA chose instead of Vincent Muldoon, well at least Muldoon could have played! Another shambles however a few of these players may get wildcards anyway.

[chasmmi]

That's pathetic. Interested to know how Saenla got through the net in time.

So thats 6 players and counting screwed by WPBSA throwing in an early unforeseen qualifying event.

So as things stand Scott Mackenzie is through to round three as Pengfei and Guodong would have played each other.

Drago through to round two.

Saenla is through to round two as is Jamie O Neill.

[DartsMadJohn]

Evidently "WSA" stands for World Snooker Arseholes, since that is an adequate description of the people running the sport.

Organisations like the ATP and ITF run hundreds of events, all over the world, with few problems, so how on earth can the WSA screw up one ranking event when there are only seven to deal with in the first place!

Did nobody think of the time it would take Kachaiwong to get a visa?
Did nobody think that qualifying rounds in Wales for an event in China is slightly stupid?
Do some WSA board members think Thailand is somehow a part of Europe?

Can you imagine at the end of the season, if Kachaiwong, Michael White or any of the Chinese players just miss keeping their tour place? All because of WSA stupidity.

SACK THE BOARD!

[Alex0paul]

Why is the qualifying event in June when the tournament is in Ausgust. It isn't as if Pontins is booked up throughout Julyso why couldn't it have been played then? How hard can it possibly be to run 7 tournaments a season?

[DartsMadJohn]

If you're the WSA - evidently very, very hard.

Why are they so obsessed with Pontins anyway? It's not as if you can fit hundreds of spectators inside the cubicles.

Why not take qualifying events around the UK (e.g. Northern Snooker Centre), or even to Europe (Belgium and Holland, for example)? Granted, the crowds are not going to see the absolutely top players, but at least they'd get a taste of real, high pressure Main Tour snooker, instead of waiting every year for invitational events where players are usually not playing at 100%. Maybe some of the foreign players could help in terms of attendance - for example, hold an event in Belgium and people would get to see Kevin van Hove in action.

If this situation carries on, or if prize money starts dwindling, I can see a real possibility of a breakaway tour starting to form. Think of the situation a few years ago when the Malta Cup offered £11k to the winner - I doubt the players would ever accept a situation like that again.

[rivercard]

Why are they so obsessed with Pontins anyway?

That's a good question. I bet most players hate that "venue".

Why not take qualifying events around the UK (e.g. Northern Snooker Centre), or even to Europe (Belgium and Holland, for example)? Granted, the crowds are not going to see the absolutely top players, but at least they'd get a taste of real, high pressure Main Tour snooker, instead of waiting every year for invitational events where players are usually not playing at 100%. Maybe some of the foreign players could help in terms of attendance - for example, hold an event in Belgium and people would get to see Kevin van Hove in action.

Interesting idea. I agree that WSA should try and make the qualifying a more important event, and some kind of a coverage would be nice as well.

[Seule]

It's unbearable! New day brings new disorder. Looks like WSA is planning its events without any logic, players don't have time to get visas, why couldn't qualifying event be held a little bit later? I don't see any sense in Vincent Muldoon's replacement - Issara Kachaiwong gets less points than any other player, and now he has got no points for Shanghai Masters, so his chances for staying on tour next season is strongly decreased. Something has to be changed before it's not too late.

[Seule]

Why not take qualifying events around the UK (e.g. Northern Snooker Centre), or even to Europe (Belgium and Holland, for example)? Granted, the crowds are not going to see the absolutely top players, but at least they'd get a taste of real, high pressure Main Tour snooker, instead of waiting every year for invitational events where players are usually not playing at 100%. Maybe some of the foreign players could help in terms of attendance - for example, hold an event in Belgium and people would get to see Kevin van Hove in action.

It would be best gift for snooker fans from whole Europe. By the way many spectators who are watching snooker only on TV don't take qualifying event seriously - seeing it in reality could change their attitude and make snooker more popular.

[Alex0paul]

I think it is only held in Pontins each time is because its the cheapest option.

[chasmmi]

Technically the qualifying events were fine, as the first main tour qualifying round wasn't unitl August, so have Euros etc in mid June was giving people plenty of time.

Sadly some bright spark then threw in a new tournament and started it in June. That messed everything up.

And furthermore. If players hate traveling, why not put the two China tournaments together? Players could play Shanghai, stay in China for a week or two of exhibitions then play Beijing.

Its absurd to go there twice at different times.

[austrian_girl]

You have to laugh especially seeing one of them is Issara Kachiawong whom the WSA chose instead of Vincent Muldoon, well at least Muldoon could have played!

Sorry for asking about something that has been said before but why again is Muldoon not playing on the Tour? I thought that he got promoted to the Tour as he came third in the European Championships and the finalists had already secured their Tour place. Who got through then? I can't say that I ever fully understood how players qualify or get promoted to the Tour anyway, but this one is totally confusing me. (but I would like to understand )

[DartsMadJohn]

Alex0paul: The WSA seem determined to run professional snooker on a shoe-string budget, but in the end all it will do is make them, and the sport as a whole, a laughing stock.

