Snooker: is it corrupt?

[fudgeflaps]

Bear in mind that the following is expressed as an opinion. Feel free to discuss the points raised.

Snooker is widely acknowledged to have been run like a cartel in the 60s and 70s: the narrowmindedness of the top pros at the time ensured the game was an exclusive clique, in order to keep the money circulating amongst a select few.

Enter Alex Higgins- he was mouthy, brash and a genius to boot. He offended many of the top players at the time (indeed, most were probably jealous of his charisma and talent)....and went against the stuffy, po-faced image of snooker.

I believe, even at this early stage, his 'card was marked', being what 'the establishment' would call 'an undesirable'. It was hoped that he would fizzle out.... and he remained. The charges brought about in most cases by the WPBSA were petty and they tried to hound him out of the game. I maintain that it was attempted to have him 'randomly' drugs tested on many random occasions, in order to doctor a sample and have him booted out for good, IMHO.

IMO, all of this low activity by the WPBSA was a precipitating factor in Alex going slightly mental where, by hook or by crook, the WPBSA eventually nullified his apparent nuisance.

The WPBSA are low: check out Clive Everton's recent spat. For honest journalism trying to ensure the snooker public know the facts of snooker, they attempt to discipline him, and he has to give up his membership. They also attempt to tarnish his integrity- leaving Mr Everton no other reasonable option except to sue to preserve his reputation, a case which he WON.

I have never known such a narrow-minded, sinister little organisation to have so much power in a major sport. Any person who opposes 'the regime' gets crushed- see under Hann, Quinten. Although a 'bad boy', his outlandish behaviours resulted in the WPBSA destroying him- I believe he was probably set up and told to go quietly; which he did. But in the lead-up to his exit- the 'rapes' that never were. Was it coincidence that with Quinten being 'in the bad books' that his ladies-man persona was exploited to bring him personal and national disgrace? Quinten Hann, a top talent, I believe, was set up by the snooker mafia.

The players don't use their votes, a mentalist proxy voting system is in place, whereby the directors canvas the players for their votes..... it's nuts. I feel the current regime is less than democratic and more of a dictatorship in disguise.

On top of that, historically, we had master hypocrite Rex Williams' maladministration of the game, and Eddie Charlton rigging the draw in 1975 in order to satisfy his big ego to win the WC in Australia, and there has been talk of reports of Charlton fiddling expenses also. These two got away with murder, whilst the likes of Alex and Quinten and some others get victimised.

Now, snooker of today is going down the pan with lack of decent sponsors. A half-decent entrepreneur would revamp our game, as the market potential is definately there, but with the WSA as it stands: it seems to me that they must have their own agenda, like in the 60s/70s.

The game is going forward in terms of the standard of snooker and calibre of player; sadly it is declining and in recession in terms of prizemoney, number of tournaments and sponsors. Good players will come through, but the board must be accountable for the current state of decline.

With Ding Junhui being a meal-ticket to big western companies to tap China's untapped market, there should be no shortage of sponsors wanting exposure to 200m viewing figures in China. We would have 11 ranking tournaments in a season, and good prizemoney.

Under the WSA as it currently stands, we are now a part-time, 6-months-a-year sport.

[fudgeflaps]

* Eddie Charlton rigged the draw to ATTEMPT to win it, he never actually won it, as my wording above implied.

[Pervert]

Not a fan of the game, but I find it odd just how often the big, televised tournaments seem to go to a late-night, deciding frame finale. Almost as if it'd been arranged before hand.

As a kid, I enjoyed watching Pot Black, a half-hour format with one frame where you didn't end up hoping your lower intestine would strangle you to put an end to the mindless misery of watching the sporting equivalent of wallpaper wilting.

As for corruption, I doubt there's a sport on the planet that hasn't been tainted by dodgy deals. Athletics, baseball, basketball, boxing, cricket, cycling, darts, football (American, association, rugby league/union), golf, ice hockey, motor racing, snooker, tennis, wrestling----all have their darker sides.

[planeterotica]

I use to enjoy watching it when the Hurricane was playing as he would liven the game up and likewise i enjoyed watching Steve Davies as he would slow the game down both great players, i met big John Vigo once {was that his name} he was playing a venue next door to a hotel bar where i was drinking and came in beforehand to have a drink to steady himself he came across as a decent bloke, thats about as much as i know on the subject of snooker, im not much help really am i !cool!

[crofter]

I think most of your points about Alex Higgins being hounded out of the game don't ring true to me - you gotta remember Higgins was one of those flawed genuises who probably was an alcoholic and addicted to drugs at the time (besides having his own personal demons aside that), so hardly any "Sport" would be willing to project him as a shining example of his generation especially such a wholesome game as snooker (if he wasn't rat arsed at the start of the game he certainly was at the end).

With regard to the decline of snooker maybe that is because the big tv companies like Sky and the BBC would prefer to put their millions into other sports such as football or rugby or golf, you gotta remember these events weren't so easy or cost effective to give blanket coverage as opposed to snooker pre digital times. Throw in the fact that EVERY major snooker competition was sponsored by a tobacco firm and you pretty much have your answer.

Quinten Hann on the other hand was just a glorified pool player (world champion at that) who could not take getting beat at snooker (he couldn't handle being the one sat in his seat seeing the other guy clear up), he certainly never got into trouble when he was winning ... If it so corrupt then why didn't Ronnie O'Sullivan get banned for walking out of the tourament earlier this year??

[fudgeflaps]

Fair points, crofter.

Ronnie was defended because he is the only good draw left in snooker. If he left, as he has threatened to, the game would decline to newer depths.

The loss of tobacco sponsorship was huge- but there are a lot of Western companies wanting to exploit the Chinese market- a nation which, through Ding JunHui amongst some others, is snooker-daft. Surely astronomical viewing figures are a very attractive promtional tool to a brand in a new market?

Yes, Higgy was a bit loopy, he won the world title in '72 at his first attempt and the rest of is career was a drunken delusion; a genius, unquestionably, but he didn't have the humility to rein it in. However, he was very naive- with his sense of self-worth, in business, with the press and always was too honest with the press where he ruffled a lot of feathers in the snooker establishment frequently. This was exploited ruthlessly, although Alex was probably doomed in an over-gentrified sport. It is quite well-known that if Alex was not a World Champion when the game was blossoming in the late 70s, he would have been booted out as an 'undesirable'.

Quinten Hann was petulant, but his unpredictability was box-office. It's merely my opinion that he was hounded out....... but the current board of World Snooker, whilst not being as corrupt as it most definitely was in the past, seem to be a set of old duffers too steeped in tradition to take the game forward.

[jj]

Tiddlywinks is still largely taint-free.

[Deuce Bigolo]

Caractacus wrote:

> Not a fan of the game, but I find it odd just how often the
> big, televised tournaments seem to go to a late-night, deciding
> frame finale. Almost as if it'd been arranged before hand.

Suspicious mind....you should have been a detective

>
> As a kid, I enjoyed watching Pot Black, a half-hour format with
> one frame where you didn't end up hoping your lower intestine
> would strangle you to put an end to the mindless misery of
> watching the sporting equivalent of wallpaper wilting.
>
>
What would snooker have been without whispering ted lowe?

Snooker for mine is dead and buried

Recently saw a televised nine ball tournament tfeaturing young teenagers and they made Pot Black look like dinosaurs walking/wallpaper wilting(nice
one C)

Can't see snooker doing a Poker and becoming the over night new thing to do.Snooker = poor mans golf course(6 holes,1 green)