Snooker Season 2021/22

AllForIt

Well who knows what BBC snooker will look like in say 5 years time. Dennis and Virgo were always the mammy's favourite commentators and there is sense in that because a significant percentage of snooker viewership comes from the older demographic, many of whom never picked a cue up in their lives. I wonder who the BBC have in mind to replace them? I don't sense myself Ken Doherty or Parrot are particularly popular in commentary but they'd seem the natural successors, so I dunno.

Sorry to hear about Alan Chamberlain. Never thought about who my favourite ref would be but if it were anyone it would be him. He had an air of class about him that befits the game.

weemcd

I can live without Virgo but Dennis will be a huge miss for me. I'd probably have Hendry as my favourite commentator now, I think he's really grown into it. Ken is OK, as is Parrott, but certainly not my favourites.

bradolf pittler

Hendry and McManus are the best on the mic at the moment. Great knowledge and not afraid to dig out a player for playing the wrong shot. Ken is OK but spends too much time giggling at his own jokes. Jack Karnehm was my all time fav commentator (showing my age...)

Joe_ Public

Snookers always had lot of decent commentators. John Pulman, John Spencer, Jim Meadowcroft just 3 i have fond memories of from back in the day.

Watching a bit of Fergal v Boiko today. Fergal far too experienced and canny as you'd expect. Boiko can play but some odd shot selections, particularly with safety. But just turned 16 today so time very much on his side you'd think.

Joe_ Public

Hendry playing Michael White feels like a match he could hope to win. Should get a few chances anyway, if it's the usual M White that shows up.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924114#Comment_117924114

I'd prefer Dale and Foulds over McManus myself. Ken might just be the new Dennis.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924114#Comment_117924114

I don’t like McManus at all. He spends too much time praising the players. I like a quieter kind of commentary.

Hendry is brilliant, followed by Foulds and Dale.

mrunsure

Hill showing poor temperament in his game today. Got a telling off from the referee the end of the third frame for the way he put the rest back.

Joe_ Public

Showing some character here at least. Was sure he was goosed at 0-3 and with that warning. Body language wasn't good at all but nice 70 there should perk him up. Still in it. Page not exactly shooting the lights out himself!

Joe_ Public

Wow, not sure you'll see too many better total clearances than that all season. You can't argue with that, simply stunning! Definitely a talent is Page if he can do that more consistently. Some fight from Aaron today but first 3 frames were a horror show really. Let the match get away and got frustrated, another tough lesson.

Joe_ Public

Well done Ken, shows battling qualities to sneak past Ali Carter in what was a good match. Carter missed an absolute tiddler on match ball in the last, but they all count.

Glenman

Yes, a great win for Ken. I see Hendry lost his match 4-0.

Joe_ Public

Outside of championship league, that's the highest ranked player Ken has beaten since Mark Williams at the 2019 China open. And no reason he shouldn't be able to do it more. He's been playing well, he's working hard over in Sheffield and obviously retains the desire and hunger for it. Hopefully that might ignite his season and push on for the card.

Fergal going well too, three qualifying tournaments played and 3 wins secured. Keep doing that and tour place should be guaranteed. Maybe go deep in one of them too, wouldn't bet against him.

And Mick Judge with a great victory over Graham Dott to open his account for the season. Not been a bad week all told.

Joe_ Public

Going alright for Ng On Yee in her first match as a tour member, 3-1 up against Craig Steadman at the interval in the German Masters qualifiers. Not exactly the highest standard but she has played some decent shots and a 77 clearance to win F3 was pretty decent. Poor Steadman having a mare, though, it has to be said. Nothing going right for him and not sure i could be super confident it'll get a whole lot better.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917663#Comment_117917663

RIP... Wasn't always 'nice' though 😊 ... I remember 1 player (might have been G Wilson - forget who he was playing) stopped the cueball from inevitably going into the yellow pocket, and placed it on the top cushion, or left it where it was (can't exactly remember)... The next player lifted the cueball and placed it in the 'D' - ref called a foul, as technically 'the cueball hadn't left the table'... Seemed happy and gleeful about calling that foul too 😂 Was one of the household name refs, along with Len and John Williams (though not as famous as those two)... Those days are gone tho..

Joe_ Public

Not to be for Ng On Yee, goes down 4-5. Had her chances, Steadman there to be taken out but she just couldn't put him away.

