FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR.
By John Docherty. The Sportingbet.com World Series of Snooker has taken on the role of sporting trailblazers. Judging by the much-applauded success of the inaugural WSOS, where the world's top players showed off their skills in Jersey, Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow and, most recently, Portimao in the Algarve, snooker fans throughout Europe have been bowled over by the tournament. Pat Mooney, chief executive of organisers FSTC Sports Management and John Higgins, can feel justifiably proud. They took on a gamble that no-one else in the sport fancied taking and it's paying off with the World Series gaining in momentum in different countries throughout Europe and the genuine belief is it will only get stronger. It's all about trying something different and Mooney and Higgins clearly enjoy a challenge. The audiences at the Portimao Arena in Portugal, where the 2009 World Series of Snooker Grand Final was held over the weekend, .were treated to some thrilling matches involving eventual champion Shaun Murphy, runner-up John Higgins, Mark Selby, Stephen Maguire, Graeme Dott Steve Davis, Ding Junhui, Ken Doherty Ryan Day,and Peoples' Champion Jimmy White while there were some fireworks on the table from 14-year-old Belgian sensation Luca Brecel. But one of the biggest talking points was the World Series of Snooker's innovative introduction of the six reds format in the opening games, followed by 10 reds, and the traditional 15 reds for the semi-final and final stages. This was the first time this has been done in a prestige tournament and the general feeling among players, officials and the supporters was that the six reds was a bit of a hit and a miss. But it was a different story when the 10 reds came into play because everyone loved it. It's a subject which will continue to be discussed - what do you think? The World Series of Snooker will be delighted to hear your comments, good or bad! |
by Mig on 15/05/2009 at 11:23
I didn’t get a chance of watching any of the 6 reds action because it all happened during working hours.
I did get to watch some matches with only 10 reds though, but unfortunately, instead of focusing on that I was distracted by the position of the main camera. It was placed in a very low position and you couldn’t watch the game properly. I mean, you couldn’t tell which ball was on and that sort of thing.
It was a pity because the snooker community was still on a “high” after the World Championship, and there was some anticipation for the World Series Grand Final, but the moment people tuned in and found out you couldn’t watch the game properly, there was a big disappointment, and many stopped watching it immediately.
In my opinion this was a major flaw, and I hope this can be sorted in the future.
Sorry for maybe not giving the sort of feedback you guys are expecting, but I thought this was more important.
Mig
by Blackheart on 19/05/2009 at 14:52
Hi. I am a big Snookerfan from Germany. I have been watching snooker for 15 years now. I have always loved this game and I watch every tournament. WSA and WSS. The thrilling part for me is the traditional game with 15 reds. I watched the first rounds in Portugal with 6 reds and I didn't feel like I was watching Snooker. I tried to give myself a chance but I didn´t liked it. A frame took 5 to 10 minutes. After 5 or 6 potted balls the frame was almost decided. No, no, no.. that is not Snooker for me. Give this game a new name and I will not watch it anymore. Similar feelings I had with 10 reds. Well, it´s a little bit better but I have always felt like watching just half a frame. I think this is maybe a good thing for kids or starter but not for professionals. And also for the audience it is not thrilling enough. Well, that is my opinion. I talked to many others about it and all of them agree with me. Please don´t take the charm of this great game by changing too much. I hope it was just an experiment and you don´t repeat this in the near future.
by Pat Mooney on 22/05/2009 at 10:07
Hi Mig and Blackheart
Your feedback is most appreciated, I think I agree entirely with you regarding the 6 reds, however it has a real place in the development of youth in the game and can be a real leveler when it comes to competition but knowone would disagree that it takes a real bit of the magic away from the overall skill of 15 red snooker. However the 10 reds actually went down quite well with the professionals and local competitors. We will be running with this for a while to see how it develops and to hopefully see the first televised maximum on 10 reds. We have seen some thtrilling matches such as Ken and Luca, Graeme Dot and Luca, in Portugal, Jimmy and Ken both put on the ropes in KIllarney and believe me in the arena it does come across as a pretty exciting format. We hope to develop this more with a possible choice by the winner of the toss in the quarter final getting to choose best of 9 with 10 reds or best of 7 with 15 reds.
Regards
PatM