What the f*ck is going on? Corruption everywhere!

Posted on 11/09/2010 by Ben Greenwood

Is 2010 destined to be remembered as the Year of Corruption in Sport? It might as well be.

A crap World Cup won’t be remembered but alleged Pakistan spot fixing in cricket will be.

Andy Murray in the Australian Open final won’t be remembered but John Higgins “almost” agreeing to throw snooker matches will be.

Even a successful European Ryder Cup-winning team won’t be remembered but Ferrari getting away with blatant cheating in Forumla One will be.

There’s so much cheating and corruption, whether real or alleged, going on at the moment that I can’t even begin to address each one individually. It just seems that winning, either in the sport or winning money on the sport, is now the be all and end all. It makes me sick.

There’s two types of corruption – cheating and match fixing. Neither are acceptable. With the former you stamp on the individuals or teams and make the penalties as harsh as you can. The latter, sadly, is so much harder to deal with. You can and should penalise the sportsmen and women in question but that’s not the real problem. It’s the betting syndicates and dodgy characters convincing these sportsmen and women to throw matches or alter the outcome of a game that are the problem.

How in God’s name you find them, prove it and prosecute I just don’t know. I wish I did. If you cannot trust the event, game or tournament you’re watching why would you watch?

That’s the danger for sport at the moment. ALL sports. Not just snooker and cricket. I’m now convinced it’s in every sport where there’s money. So football, rugby and the like are all in doubt in my eyes.

What a sad, sad state of affairs.

Ladies’ Champion loses debut on professional snooker tour

Posted on 13/07/2010 by Ben Greenwood

Reanne Evans, the first woman to play on the main tournament circuit in 15 years, lost her debut match 4-2 to Liu Chang at the Players’ Tour Championship.

Evans is a six times womens’ world champion and is only 24. She was invited onto the pro circuit after winning her last 61 matches. She beat men’s world champion John Higgins back in December at the Six Reds World Championship, showing she can cut it against the best in the world.

Should she win two matches against professional players – she is one of 32 amateur players with this opportunity – she will qualify to play in the World Open.

I’m all for women playing on the professional snooker tour. It’s not the sort of sport where gender matters, no advantage to being male or female and they should be able to compete against one another.

It would be fantastic to see a couple of women line up alongside Higgins, O’Sullivan and the plethora of quality Chinese players at the Crucible in the World Championship.

Allison Fisher was the first woman to play on the professional snooker circuit but didn’t make much headway and, feeling she didn’t get the same respect as the men, quit to play pro pool in the States where she has been hugely successful, being nominated to join join the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.

It is to be hoped Reanne, and more like her, have more success in snooker and that times have changed and they will be accepted readily into the game.

As someone who has been soundly beaten on the baize by several women over the years, I know they can play. Let’s just give them a chance!

Barry Hearn wins control of World Snooker

Posted on 03/06/2010 by Ben Greenwood

Hearn now controls snooker

Sports promoter Barry Hearn has won a controlling 51% stake in World Snooker following a vote at a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association extraordinary meeting. The WPBSA, as the governing body, will now be separated from World Snooker.

Hearn defeated late challenger John Davison by a narrower than expected six votes, with big name stars such as Stephen Hendry and Peter Ebdon backing Davison. The support of Ronnie O’Sullivan and others, however, pushed Hearn into his controlling majority.

With the power struggle won, Hearn looked to the future and outlined his plans for the future of the sport:

“We said after the meeting that we’ve drawn a line in the sand, and all the problems in the past, all the politics, are history. We’ve got strong leadership. Where are we going to go from here? We know we’ve got a big job.

“The result was very satisfying, and for me it’s personally been one of the most satisfying days of my life. I think we need a three-year plan, and we need to create a possibility to get them playing all the time,” Hearn told Press Association Sport.

“I want them playing every weekend of the year. That would be the same as darts and hopefully we’ll have the same success that we’ve had with darts.”

Hearn has some radical plans for snooker and it’s those that prompted the likes of Hendry to back Davison, fearful that the traditions of the sport may be lost.

It is clear though that snooker needs a shot in the arm and Hearn, who has had great success in promoting darts to the general public, seems to be the right man to do it.

For me, as long as the World Championships remain at the Crucible and the rules for such high profile tournaments remain the same then whatever Hearn can do through new tournaments and formats to restore snooker’s popularity is fine. It remains with the players what tournaments they play in, so if Stephen Hendry doesn’t fancy a shot clock (one of Hearn’s proposals) then he doesn’t have to play.

It would be childish of him, in my opinion, but as something of a traditionalist myself I can see his point of view. The future of the sport is bigger than one man though and he should accept the way it’s going and add his support – and presence – to the future.

Do you back Hearn’s plans or are you on Hendry’s side? Where should snooker go now to regain it’s prominence? Let us know in the comments.

Robertson to end 30 year wait?

Posted on 02/05/2010 by Ben Greenwood

Thunder from Down Under bids to end 30 year drought

Today will see the start of the snooker World Championships final in which Australian Neil Robertson will try to become the first world champion not to come from Britain or Ireland in 30 years.

It’s a startling statistic. Not since Canadian Cliff Thorburn beat Alex Higgins in 1980 has a ‘foreigner’ won this tournament. Despite the likes of James Wattana and the influx of quality Chinese players over recent years, the trophy has gone to an Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman or a Welshman since then. And no, it’s not a joke!

Robertson will take on Scot Graeme Dott in the best of 35 frame final and will be desperate to end that drought. Personal glory will, of course, be at the forefront of his mind but it has to be an ambition for him to become the first winner from outside of these shores since Thorburn.

Should he win it would only help Barry Hearn’s ambitions to get the game going again and spread the appeal of a sport that has suffered a lot in the last decade or so.

We wish him well. With no disrespect to Dott, Robertson has been playing the best snooker of the tournament and, so far, deserves to win it. The boost for snooker would be the icing on the cake.

Snooker: No characters, but plenty of entertainment

Posted on 21/04/2010 by Ben Greenwood

We know we’ve talked about snooker a lot recently – such is the interest during – and ONLY during – the World Championships, and while we’ve bemoaned the lack of characters and celebrated the return of the sport’s Golden Age, we should point out that snooker does still have some entertaining moments.

Alright, not many of them on the baize these days. But in the audience and behind the scenes? Yeah, you can still enjoy yourself. Check out these two videos from the BBC for proof.

Keep your eye on the Beeb for this sort of stuff, it can occasionally be comedy gold.

Snooker’s Golden Age is back!

Posted on 20/04/2010 by Ben Greenwood

Joe Johnson, snooker’s 1986 world champion, is bringing back the Golden Age of snooker – and with it, its characters. Sporting Fare could NOT be happier!

Continue reading →

Sexing up snooker

Posted on 16/04/2010 by Ben Greenwood

The man who turned darts into a Sky Sports hit has turned his attention to the ailing sport of snooker and while the majority of the top players are backing him all the way, there’s the odd one who isn’t so sure, principally Stephen Hendry.

But why does a sport that enjoyed so much coverage and attention in the 1980s need rescuing anyway?