UK Championship 2021 - 23/11 to 05/12. Eurosport and BBC

ArmaniJeanss

Our second biggest event traditionally. Coverage starts on Eurosport this afternoon with BBC joining in at round 2 on Saturday.

Neil Robertson defending, after beating Judd Trump in last years rather epic final (that missed pink off the spot!)

Draw details in the wiki link below, and day2dayschedule for the first round in the Eurosport link. I'd guess Kyren Wilson in the afternoon, and John Higgins in the evening will be todays TV games.

2021 UK Championship - Wikipedia

UK Championship 2021: Draw, scores, schedule, results, order of play with Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump in action - Eurosport

Brian?

Honestly, the format change has ruined this for me. It’s just like another Home Nations tournament. It used to be a massive deal, but I don’t see it that way anymore.

eric hoone

Murphy in deep trouble 5-1 down

mdwexford

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118210320#Comment_118210320

Yeah the short format has ruined it.

Snooker is meant to be long and drawn out. Swings and roundabouts.

The Worlds is the only proper tournament now.

Joe_ Public

Murphy fighting his way back into a decider. Tense stuff now. Si Juahui was in the final of the first q tour event at the weekend but really, this is a match murph should be winning comfortably. Not been a great season so far.

Joe_ Public

Shaun blew it on the blue! All that hard work comes to nought.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118214034#Comment_118214034

He’ll be gutted, must have been just a loss of concentration, not a difficult shot. He had Si Jiahui on the ropes...

Si Jiahui inexperienced alright but some of his antics like constantly bouncing up and down from his chair when his opponent is down taking a shot and taking an absolute age to leave the table to size up what he’s left his opponent after a miss or safety make him a pretty dislikable watch... his coach would want to get a hold of him, he won’t win friends on the tour playing like that or friends / supporters in the audience...

inexperienced he might be but that’s pretty basic levels of courtesy.

referees could be having a word too it’s fairly blatant ..

Joe_ Public

Aaron up in action this morning against Noppon Saengham of Thailand. No live feed available alas. Tough match for the kid, Noppon has a win over John Higgins to his name this season, he can play. Hope for the best anyway.

weemcd

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/24/its-not-fair-shaun-murphy-rails-at-amateurs-in-pro-snooker-after-uk-championship-defeat-by-amateur

Speaking of having a word, someone should have a serious word with Murphy the way he got on here after losing. It's his own fault. He sounds like a spoiled child not getting his way.

ArmaniJeanss

Good to see Shaun doing a heel turn at last, his attempt at being a nice guy lasted longer than I expected but he is now back in his natural zone.

His point is fundamentally flawed isn't it - because all 'professional' means in his case is that he has a tour card. The person without a tour card is called 'amateur', but may still be an actual professional in the sense that their entire income may be from snooker, whether that's scratching around in pro-ams or waiting for slots to open up in pro events when players drop out.

That's my understanding anyway, I don't think it's like golf where the declared amateurs aren't entitled to any prize-money? Joe?

Joe_ Public

Bang out of order from Shaun there. Si is an amateur in name only, just like all the other guys struggling at the basement end of the tour and on the secondary tour, desperate to get back on and start earning a living. Shaun should have a word with some of those guys lower down the rankings, struggling for their future, to remind himself what real pressure is.

Joe_ Public

130 clearance from Aaron to win F4. Think that's his highest yet as a pro. But 1-3 behind at the interval so work to do to get back into it.

Brian?

Max from G Wilson. He’s on fire.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118214795#Comment_118214795

I came to this thread to ask about that. It didn't sound good from Shaun at all. If he's a pro and the other guy is an amateur then he should have beaten him pretty easily. Was the amateur sh1t-housing or doing something wrong? Or was he just so poor that he turned the game into a mess that anyone could have won (like Ireland soccer back in the day, playing in Lansdown the day after a 6Nations rugby game)?

Joe_ Public

Aaron loses 2-6, wasn't too hopeful today. Was hoping he'd get a couple more frames on the board at least, at 2-3 there was a flicker of hope but not to be. Think that's his year done now, hopefully regroup and try to lift it for an almighty last effort in 2022!

Glenman

Hendry is playing this evening. That match won't be televised will it?

I wonder what are the odd on him winning the tournament, might be worth a €5 flutter!?!

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118216022#Comment_118216022

Ronnie v Michael White will 99.99% be the main TV game at the start of the program.

