Where are the Ladies in professional Snooker?

[CRiZZ76]

Hey people,

I was just wondering if there are any women playing professional snooker? I have never seen any woman at a table (playing). And the only two ladies in the snooker world in general (without playing) I know of are Hazel Irvine and Michaela Tabb.

Are there restrictions for women? Or are they just not good enough? Or does no lady have any interest in snooker? I see many in the audience though

[jrc750]

It does go on, but not usually televised
http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...t=reanne+evans

[Theguywithaplan]

Reanne Evans was on the tour last year and failed to win a match (I think), and she holds the record for most consecutive victories on the ladies tour. There are no restrictions for the ladies, they are simply not good enough.

[ace man]

No restrictions. Just not good enough. Allison Fisher is the best there ever was. Watch her play here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPoXBgG2bjI

Documentary of her early days:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f79fLbApdKg

[nrage]

I've been thinking about this myself, on and off for quite a while now and as with anything, the problem is much more complex than it might first appear. It is true that the ladies aren't as good as the blokes, at the minute, but there is no physical reason why that should be the case. The reasons are more social or psychological.

First off, I think women either find ball sports less interesting, or are not encouraged to play them at a young age. I have a friend who said to me that, without prompting, his son was interested in balls and blocks and his daughter in dressing up dolls. Now, maybe subconsciously the parents suggested this, but maybe it's buried deeper in our psychology and/or evolution.

So, if less women are even interested in snooker this means the chances of someone with natural talent for the game also being interested in the game is less. Meaning, ignoring all the other reasons I am about to talk about, we're still likely to see less women at the top of the game than men.

Next, you have to consider the social aspect. Most snooker is played in social clubs, where women are often not allowed to be members, or play on the snooker tables! Or, snooker is played in bars/clubs where women would get a lot of stick (pun intended) for playing. Just look at the type of comments on that youtube video, for example. Lastly there is still a general expectation that women take care of the kids and men go out to the pub. All in all, even if the women were interested in the sport, they have less chance to practice and build the skills required to get to a decent standard.

Even assuming we have someone with natural talent, who is interested in the game, and finds a good environment and the time to practice to a good standard, there is still one further mountain to climb..

Sponsorship. Without this, players have to hold down a normal 9-5 job to pay the bills. This cuts into a persons available energy and time for practice. Now, men have similar problems to women here, except for women it is made slightly harder by the fact that prize money for womens events is less.

The reason for this is that less money is made in advertising and broadcasting of these events, because people don't want to watch womens snooker, because they're not as good.. and here we have a catch 22.

So.. it seems to me that until society evolves still further and snooker becomes encouraged and available to women at an earlier age, and/or someone up high in the snooker world makes a decision to promote womens snooker, taking a loss in the short term to do so, things will stay as they are.

[wildJONESEYE]

Steve Davis "don't think there's ever going to be another player like her"

what a defeatist attitude

[snookerdad]

Details about the women's game can be found at http://wlbsa.wytech.co.uk/

Tim Dunkley (WLBSA press officer)

[vmax4steve]

nrage

sorry m8 but you are completely wrong, it's all about hand and eye co-ordination and women simply don't have it, it's biological. O.K you may get the odd female who is a little bit good, compared to other females and men with very poor hand eye co-ordination, but in the main and at the very pinnacle of all sports and games, women can't compete on a level playing field with men, unless they are on a horse.
They share the male tour and get equal prizemoney in tennis, yet the #1 woman player would get hammered by the lowest ranked man. Why ? Maybe it's because they show their knickers, maybe that's why we never see men playing beach volleyball on the telly, sex sells doesn't it. Yeah that's it, get rid of the dress code and stop dressing these women in waistcoats and trousers and let them wear mini skirts and low rise skin tight jeans, put them on the male tour and see who draws the biggest crowds.

[jrc750]

....Yeah that's it, get rid of the dress code and stop dressing these women in waistcoats and trousers and let them wear mini skirts and low rise skin tight jeans, put them on the male tour and see who draws the biggest crowds.

Hmmmm yes please

[wildJONESEYE]

Hmmmm yes please

dont know about crowds getting bigger but a part of me would

[scottishplayer]

I don't think itl be long before we see young Hannah jones on our screens!

[wildJONESEYE]

whats happened to womens snooker is sad

Alison Fisher was the King pin then she left before Kelly Fisher came on the scene and the same thing happened before Reanne came on the scene.

you need competition to push standards up.

had there been a era of Alison Fisher,Karen Corr,Kelly Fisher and Reanne Evans playing at the same time then the Standards would have risen enough to maybe break through.

Reanne has now started playing men regularly thanks to Barry Hearn and PTC. i know that Hannah Jones's father is keen for her to play PTC When shes older and finished school thats the only way women can break through is to play better players thats just not there in the womens game.

[SnookerFan]

First off, I think women either find ball sports less interesting, or are not encouraged to play them at a young age. I have a friend who said to me that, without prompting, his son was interested in balls and blocks and his daughter in dressing up dolls. Now, maybe subconsciously the parents suggested this, but maybe it's buried deeper in our psychology and/or evolution.

That might be a very important issue. The successful male players take it up when they are about five.

Believe it or not, I know several (adult) women that watch snooker on the telly. It's not unpopular spectator sport. But parents tend to buy dolls and stuff like that for girls. And different things for boys. Then when children are old enough to be at school, they tend to follow what other kids are doing. And the majority of these kids have the same experiences of their parents buying what they believe to be gender specific toys. A boy that played with dolls, or a girl that plays more sports orientated games will probably be made fun of. Or at the very least, feel they don't fit in. At a young age, you tend to do what's popular around you as you are still forming your own personality.

If more girls were encouraged to play at a young age, and practice for years like men do, maybe there'd be a difference. Picking it up as a young teenager, sometimes you're giving away ten years worth of playing to the men.

[SnookerFan]

whats happened to womens snooker is sad

Alison Fisher was the King pin then she left before Kelly Fisher came on the scene and the same thing happened before Reanne came on the scene.

you need competition to push standards up.

had there been a era of Alison Fisher,Karen Corr,Kelly Fisher and Reanne Evans playing at the same time then the Standards would have risen enough to maybe break through.

Reanne has now started playing men regularly thanks to Barry Hearn and PTC. i know that Hannah Jones's father is keen for her to play PTC When shes older and finished school thats the only way women can break through is to play better players thats just not there in the womens game.

Didn't Reanne Evans win a world title once when she was 8 months pregnant? Or is that just an urban legend?

If that is true, it demonstrates the lack of competition.

[snookerdad]

Reanne was seven months pregnant when she won the World Championship in 2006. Her daughter Lauren was born less than two months after the final.

In 1981, Mandy Fisher played and lost a quarter-final match against Allison Fisher in the women's world championship three days after giving birth.