If you met a top ranked player in the street

[trains]

Sorry but your original question was would I talk to a professional player if I met one not in a hurry? Not would you interrogate them on social inequality. Not sure what your gripe is about the quality of tables the average player has access too! Most of the top pros probably started off playing on a 6’ fold away Riley table made from chipboard the same as I did... Yet I’m here sweating my ass off laying 70m2 of porcelain floor tiles today and their off round the world playing top level snooker! Unfortunately that’s life bud!! I’m not from a necessarily poorer background than your top snooker pro, I had all the same opportunities, so why them and not us? Is that the question? I don’t think it’s because they have access to better quality tables. It’s TALENT my friend and bloody hard work, of course they need to practice on the current tables being used... But every sports person would have to do that to remain at the top level.

i think its more down to familiarity with the tables being used , i go back to an earlier post i'd look at pro's less through a lens of them being fortunate enough to have access to the tables world snooker uses if ws went back to the burroughs and watts table in the 80's , as it is now its just an exhibition of same old same olds who play on tables most lads have never seen in real life let alone ever played on .

[Danger Steve]

All sports and culture innovate and move on and find improvements in technology, equipment and physical abilities, snooker is just part of that innovation. At the end of the day if a youngster shows extraordinary talent on your knackered old table down the local club, knocking in centuries and beating older kids, then I’m sure the really talented ones will eventually find a way to make it towards the top and therefore better quality tables. But if you can’t make a century break on an old club table with bucket pockets then it’s very unlikely you will suddenly improve to top level by regular practice on a Star??? IMO

[trains]

All sports and culture innovate and move on and find improvements in technology, equipment and physical abilities, snooker is just part of that innovation. At the end of the day if a youngster shows extraordinary talent on your knackered old table down the local club, knocking in centuries and beating older kids, then I’m sure the really talented ones will eventually find a way to make it towards the top and therefore better quality tables. But if you can’t make a century break on an old club table with bucket pockets then it’s very unlikely you will suddenly improve to top level by regular practice on a Star??? IMO

i spoke to someone who saw ronnie o sullivan in the kings cross hurricane club and he said try as he might but o sullivan couldn't make a century break on the relative bog standard tables there , started a thread on it here too , i don't think anyone anywhere has seen or heard of a kid with extraordinary talent on bog standard tables consistently knocking in century's , its largely a narrative the media uses to get viewers interested in the product , most people play on tables o sullivan couldn't make a century on .

[Starsky]

i spoke to someone who saw ronnie o sullivan in the kings cross hurricane club and he said try as he might but o sullivan couldn't make a century break on the relative bog standard tables there , started a thread on it here too , i don't think anyone anywhere has seen or heard of a kid with extraordinary talent on bog standard tables consistently knocking in century's , its largely a narrative the media uses to get viewers interested in the product , most people play on tables o sullivan couldn't make a century on .

I’m sorry but that’s just not the case ...

It happened all over the U.K. IN the 80’s as most clubs had kids knocking in tons on bog standard tables. Apologies for the trumpet blowing but I was one them ...and I can name a load more !

The problem with Pro’s playing on club tables is that they’ve got so used to the speed of the cloths on the pro tables . Nothing to do with pockets etc.

The holy grail for any aspiring youngster trying to make it is getting free time in a club . If you don’t get that unless you’ve got a rich background your going to struggle. To get free time you’ve got to be good enough and you’ll have got good enough by practicing on bog standard club tables initially.
It’s harder now to get free time than in my day as there are less clubs meaning more players trying to get the holy grail in their nearest clubs. It just means you have to even better now by practicing harder and showing more promise than others.

Another huge benefit to getting free time is the access to better practice partners, that is instrumental to improvement .


The better you get the more access you’ll have to better tables.

[trains]

I’m sorry but that’s just not the case ...

It happened all over the U.K. IN the 80’s as most clubs had kids knocking in tons on bog standard tables. Apologies for the trumpet blowing but I was one them ...and I can name a load more !

The problem with Pro’s playing on club tables is that they’ve got so used to the speed of the cloths on the pro tables . Nothing to do with pockets etc.

The holy grail for any aspiring youngster trying to make it is getting free time in a club . If you don’t get that unless you’ve got a rich background your going to struggle. To get free time you’ve got to be good enough and you’ll have got good enough by practicing on bog standard club tables initially.
It’s harder now to get free time than in my day as there are less clubs meaning more players trying to get the holy grail in their nearest clubs. It just means you have to even better now by practicing harder and showing more promise than others.

