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Ssb - blogging on
So to celebrate – if that’s the word I’m looking for – the fourth birthday of this blog, which falls tomorrow, I have undertaken a radical redesign.
Well a redesign, anyway.
Green is the colour, snooker is the game. Plus, as it’s a brave new era (and it really might be this time) it seemed right to change.
When I started this blog in 2006 the idea was to augment the monthly magazine with news, opinion and insight into the snooker world.
Since then I have rambled on at great length about most aspects of the game: the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
Snooker is now entering a new phase, one we all hope will lead it to increased success.
It is my hope that this is built on a global vision. Snooker is no longer flavour of the month in the UK but there are many other worlds to conquer, many millions of people who have got into the game in more recent years or, indeed, or yet to discover it.
The omens are good. Barry Hearn is a genius at developing niche markets and packaging sport for television in ways that make it attractive. With the game’s appeal in places like Germany and China and Hearn’s considerable skills and energy we could be about to enter a new golden era.
I forgive anyone wearily shaking their heads with cynicism as they read this. I know these magical breakthroughs have come along before and never quite been realised.
But the game reached a point last year where it was obvious to just about everyone that something had to give...and now it has. The WPBSA’s power has been largely marginalised and the sport is in the hands of a benevolent dictator, thankfully one who likes snooker and understands sports promotion.
I’m sure Barry will do things I disagree with – and I’ll say so – but he has my support because snooker has been needing radical change for years and that’s what it’s going to get.
Yes, I know there are problems and I know there are challenges but there are also opportunities...to take snooker to new markets, to freshen up its image and to stamp out once and for all the truly contemptible shadow of match-fixing.
So I’ll keep blogging and hopefully both my loyal readers will keep reading. I appreciate all – OK well most – of the comments and if you have any suggestions for content, I would love to read them.
Also, if you have a snooker blog or website of your own, drop me a line at snookersceneblog@aol.com and I’ll add it to the links section on the right.
More...
Well a redesign, anyway.
Green is the colour, snooker is the game. Plus, as it’s a brave new era (and it really might be this time) it seemed right to change.
When I started this blog in 2006 the idea was to augment the monthly magazine with news, opinion and insight into the snooker world.
Since then I have rambled on at great length about most aspects of the game: the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
Snooker is now entering a new phase, one we all hope will lead it to increased success.
It is my hope that this is built on a global vision. Snooker is no longer flavour of the month in the UK but there are many other worlds to conquer, many millions of people who have got into the game in more recent years or, indeed, or yet to discover it.
The omens are good. Barry Hearn is a genius at developing niche markets and packaging sport for television in ways that make it attractive. With the game’s appeal in places like Germany and China and Hearn’s considerable skills and energy we could be about to enter a new golden era.
I forgive anyone wearily shaking their heads with cynicism as they read this. I know these magical breakthroughs have come along before and never quite been realised.
But the game reached a point last year where it was obvious to just about everyone that something had to give...and now it has. The WPBSA’s power has been largely marginalised and the sport is in the hands of a benevolent dictator, thankfully one who likes snooker and understands sports promotion.
I’m sure Barry will do things I disagree with – and I’ll say so – but he has my support because snooker has been needing radical change for years and that’s what it’s going to get.
Yes, I know there are problems and I know there are challenges but there are also opportunities...to take snooker to new markets, to freshen up its image and to stamp out once and for all the truly contemptible shadow of match-fixing.
So I’ll keep blogging and hopefully both my loyal readers will keep reading. I appreciate all – OK well most – of the comments and if you have any suggestions for content, I would love to read them.
Also, if you have a snooker blog or website of your own, drop me a line at snookersceneblog@aol.com and I’ll add it to the links section on the right.
More...