If Ronnie can get a quick win (or quick loss), then they'll transfer to one of the other games in the room. Looking at the line-up there's a decent chance that it would be Hendry's game v Thep.

As for Hendry winning out, it's incredibly unlikely on the evidence of basically every shot he's taken since his return.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118216022#Comment_118216022

He's 2500/1 with bet365 , 2000/1 with Boyles for bricks and mortar punters. Probably similar with others... Only see about 6 books quoting outright price on oddschecker - probably because there's some games ongoing atm/// Good luck if you throw your €5 on him.. stranger things have happened.. Jordan Brown was 5000/1 prior to his winning the Welsh Open not so long ago!

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118214795#Comment_118214795

Bad form... pretty disrespectful manner to speak about your opponent and then to go blathering on about your injuries and niggles as if you would have won otherwise...

loyatemu

from the way Murphy was going on you'd think Si had just walked in off the street to try his luck. Saying he has no pressure on him! He's at the very bottom of the snooker ladder, playing halfway around the world from his home against a guy who has won millions over the years. Such crap from Murphy.

The Nal

Murphy, who tried to qualify for Golfs 2019 Open Championship.......... as an amateur.

Bit of luck there for Muir, who should have won this frame already, when Selby lost position on the last red... Looks to be a red ball game now..

Don't know how that blue went in! Some great shots by Muir in that last decisive break from him - All 3 in fact before the blue were very very good.. Nice hold off the yellow (from a v thin cut to middle) to get on green, which he potted nicely from almost on the cushion, and then a lovely slow roll pot on the brown, to put him in position to make that decisive blue..

He's had the most luck in the last two frames, but supposedly he should have won the first two, so I guess 2 apiece is a fair score atm...

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118216406#Comment_118216406

Yeah Murphy has gone down a bit in my estimation for those comments. Saying other sports don’t do it! What about the The FA Cup and FAI cup in soccer etc

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/othersport/arid-40751544.html

You would have thought Murphy would have been pleased for Si. Instead he said Si had no pressure! But pressure must have been on Si prize money and match massive for him. Murphy a multi millionaire in contrast.

I think it was just sour grapes from Murphy. Just saw bit of last frame on YouTube. Murphy blew it. Plus why did he not play for a plant from pink to second last red? Looked dead in line straight forward?? I was baffled by that.

https://youtu.be/rrhUZyztVsU

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118210320#Comment_118210320

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213922#Comment_118213922

Yeah, old format was great. A fella could not turn up and fluke it.. Had to be earned. Felt like a big tournament. Definitely was next after World Championship. They have ruined the UK championship in the last decade, all because of short attention spans or tv schedules???

Joe_ Public

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118217587#Comment_118217587

According to Clive Everton the bbc had quite a lot to do with the shortening of the format and I trust Clive as an impeccable and authoritative source.

Joe_ Public

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118217540#Comment_118217540

Agree though that plant definitely not on from what I recall. Looked easily 2 inches off and not possible to make.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118217540#Comment_118217540

..... Plus why did he not play for a plant from pink to second last red? Looked dead in line straight forward?? I was baffled by that.

I think the acute camera angle made it look like it was more set than it actually was.

Anyway yea what Murphy said is just bizarre. I actually don't even know what he's on about.

Looking at the scoreboard, it looks like three or so of the ongoing afternoon matches are "resuming later" ... Currently 5-4 to The Sheriff / Selt - Bingyu 5 apiece, and Hancorn leading Uresenbacher 5-4... Very strange setup.. think there's 8 (?) tables on the go - don't know if they're all in the 'main venue'..

How they think 4+ matches are all going to be finished in time is beyond me, given the distinct possibility of close matches and long drawn out frames.

It's not fair on the players; having to get all fired up, and prepared to go out again at some, likely undetermined time, as of yet, to play at most, 2 frames..

Anyway, on the main table, "normal service resumed" with 'The Rocket' getting a 139 in less time than it took me to type this out 😂

Two total clearances in a row!! One for Yates 😄

Strumms

Michael White just with a poor positional shot after poor positional shot... leaving himself with more then he needs to do onthe following pot, and as I type it cost him again.

Arthur Daley

Shaun was out of order there today. Needs to cool it a bit before diving into a rant like that. No matter how frustrating it might be to be in and out of form.

Muppet Man

Really can’t believe Murphy came out with that shite. For a man that says Si shouldn’t even be in the building, he very nearly lost 6-1 to him. What a clown.

