Steve Davis + Bahrain...

[murdock]

There's been a discussion going on the Bahrain qualifiers thread about Steve Davis and whether he should have pulled out of the Bahrain qualifiers. For those (presumably very few) of you that don't know, Steve is contracted to appear in the Premier League on the Thursday of tournament week, meaning that he would be unable to compete in all rounds should be happen to progress.

I just thought it would be interesting to open this up and see what people thought. Is Steve being unsportsman like in playing his qualifying match when he knows he cannot complete the tournament thus preventing someone else proceeding in his place? Or is it reasonable that he obtains as many ranking points as he can?

I remember a few years ago that John Higgins pulled out of a tournament as he had to attend a wedding on the Friday or Saturday. He played in the tournament as far as he could then pulled out. I can't remember the details, but I seem to remember very little fuss and that he received all his ranking points for progressing as far as he did.

Just wondered what everyone thought about this situation.

[murdock]

I guess no one has an opinion

[aphex]

It is grossly unfair for him to be the victim of an administrative cock-up (Ding, Selby, Higgins too), so he has every right to at least take what points he can get.

[murdock]

I agree with you aphex. I sense not everyone on this forum does, however...

[Ekphantos]

As I said in the other thread, I think he should have withdrawn, as it is unsportmanslike to participate if you know that you can't continue. Of course it is not his fault and it is very unfortunate. Steve is my favourite player, so a small part of me is glad he gets some ranking points, but in general it just doesn't feel right. As it turns out though, he probably doesn't have to withdraw anyway, as he"ll meet O'Sullivan in the first round, no way he gets past him.

[Templeton Peck]

Given the circumstances they could have made Bahrain just an open non-ranking event. Why should the players in the Premier League be disadvantaged in the rankings? The Premier League players should be entitled to participate in the early stages and withdraw if they progress to the later rounds to minimise their loss of points. I don't think Davis is acting unprofessionally at all - he's been put in an unprofessional situation and is dealing with it the best way he can with regards to his own position in the rankings.

[murdock]

Given the circumstances they could have made Bahrain just an open non-ranking event. Why should the players in the Premier League be disadvantaged in the rankings? The Premier League players should be entitled to participate in the early stages and withdraw if they progress to the later rounds to minimise their loss of points. I don't think Davis is acting unprofessionally at all - he's been put in an unprofessional situation and is dealing with it the best way he can with regards to his own position in the rankings.

Thanks Face-man. Nice to see another member of the A-team alive and well on this board. Maybe we should reform. Anyone know the whereabouts of BA and Hannibal?

[Migtsf]

Given the circumstances they could have made Bahrain just an open non-ranking event. Why should the players in the Premier League be disadvantaged in the rankings? The Premier League players should be entitled to participate in the early stages and withdraw if they progress to the later rounds to minimise their loss of points. I don't think Davis is acting unprofessionally at all - he's been put in an unprofessional situation and is dealing with it the best way he can with regards to his own position in the rankings.

I agree, given the circumstances, players in the PL shouldn’t be disadvantaged in the rankings. Therefore, I think Steve has every right to be playing in the qualifications as far as he can go. And I go even further, I don’t know if the other players are going to be given the loser points for not going to Bahrain, but either way I don’t think that would be enough to repair the damage done.

In my opinion, at the end of the season, these player’s earned points should be adjusted to the number of tournaments they participated in.

For example, let’s say Ding finishes the season with 14,000 points earned (this season only). Taken in consideration Bahrain offers a maximum of 5,000 points, 10.26% of all available points of the season (48,750), Ding would have competed for only 89.74% (100%-10.26%) of the available points. Therefore, his points should be 14,000*100/89.74 = 15,601.

[Templeton Peck]

Long time no see Murdock - looks like I'm in the madhouse with you these days

Other than not having Bahrain as a ranking event that's probably the best solution Migtsf. It does look bad if you have players withdrawing halfway through a tournament but if World Snooker isn't going to do anything to address the unfair situation regarding the PL players then it should be left to the players to individully decide whether to withdraw fully or salvage some of their ranking points.

[millwall32]

he should play in whichever one carries ranking points. What's more I hope he gets plenty....

[platt]

A few years ago the samething happened with Davis and co, points were awarded on the gorunds of contracts been broken.

[adrift]

It's a mess and not the fault of Davis, so I don't think he should be penalised for it.

[tallguy]

As I said in the other thread, I think he should have withdrawn, as it is unsportmanslike to participate if you know that you can't continue.
....

I don't think it is unsportsmanlike at all. I wouldn't call it unsportsmanlike even if it were "his fault".

Say he was was under contract for the Bahrain event to not withdraw after progressing and to prevent a possible breach of contract he doesn't play to this best. This I would say is extremely unsportsmanlike but what he intends to do now is perfectly allright.

He needs the ranking points he can get and he is doing just that, trying to get as many as he can. Who among the other players exactly loses out when Davis withdraws in the middle of the event ? Nobody really and in fact his next opponent gets to advance for free.


If the argument is that someone Davis defeated on his way would have had the chance to advance, it isn't really true. They had their chance and were defeated by Davis. If Davis hadn't played at all then they would have met his equal instead and would still need to defeat him.

It is like the way you can't complain if you lose and the winner promptly goes and plays the worst game of his life to lose in the next round to an opponent who is quite inferior compared to you both. No point in saying "I could have beaten him with one hand tied behind my back."

[murdock]

I don't think it is unsportsmanlike at all. I wouldn't call it unsportsmanlike even if it were "his fault".

Say he was was under contract for the Bahrain event to not withdraw after progressing and to prevent a possible breach of contract he doesn't play to this best. This I would say is extremely unsportsmanlike but what he intends to do now is perfectly allright.

He needs the ranking points he can get and he is doing just that, trying to get as many as he can. Who among the other players exactly loses out when Davis withdraws in the middle of the event ? Nobody really and in fact his next opponent gets to advance for free.


If the argument is that someone Davis defeated on his way would have had the chance to advance, it isn't really true. They had their chance and were defeated by Davis. If Davis hadn't played at all then they would have met his equal instead and would still need to defeat him.

It is like the way you can't complain if you lose and the winner promptly goes and plays the worst game of his life to lose in the next round to an opponent who is quite inferior compared to you both. No point in saying "I could have beaten him with one hand tied behind my back."

That's a very good argument tall guy. It is quite similar to a player beating someone and playing rubbish in the next round. Seems like the majority of people are coming out in support of Steve, which is good. Maybe we should have a vote on this?

[Ekphantos]

For me it is worse to give someone a walk over in the later, more important stages of the tournament than in the earlier ones.