Pontin's may be cheap, but look at the disadvantages - tiny cubicles for the matches, practically no spectator space, no TV coverage (or practically ANY coverage bar Global Snooker Centre and the World Snooker website), and what about farcical situations like the time during Grand Prix (?) qualifying when play was suspended due to a fire alarm somewhere in the venue!

The WSA are in a comfort zone regarding the status of snooker (at least they think so), but speaking simply as a fan, I don't think the sport is in a healthy state - what other PROFESSIONAL sport do you know of that doesn't pay any prize money to first-round losers? The only sport I know of where this occurs is darts, but this is offset by the fact that the professional darts tour has FOUR ranking events for every one in snooker (28 compared to 7).

The WSA seem to believe that nobody gives a toss about the qualifiers, but what effort does the WSA make to help give them exposure? At the moment the qualifiers comprise a European Champion (van Hove), a World Amateur Champion (Maflin), rising Chinese talent, Tony Drago and Jimmy White. A field like that could attract good crowds - if only the chance was there to do so.
More crowds + more exposure = more money. How hard is it to work out?

Go to the Northern Snooker Centre, go to places that have fallen off the Main Tour radar such as the Republic of Ireland, go to places like Belgium, Germany and Poland where the presence of professionals playing authentic professional tour snooker will give a boost to the game in those countries, and may give the only chance to see the pros in action, live in the flesh, for the entire season.

Strike sponsorship deals with Eurosport, or local TV - make a deal with a bloody Polish beer company if you have to, anything for exposure - just STAY AWAY FROM PONTINS!

chasmmi: Here's a possible idea - why not split the tour into distinct 'legs' throughout the season? You could have the UK leg (N.I Trophy, Grand Prix, UK Champs, Welsh) followed by an Asian leg (Beijing, Shanghai, possibly Thailand), with tournaments that don't fit in either category such as the Malta Cup or (potentially) German Open placed possibly in between the two blocks of tournaments. This would hopefully help to expand the game, through measures you mentioned such as playing exhibitions, and it may also serve as a basis for new tournaments - for example, at the end of the UK leg, players could then move on to invitational events such as the recent tournament that took place in Warsaw, and if the interest is there, maybe upgrade them to full ranking events.

The problem with all this is - where would the Premier League Snooker fit in?

[DartsMadJohn]

Sorry for asking about something that has been said before but why again is Muldoon not playing on the Tour? I thought that he got promoted to the Tour as he came third in the European Championships and the finalists had already secured their Tour place. Who got through then? I can't say that I ever fully understood how players qualify or get promoted to the Tour anyway, but this one is totally confusing me. (but I would like to understand )

Muldoon was meant to have won a Tour place for being the best-placed player at the European Championships (who had not already gained a Tour spot), but the WSA instead gave his place to Issara Kachaiwong, despite the fact the the European Champion is virtually guaranteed professional status for the following season.

It has all become a farce now as Kachaiwong can't play the Shanghai qualifiers anyway.

[austrian_girl]

Thoroughly agree on the farce thing!

So let me get this straight. The winner of the European Championships automatically gets promoted to the Tour (if he hasn't qualified another way) but being the best player to not have qualified for the Tour already doesn't guarantee you a place? What's the tournament worth then, if players who have already qualified can compete in it still? Oh well, why am I bothering with that **** at 1.30 in the night?

[DartsMadJohn]

Technically, the European Champion is meant to have a place, but if they've qualified another way, then the next best player gets it - the fact is there has always been a Tour place given to the European Championships, and Vincent Muldoon should have won it - why the hell did they even bother staging a play-off if they knew Muldoon was not going to progress to the tour?

This year, van Hove won (he'd already won the European Play-Offs)
Runner-up was Rodney Goggins (top of Irish national rankings)

So there was a play-off between Haneveer and Muldoon, which Muldoon won.

As far as players competing in multiple events is concerned, I agree with your idea that including players already certain of their Main Tour place devalues the tournament. They should choose to compete in either the European Championships or the European Play-Offs, but I would also make some additional rules.

Firstly, cut down on the number of players the host nation is allowed to send - I think Ireland had six players in the tournament, and something like five out of the eight quarter-finalists.

Secondly, stop UK players from entering, or alternatively, allow them in as long as the UK national tours are a way to qualify for the European Championships, rather than being given Main Tour places.

Thirdly, use a system like the co-efficient in football, where each nation's results are analysed over a number of seasons, and the better you do, the more players you can enter in the tournament. This will help ensure tough competition as you'll always face good players, rather than being able to win your group just because you got 4-0 wins over the top guys from Romania, Lithuania and Cyprus.

However, alongside this, ensure that every EBSA member is allowed at least one player (so nations at the bottom of the rankings will only send their top player) and perhaps introduce a handicap system for the UK and Ireland owing to the higher standard and strength in depth of these countries.