Snooker 2017

[devilla]

Coral shot out is a ranking tournament. Each "match" is one frame, shots are timed, each frame is limited to 10 minutes and the rules are altered for this tournament. How on earth can it be a ranking tourament? Complete joke. Boils my piss.

[J]

I'm all for trying to breathe some new life into the game with inventive formats and the like but you're right, there's no way it should be a ranking event.

[cdbearsfan]

I assume it was made a ranking tournament to cajole the top players into competing, which would obviously be better for broadcasters, sponsors, etc.

It doesn't seem to have worked though as, off the top of my head, I don't remember seeing O'Sullivan, Ding, Neil Robertson, Trump and a fair few others.

[Legion]

I watched this last night. Thought it was shit.

[ACVilla]

I watched a bit of it and thought it was alright. A bit of brainless fun. Let's be honest snooker needs a massive injection of something. Christ knows where it would be without Ronnie.

[Dave Cooper please]

I watched a bit of it and thought it was alright. A bit of brainless fun. Let's be honest snooker needs a massive injection of something. Christ knows where it would be without Ronnie.

Still very popular, more ranking events now than ever, massive following in the far East. Honestly it doesn't need a T20 style makeover and it isn't suited to that sort of style anyway.

[ACVilla]

I watched a bit of it and thought it was alright. A bit of brainless fun. Let's be honest snooker needs a massive injection of something. Christ knows where it would be without Ronnie.

Still very popular, more ranking events now than ever, massive following in the far East. Honestly it doesn't need a T20 style makeover and it isn't suited to that sort of style anyway.

Yes it's massive in the far east so in that regard it could well be called very popular.

In the UK though, nah. I don't know the viewing figures for the major tournaments but they must be a fraction of what they were and if you take Ronnie out of the equation I'd imagine it would be a fraction again.

[cdbearsfan]

Just about everything on terrestrial television has far lower ratings than in previous years due to more competition.

Snooker would easily survive with or without O'Sullivan though. You sound a bit like a Man United fan tbh, only the one with the most fans matters?

I think the Shootout is quite good fun... as a one-off. I wouldn't want to see any major tournaments adopting that format.

[devilla]

I thought Ronnie's interview after his win on Monday night was great. They wanted him to talk about his match but all he wanted to do was tell them about his run that morning. "It was great, the birds were tweating". Hendry was creased up! Ronnie saying he was going home until his next match because there was nothing to do in Llandudno. Great TV.

In that interview they replayed some of his shots but you couldn't hear what anyone in the studio was saying becaue of the audience's applause. That needs sorting.

[cdbearsfan]

Sounds like O'Sullivan being a prick, as per.

[devilla]

Sounds like O'Sullivan being a prick, as per.

I think it just means he's being honest about what's really important to him now. He had a really tough time in his late teens when at one point, both his parents were in prison and he went off the rails for a few years. His new perspective has meant he's got his life back on track so I admire him for that. And of course, he's the most talented player the game has ever seen.

[peter w]

And the reason most casual snooker fans watch it.

[cdbearsfan]

Ermmm... nah. Maybe the sort of people who only bother watching football when Man U are involved, but I think snooker (in Britain) tends to be watched by an older demographic who have been watching since long before O'Sullivan came along.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Stuck next to a fella on a packed train yesterday who was watching snooker on his iPhone. Dunno who was the saddest, him for having the world's collection of video material at his finger tips and choosing to watch snooker or me for watching it over his shoulder whilst pretending to read the Evening Standard

[devilla]

Ermmm... nah. Maybe the sort of people who only bother watching football when Man U are involved, but I think snooker (in Britain) tends to be watched by an older demographic who have been watching since long before O'Sullivan came along.

Yep, I'm one of those older demographic. I've been watching it since the Pot Black days on a black and white TV but I'm very pleased to say that I have a very deep loathing of man u.