Long night on longest night

[The Statman]

The longest night of the year (in the northern hemisphere) was the night of 21-22 December, and it certainly was a long night on the snooker table in Telford!

Which leads one to ask whether consideration should be given to starting the sessions at an earlier time. Granted, it was not a quick match and any start time woul have left it fairly late. I felt sorry for the chap in the audience who obviously had a watch alarm set for 12 o'clock and it went off during the final frame.

The thing is with the UK, World and Masters finals, that they have a potential 11 frames to be played in the evening session – and of course, if all 11 are needed there is naturally going to be a lot of tension.

Most other finals, being best of 17 with 8 (sometimes 7) played in the afternoon, only have a maximum of 9 (sometimes 10) in the evening.

Also, most other rounds are a 7:00 or 7:30 start.

So why not either play an extra frame in the afternoon session, or move the final session (or both sessions) back ½ hour or an hour?

[Monique]

Dave H made the same point on his blog.
He also mentions that as snooker popularity is growing in mainland Europe where people are one, if not two, hours ahead of UK time this would be a smart move. It would also take into account the needs of the younger viewers and God knows they should be welcomed!

I must say I'm not yet fully recovered from going to bed at 3 am and being up at 6 am having to work!!!!

[spike]

I think playing an extra frame in the afternoon would be fine. Maybe the evening session cant be played a little earlier due to a contractual obligation by the BBC? Did you notice many people leaving before the final frame or was it still a full house?

[The Statman]

I think playing an extra frame in the afternoon would be fine. Maybe the evening session cant be played a little earlier due to a contractual obligation by the BBC? Did you notice many people leaving before the final frame or was it still a full house?

Very few people left, in fact.

Just bearing in mind that for some people, the time of the last bus etc. could affect how long they can stay, I was surprised that more people didn't leave.

My emphasis was on the 19-frame days because those are the only times the lateness debate seems to come up. Grand Prix etc are usually fine.

[dannyd0g]

Good point Mr Statman. Its not great for people who have to get up for work next day when matches run on very late. A little bit of rescheduling would help.

Lucky it wasnt Davis and Ebdon or Harold competing as at least Murphy tends to get on with things at a quick pace.