If you met a top ranked player in the street

[sk1nnym0nkey]

I spoke to Gary Wilson last year at the Worlds (straight after that marathon decider against Brecel)

He had so much time for everyone and just chatted to you like he was your mate. Nice guy

[trains]

Trains mentioned Willie Thorne , what’s the latest with his health ?

no idea , i wish him well , i remember his missed blue v davis all those years ago and him pulling a face when davis was mulling over a shot for about three minutes on the come back trail in that same match , may have been kind of obvious that snooker facilities may have been better in this area years ago but you just didn't think of it , would only have been an hour or so from euston or kings cross , maybe thats why i subconsciously took the username ' trains ' , is it the snooker gods somewhere saying something i don't know .

[DeanH]

Trains mentioned Willie Thorne , what’s the latest with his health ?

last I heard the leukaemia treatment had been competed but was back in hospital due to a complication, oh about 2 weeks ago - ish

[Starsky]

last I heard the leukaemia treatment had been competed but was back in hospital due to a complication, oh about 2 weeks ago - ish

Thanks Dean .

[vmax]

A pro set up table in a club will play completely differently to a table set up for a tv event, unless you are changing the cloth every three days.

What's not being discussed here is the introduction of the Aramith phenolic resin balls, that were forced on us by their industrial takeover of The Composite Ball Company, which lead to the pro table set up in the first place to cut the number of bad contacts that were happening.
It's all Aramith's fault

BTW Joe Davis' dad ran a hotel with a billiard table and Walter Lindrum's dad was a billiard player with his own table at home, you need to get off to a good start.

[DeanH]

last I heard the leukaemia treatment had been competed but was back in hospital due to a complication, oh about 2 weeks ago - ish

Thanks Dean .

just seen an update on Twitter

"I just wanted to update you all on @TheWillieThorne’s medical situation. WT is currently in ICU and due to respiratory failure on Sunday is now receiving mechanical ventilation and has been put in a induced coma."

[tomwalker147]

In the UK it works the same way it always has done, a young kid shows talent, makes a name for himself and gets backing of a sponsor, a club or both.
In China it's written into their sporting curriculum which is an advantage but fair play to China. The Chinese still have the disadvantage of having to move to the UK to further their careers which can't be overlooked.

If I bumped into a pro in the street i'd probably just say hello, i'm lucky enough to have played against Selby, Stevens, Murphy, Hendry, Lisowski, Davis, Doherty, Cahill, Wakelin, Bingham and Williams.
Best experience ever was Rob Milkins making me a cup of tea, chatting for half hour then having a few frames with him, really nice bloke!

[tomwalker147]

just abbreviated for brevity , the young chinese players like zhou yuelong and yuan sijun may only have ever played on pro tables in their lives and may not have a clue what we're on about , also someone like chris wakelin in the nuneaton area , he may have never shown any distinctive prowess on a club table but happened to live in an area with a very good club the atack and apparently bought his own in that club , so in these instances you could say club tables are somewhat irrelevant in the modern pro game .

in the case of the other midlands players i mentioned earlier i think murphy had a full size table at home as a kid , i'm not sure if any had particular distinctive prowess on club tables its just that they had access to good tables nonetheless and i think their fathers were also huge snooker fans , pretty sure thats the case with selby murphy and kyren wilson , they may have known quite a few pro's at the time too , murphy lived in loughborough and went to the former premier league tournament held there with his dad , not forgetting the input of willie and malcolm thorne , i think in general that area is just a better one for aspiring pro snooker players , proof also is in the numbers .

Just to elaborate on your point on Chris Wakelin who i've known for probably 12/13 years he actually showed incredibly prowess on bog standard amateur tables before turning pro. In fact he used to practice on a standard club table in the corner of the club, the same table Mick Price practiced on years before. Chris used to rent a flat in Nuneaton next to the local Asda where he worked every hour under the sun as a delivery driver to fund his practice and Q school entry money. I can't remember the timing of his Star table purchase but it was either just before or just after he turned pro, he certainly hasn't been used to professional conditions all his career. I think that goes for most UK based players, the older generation grafted on pretty poor tables and the new generation have worked really hard regardless of being given access to the top facilities or going down the route of a Wakelin or Gary Wilson.

[Neil Taperell]

just seen an update on Twitter

"I just wanted to update you all on @TheWillieThorne’s medical situation. WT is currently in ICU and due to respiratory failure on Sunday is now receiving mechanical ventilation and has been put in a induced coma."