Joe_ Public

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118047389#Comment_118047389

Was that the Dott one from around 10 years back? Don't remember if that was Chamberlain, but it's the one that sticks in my mind anyway. I think they changed the rule on that some years back, if you stop the white from entering a pocket, it's adjudged to have left the bed of the table so that kind of incident can't happen again.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048032#Comment_118048032

Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of (although I do remember it happened on the green pocket side [mistakenly mentioned the yellow pocket above] ) , but I forgot who the participants were.. The chap on this forum (3rd post down - third paragraph) seems to remember it.. Didn't realize it was 10+ years ago; I thought it was more recent than that!

https://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/forum/snooker-forums/snooker-questions/36244-foul-when-in-hand

Joe_ Public

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048204#Comment_118048204

They changed the rule a few years after that i think, but you're spot on about the refereeing. No disrespect to Alan or his memory, but there was a kind of old school mentality that was happy to see players caught out from time to time. Nowadays refs are much more inclined to step in and prevent such mishaps occurring.

Another famous incident was the Thorburn one where he nominated yellow, ref didn't hear it and immediately, to thorburns consternation, called foul. I think if that happened now, the ref would be far more likely to interject and remind player to nominate and prevent the foul occurring.

Too true about the old fashioned style of refereeing Joe! They were a bit harsh at times alright. Think I saw that Thorburn one on Youtube, and perhaps that's where I saw the Dott one as well 😊,... Definitely don't remember having seen it way back in 2009 or so; maybe about 4 years ago I recall seeing it happen, so probably not live... The brain plays tricks!

Joe_ Public

Hah, i know how it is. I can vividly recall shots and entire matches from 30 years ago but ask me about last week and I'm already struggling!

On the reffing, i do remember an incident from 2-3 seasons back when Ronnie had snookered himself and his old pal, Terry Camilleri was in charge. As Ronnie is feathering the cue ball, nothing indicated, Terry, almost in half panic, rushes in saying, "Ronnie, Ronnie...you must nominate a colour." To which an irked Ronnie replies, cool the jets bro, I was only sizing up the shot. But i think that did highlight the modern mentality, the ref willing to help the player, not stand idly by and wait for him to foul up. And poor Terry! Saw an opportunity to possibly get in Ronnies good books and ended up merely irritating him more!

😃 That's a good one!

Joe_ Public

Aaron having a good scrap with the sheriff here, big frame there to tie it 2-2 at the interval. By far the best I've seen him cueing so far this season so a little bit of encouragement there.

Joe_ Public

Just didn't happen after the interval, Hamilton wins 5-2. Didn't miss a whole lot, frames were tight enough.

That's it now until uk champs end of next month and then nothing after that until shoot out at the end of January. Not a great situation to be in really. Unless there's some championship league or something they might chuck in there somewhere, not sure on that.

El_Duderino 09

Hedry also lost 5-2. Its not happening for either of them this seasons.

Joe_ Public

Aaron had an interesting exchange with Hamilton at the end of the match. He said he'd been very happy with his safety but hadn't brought his "scoring boots" with him and other days he'd scored well but hadn't played good safety. Putting it all together was the hard part. He also mentioned a couple of big pots he missed, felt he'd taken too much time thinking about them, instead of just getting down and potting them like just another shot. Just overthinking stuff in general.

For his part, Hamilton was very gracious and encouraging, told Aaron he'd been unlucky, could easily have been 3-1 or 4-2 up, to stick with it and all the best for the future. Smashing fella is the sheriff!

Joe_ Public

Ah that's so frustrating, Ken 2 pots away from sowing up frame and match, one careless positional shot and suddenly wakelins clearing up to force the decider. Ken kick himself hard should he lose this.

Joe_ Public

Well done ken, controlled last frame though helped by wakelin missing an absolute sitter over the pocket! Plays old mucker Matt Stevens tomorrow for a place in the final stages. Good opportunity to amass some badly needed ranking points.

Nice to see Ding finally back, albeit losing a tight match to Mark Davis.

Cao Yupeng taking on Murphy could be an interesting tussle this afternoon.

Joe_ Public

Murphy scrapes home with the aid of a flukey snooker. Cao had his chances, especially early on and also in the last.

refusetolose

whats the deal with aaron hill? if he fails to make the cut this year he's off the tour right?

what happens then ,is it really hard for him to get back on the tour or what?