Compulsary exhibitions at snooker tournaments

mickdw

Would it be a good idea to make it a condition of entry into televised tournaments that the players have to stick around and be available for exhibitions and more interaction with fans etc if they are knocked out of the tournament. Currently they seem to jump into the car and dissappear when knocked out. It would be great if it became the norm for them to do exhibitions etc. These could be recorded/televised and would be ideal for showing when matches end early etc. I certainly think the whole sport needs a shake up and getting the players to stick around might help to pack the venues too.
At the world championships, BBC have a table in a public area with different activities happening on it.... Fans playing with davis and stuff like that. More of that kind of thing I say.

armchairninja

+1

I think the players, granted not all of them, forget that without the fans, the sport wouldnt be doing near as well as it is at present, all be it badly.
For instance, back in the 80's when the game was massive, you had the matchroom videos, and tours, exhibitions etc., even a song:D
Where as the modern players, well most of them, dont seem to bother with fan interaction.
One instance which sticks out particularly well in my memory was when I was a bit younger, I was in Goffs to watch the snooker, and during the mid session interval, myself and my cousin were in the main concourse area, Ronnie O' Sullivan was up in the player area, looking out over the balcony, he wasnt playing that night, but we and a couple of other lads spotted him, and asked if he would come down n sign the programmes, it would have taken 2 min, instead he looked down, gave a dismissing look, and moved away from the railing, incase he was seen by more people.
Ever since then, I've never really had the same respect for him, I think players should remember where they came from!, In his autobiography, theres pictures of him with steve davis n eugene hughes as a child, one of which was taken in a chinese restaurant, where he basically interupted the meal to get a pic!

alang184

armchairninja wrote: »

I think players should remember where they came from!, In his autobiography, theres pictures of him with steve davis n eugene hughes as a child, one of which was taken in a chinese restaurant, where he basically interupted the meal to get a pic!

That's an interesting point, and it shows there is some sense of irony about it. O'Sullivan has referred to Steve Davis a couple of times as "my boyhood hero" etc. If Davis had the same attitude towards some people as O'Sullivan seems to have, perhaps O'Sullivan would not have considered him a "boyhood idol". And if I may just add, Steve Davis on the other hand is an absolute testament to the sport and a true character. Not so long ago he did a snooker exhibition with Ken Doherty in DCU, and apart from providing a very entertaining show, took about 20 minutes giving everyone the chance to talk to him, making sure every last person got a greeting, handshake, photograph etc.

One point I have to mention is, it must be remembered that for these guys, this is their living. If they get knocked out of a tournament, the last thing they will want to do (nor should be expected to do) is to hang around watching others playing. It means such a big deal for the players to progress in tournaments, and it's a huge blow for any player when they get knocked out.

About making changes to the sport: with snooker I think it's very difficult to change anything, at least anything which will make a large difference. A lot of other sports have a much bigger range of things which they can change. I've been a big fan of Formula 1 for a long time, and there has been fairly substantial changes over the last 10 years or so (and some huge changes for this coming season). However, F1 can change lots of little things around the "outside" which make a big difference without actually changing the core element of "cars racing very fast around circuits". Snooker does not have as great a flexibility unfortunately.

It's not a bad point about players having a couple of extra activities in tournaments. But there would need to be a real purpose behind it, rather than just a quick-fix attempt to get a few more ticket sales.

To really mix it up, have some ranking points resting on some kind of activity - make it more serious. As a wild example, have a knockout thing on the first day of the tournament, almost a warmup for the rest of the tournament, where the 16 or 32 players go head to head with various setups; for example a fastest colour clearence round where the faster of two players knocks the other out, or a "15-reds-across-blue-spot long potting challange", where the one with most pots goes through. And to take any kind of silly-ness out of it, slap 200 ranking points onto each round won, and then you can bet your bottom-euro most of those players trying to stay in/get into the top 16 will have no choice but to take it seriously, and the fans have a bit of lighter snooker entertainment to kick off the event.

That's just a crazy idea, just the kind of easy thing everyone wants to hear. The real problem with snooker's popularity I feel is the lack of various nationalities - there's nothing wrong with the game itself. What gets people really excited about snooker is really being able to get behind the player. It's hard to expect fans to do this all the time when it's almost always just English players. Snooker needs some talent to emerge from mainland Europe. "Not likely" most will say - well then this is a big problem, and that's where the focus needs to be. John Higgins and the World Series have the right idea in making an effort with events in Poland and Russia, and World Snooker should be trying the same.