I know that he is not very well , I was speaking to the Comedian Bobby Davro a few weeks ago and he said then that he is in a bad way

[trains]

Si jiahui 17 , chang bingyu 17 , fan zhengyi 19 , xu si 22 , lei peifan 16 , Zhang Jiankang 21 , Zhao Xintong 22 , lu haotian 22 , Zhou Yuelong 22 , yuan sijun 19 , yan bingtao 20 , Luo Honghao 20 , bai langning 17



This is a list i’ve just compiled of the young chinese on tour , in their case i doubt if they’ve ever showed any prowess on a bog standard club table or ever even actually played on one ( not even trying to be fictitious here ) .

Of course china is a bigger richer country than britain but in using the term ‘ new generation ‘ that term seems far more appropriate to chinese than british players when also adding in the long term potential of bingtao yuelong and xintong .


Who would come under the term ‘ new generation ‘ in britain ? jackson page 18 ( mark williams protege so no advantage there then ! ) , james cahill 25 (stephen hendrys nephew) joe o connor (leicester player ) 24 , louis heathcote (another leicester player ) 22 , scott donaldson 25 .


Two things i deduct from this , world snooker really should have a q school in china as its obvious thats where the youth is growing and they seem to have more pro tables to get youths acclimatised to the pro game .

also for anyone interested in watching new players they should try to get cameras and stream some of these amateur and pro qualifying events in china , just for a new faces and players of the future perspective it seems much more upbeat than britain , rather sadly though of course .

[tomwalker147]

Si jiahui 17 , chang bingyu 17 , fan zhengyi 19 , xu si 22 , lei peifan 16 , Zhang Jiankang 21 , Zhao Xintong 22 , lu haotian 22 , Zhou Yuelong 22 , yuan sijun 19 , yan bingtao 20 , Luo Honghao 20 , bai langning 17



This is a list i’ve just compiled of the young chinese on tour , in their case i doubt if they’ve ever showed any prowess on a bog standard club table or ever even actually played on one ( not even trying to be fictitious here ) .

Of course china is a bigger richer country than britain but in using the term ‘ new generation ‘ that term seems far more appropriate to chinese than british players when also adding in the long term potential of bingtao yuelong and xintong .


Who would come under the term ‘ new generation ‘ in britain ? jackson page 18 ( mark williams protege so no advantage there then ! ) , james cahill 25 (stephen hendrys nephew) joe o connor (leicester player ) 24 , louis heathcote (another leicester player ) 22 , scott donaldson 25 .


Two things i deduct from this , world snooker really should have a q school in china as its obvious thats where the youth is growing and they seem to have more pro tables to get youths acclimatised to the pro game .

also for anyone interested in watching new players they should try to get cameras and stream some of these amateur and pro qualifying events in china , just for a new faces and players of the future perspective it seems much more upbeat than britain , rather sadly though of course .

interesting reading that is mate, didn't realise the young Chinese lads were that young!
Agree it'd be interesting to see the up and coming stars, I also find top level amateur snooker more interesting to watch than pro snooker, it'd be great if amateur events gained some sort of coverage.

[trains]

interesting reading that is mate, didn't realise the young Chinese lads were that young!
Agree it'd be interesting to see the up and coming stars, I also find top level amateur snooker more interesting to watch than pro snooker, it'd be great if amateur events gained some sort of coverage.

Yes good to see new faces , here’s a link to the recent european billiards and snooker association ebsa under 21’s and mens matches from portugal , https://www.ebsa.tv/ ,

just click the recorded matches link , notable matches no. 71 under 21’s the rep of ireland’s aaron hill get a two year tour card and 112 wales’s andy pagett also a two year card

ot but it would be interesting to know the number of heavy hitting chinese amateurs compared to european , i suspect there's much more chinese but don't know for sure .

[itsnoteasy]

60 million people play snooker in China, that's incredible.

[Danger Steve]

What snooker needs is a Sugar Daddy (or several) like horse racing has the Saudi royal family propping up the sport for years.

[ADR147]

Met Tony Drago and Michael Georgiou in the street , I knew Michael and had met Tony once before . He is a great laugh .

Been lucky enough to met and talk to loads of Pro's and not met one I didn't like .........they probably didn't like me though !!!
From Memory the one's that i've talked to : Cliff Thorburn , Tony Meo , Jimmy White , Jimmy Robertson [ really nice guy ] , Alexander Ursenbacher [ another good lad ] , Liang Wenbo , Stuart Bingham [ had a very enlightening chat with him about his ban ] , David Gray , Michael Georgiou , Kurt Maflin , Marco Fu , Allan Taylor , Martin O'Donnell , Steve Davis , Mark Selby , Tony Drago , Willie Thorne ……..I think that's about it !!

Stu is a great lad.