The Nal

UK Snooker Championship 2021: Mark Selby and Mark Williams 'agree' with Shaun Murphy

https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/59407192

Joe_ Public

This story is certainly getting some traction anyway! Murphy on BBC radio 4 this morning doubling down. Willo, robbo, selby all backing him. Don't remember them making any fuss when James Cahill (a) beat Ronnie in the world championships. Maybe I missed it.

If shauns definition of amateur is not on the main tour, then by that strict definition he shouldn't have been able to qualify for the 2001 masters, under the then system, and go on and beat Marco Fu. Robbo has played in this event as an amateur before. They're just sounding like terrible hypocrites now.

Joe_ Public

Fergal on the early shift this morning v Joe 0'Connor. Thought we might get a live feed for it but sadly not. He's only a couple of grand off the World Grand Prix qualifying cut off, a win would be good here. Lost the opening frame though.

mrunsure

Radzi Chinyanganya is the new Eurosport presenter.

https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/former-blue-peter-presenter-radzi-relishing-challenge-of-being-snooker-s-fresh-face

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118219627#Comment_118219627

Really surprised at Murphy - if you showed me his quotes and did not tell me who it was. Would have immediately assumed that it was O'Sullivan! Even more surprised that some other players are backing Murphy. Do they want snooker to be a closed shop like it was years ago? When it was very difficult for players to drop out of the top 16 as form was only assessed after a number of years.

I think that is what it comes down to the top players are greedy and want the pie to themselves. I think Barry Hearn was spot on when he shook the system up to make it fairer.

Joe_ Public

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118220763#Comment_118220763

They are so wrong about this on so many levels, i can't begin to count them. The way the whole tour is structured, part of it is maintaining a delicate balance between protecting the elite players (partly because they're who viewers want to watch) and giving lower players a chance. So, open draws, shorter formats might favour lower ranked but the elite benefit in many more ways, as in world championships seeding. The supreme irony in this situation is that the uk championships draw is different in that it's not really a draw but based on the rankings - ie 1 plays 128, 2 v 127 and so on. It's to protect the tournament from too many early shocks and ensures they get the easiest draws, something those complaining might want to consider.

When Shaun lost to James Cahill (a) in the 2018 Welsh Open, i don't recall him complaining then. And i wonder if he'd been beaten by Michael White, would he have gone on that rant? I'm doubtful anyway, but I'm pretty certain if he did, Willo would not be backing him up on it in that situation.

Joe_ Public

Fergal battles but goes down 4-6 to O'Connor. Still got Scottish Open to come next month so not done for the year just yet.

The Nal

Hendry took some hiding

"4 tables in the main arena - 4 in the sportshall around the back" Thanks to Phil for mentioning that on comms... I wasn't sure how many there were in operation in total before Studd mentioned that.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118221065#Comment_118221065

Jayus he did. I did not see the match but check the score 6-1 to Un-Nooh.

https://livescores.worldsnookerdata.com/Matches/Result/14487/833443/cazoo-uk-championship-2021

And it was not even a close 6-1. Hendry only got one 57 break - and needed a second chance to win the frame - 64 points from the frame.

Hendry only scored 66 points in total the whole match! I remember seeing him discussing why he wanted to come back and viewed it as a fresh start. But he also said he psychologists and that type of thing do not work for him. I think he needs to reconsider that?

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118221422#Comment_118221422

5 centuries in 6 frames!

Joe_ Public

Defending champ robbo, who was defending Murphy yesterday, is 0-1 against "amateur" John J Astley.

Edit: just about to go 1-1.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118221731#Comment_118221731

I would love if one of those amateur lads won it now. Or at least had a decent run

Joe_ Public

Great pink from Astley to go 2-1 ahead. I guess there must have been no pressure on him to pot it ;-)

Joe_ Public

Astleys long potting has been atrocious but he's 3-1 up. Robbo stuck the frame up. Needs to up it a good bit after the interval.

Joe_ Public

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118221771#Comment_118221771

Si Juahui has a nice draw now, Spaceman up next and a decent enough chance in that quarter. Looking at it, Murphy really could not have asked for a more benign draw.

Joe_ Public

Astley 4-1, this is beginning to look serious. Robbo was in but broke down on 30, Astley straight in with a fine frame winning break.

eric hoone

Astley 5-2 up, love to see Robertson get dumped out by an amateur after backing up murphy's rant