Another huge benefit to getting free time is the access to better practice partners, that is instrumental to improvement .


The better you get the more access you’ll have to better tables.

don't really understand you here at all , if a poor child can't afford access to pro tables he isn't going to be given some sort of golden ticket to get familiarised with them ,going back to my earlier post , how many lads in london have made it in the last 40 years ?


going back to some other lines you made in this thread

What has changed is nowadays you have far more competition practice tables , lighting etc in clubs to mimic pro tournaments conditions. where ?

If you speak to most knowledgeable people who played in that era they would agree it was actually harder to make it once they opened it up due to the extra qualifying rounds you had to play. just because there may have been more qualifying rounds it doesn't mean it was harder , there may have been a lot of cannon fodder there too i don't know .

If you look at the record O’Sullivan broke for unbeaten matches at the time will give you an indication of how many matches you had to win again how does that mean it was harder ?

[Danger Steve]

Trains... What is your point in all this?? We’ll have to agree to disagree on most of what has been said but I still don’t know what any of this has to do with speaking to a pro in the street if I met one?? I probably wouldn’t discuss snooker politics with them because like Hendry did, they’d probably just smile and carry on walking... I’d be interested to know what they do outside of snooker?

[Starsky]

Trains,

I did write out a response but I just don’t see the point as you seem to ignore the facts about how the majority of players transition from amateur to pro.

I think I’ll leave it there as I’ve got to drive some of the things in your username at work

[Danger Steve]

Trains,

What’s your definition of made it ?, have you made it by turning pro or by being in the top 32 etc ?
Also London is a very small area of the UK so of course your going to get less players ‘ making it’ from that region compared to the rest of the U.K.

In regards to a club with pro tables and lighting in the London area then look no further than the club this forum is affiliated to

London is the UK for some Londoners! Lol .... Personally I hate the place, and I’ve spent plenty of time there with work etc so I’m speaking from experience!

[trains]

Trains,

I did write out a response but I just don’t see the point as you seem to ignore the facts about how the majority of players transition from amateur to pro.

I think I’ll leave it there as I’ve got to drive some of the things in your username at work

there isn't any point in a kid getting free time in a club mate unless he's got or will get access to a pro table afterwards , i'll leave it there ... for now ... bye , peace :snooker:

[DeanH]

London is the UK for some Londoners! Lol .... Personally I hate the place, and I’ve spent plenty of time there with work etc so I’m speaking from experience!

I remember, back when, some American colleagues asking why we were burning cows in London, they had seen some news videos!
To them London is England!
Edinburgh is Scotland.

[147Jim]

Surely all professional sport uses a playing area that amateurs can only dream of?

Compared to a Wimbledon groomed tennis court, Premiership football quality turf or Lords quality cricket square I'd say snooker is far more realistic for amateurs! You can just to go a club and play on Star tables!

I wish, my club's tables are 100+ years old and most of them have carpet for baize, perhaps I need to look elsewhere...

[vmax]

If I saw a pro player in the street I'd acknowledge to myself that I'd seen him without the backup of a selfie and simply let him get on with his day without the interuption from someone he doesn't know.

[itsnoteasy]

Show some talent first then the opportunities will come to you. Is there a player who started out on pro set up tables , maybe this generation but not before it. Most players start off as kids on club tables, if they show some promise they get to play in better tournaments on better tables, they maybe get a little sponsorship or work in a club for table time then they separate from the herd so to speak and go off and play with better players in better surroundings, while is club bangers are left behind, just like any sport where youngsters show talent.
If we are looking for working class players, or those that do have money behind them, coming through, Gary Wilson from Newcastle was, up until he reached the semis of the worlds, still driving a taxi to make ends meet.

[trains]

I wish, my club's tables are 100+ years old and most of them have carpet for baize, perhaps I need to look elsewhere...

but any kid playing on your table's is supposed to hoof his way to centuries then find a mystical pro table to familiarise himself with so he can compete with pro's , there's some narrative in the sky somewhere that works , they think it works on snooker forums anyway .:snooker:

[snooker_bhoy]

I always wanted to get into show jumping, skiing or rowing, but no luck there either :apologetic: