If the World Snooker Tour were a motorbike, you would certainly be looking to improve how it starts!
It’s the same most seasons though and WST appear to have employed the usual simplistic method –
- Put an event on.
- That’ll do.
- Sod the fans
- Next.
Despite some thinking the Shanghai Masters is the start of the season, and some who don’t even think it starts until the UK Championship is on the BBC, there has been a considerable amount of snooker played already.
Why then has there been such little interest up to now?
Wuhan Open “Qualifiers”
- No interest due being billed as qualifiers for the tournament when in fact it is Round 1.
- They are only qualifiers in respect of playing Round 2 at the venue.
- And not all of Round 1 in fact as some matches have been held over to the venue.
British Open “Qualifiers”
As per Wuhan –
- No interest due being billed as qualifiers for the tournament when in fact it is Round 1.
- They are only qualifiers in respect of playing Round 2 at the venue.
- And not all of Round 1 in fact as some matches have been held over to the venue.
The Championship League (Ranking Edition)
Very little interest despite it being the first ranking event of the 2025/26 season.
Various reasons including –
- Too long
- No fans at the event
- No proper TV broadcast
- Most of the best players not entered
It’s a bit mad really when you think about it. The WST has a captive audience, a monopoly, full control etc etc but they don’t appear to know what to do with it.
Some say it is a success because it is growing. But I firmly believe that any success is despite the administration of the WST, not because of it.
It has been suggested that the long term view is to have a much smaller “main tour” consisting of the players the fans want to see, and a much bigger secondary tour consisting of the players striving for the holy grail of the main tour.
It seems perfectly sensible to me to have fewer players on the main tour. It would be more attractive to sponsors and broadcasters as well as fans watching on tv and attending the live events.
There may be a handful of folk who say they want to see the lesser players, but the vast majority want to see the stars.
Shaun Murphy has been quoted as saying that the WST is entertainment first and sport second. Many ‘fans’ can be seen to be asking “When’s Ronnie playing?” even if it has already been announced that he’s withdrawn or not even entered!
Things do need to be looked at, in my opinion, or the WST will simply grind to a halt from lack of maintenance!
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