3.5.10

GET THE COCOA ON

So another late, late finish is now almost guaranteed.

Yes, the pace of play has been slow but what did people expect to happen when they chose to start at 3pm rather than 2pm as originally announced? They could at least have got the two remaining scheduled frames in.

Will snooker ever learn from its past mistakes?

Neil Robertson seemed to take the comparisons with Eddie Charlton a little far when he took four and half minutes over a single shot - which he then didn't play.

In fairness to him, he isn't the first player who has found it impossible to think clearly in the Crucible cauldron but his best chance of winning is to play at his normal pace.

If you look long enough for problems, you'll eventually find them.

The final has been hard work for both players. Graeme Dott found some fluency with a century in the last frame of the session, which will hopefully be a portent of what is to come.

More likely, given how important this is, will be a tough scramble for the line.

Hopefully snooker fans will be able to stay awake to watch it.

33 comments:

RichP said...

I don't have a problem with late finishes, real snooker fans enjoy them.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely crazy decision. Start the final session at 6pm.

Dave H said...

I'm a real snooker fan and I think they're ridiculous and eniterely avoidable

Anonymous said...

Don't forget those in Europe are an hour or more ahead

These decisions are killing the game

Anonymous said...

Anything after midnight is just damaging the sport.

1985 was different because the final frame started at 11pm. It's likely to be 14-14 at that time this year, with no end in sight so people will just switch off.

Anonymous said...

I agree Dave. How are we to attract kids to a sport that they can't watch because it's on too late? It's a bank holiday too so what about some consideration for the audience that may need to use public transport. If it's 18-17 and played at a good pace and goes late then that is largely unavoidable but for me they should be starting the sessions in the final at 1pm and 6pm

Anonymous said...

so the final session for me starts at 11pm plus two frames taken off the third session
I sense a early finish :)

Greg P said...

We could still be here at 5AM if these two guys don't conquer their nerves soon.

Anonymous said...

I don't agree with 1pm and 6pm, but I don't see why it can't be 2pm and 7pm as it is throughout the championship.
But 2pm should mean 2pm - not when the BBC think play should start, i.e. about 15 minutes AFTER they come on air.

Anonymous said...

Slightly off topic, but is anyone else sick of players looking all mean & moody in those 'Fillers' they do?

"Bit more imagination please", to all those TV producers of snooker filler-fommercials reading this blog.

Anonymous said...

Yes 7pm would be better. Or why not have it finish on the sun night before the bank holiday,so if its a late finish its ok as most have no school/work next day.

Hope its a close finish tonight ,i'll be shouting for dott myself.

And can someone please make a 126+ ?? I have a little wager on and 5+ centuries (I've given up on that one)

Anonymous said...

Why did the semi finals last 3 days and the final only 2? Crazy, and to a layman like me it looks like snooker doesn't know what it's doing.

Anonymous said...

4 minutes staring at a shot, then not playing it! Farcical, and one reason why shot clocks will come in sooner rather than later. If they don't snooker will die.

Anonymous said...

the only reason eirian never spoke to him was cos it was the world final

if this was a q/final of the grand prix, he would have spoke up

i know eirian and i think hes a nice guy and a bloody good ref, but he bottled it then

Anonymous said...

v.unusual to take that long over it...then again selby, ebdon, dott are all in the same club over taking time to weigh things up

Anonymous said...

How good was that shot from Dott in the 1st frame tonight?

WOW, hopefully a sign of things to come.

Anonymous said...

Late finishes.."real snooker fans enjoy them"

What crap!! I love snooker as much as anyone,but there is also the reality im up at 5 o clock in the morning,5 days a week for work!
After 10.30 im done for.I Cant be the only one like this!

Why not start at 1pm and 6pm as suggested? What on earth is wrong about that??

Anonymous said...

I'll enjoy watching it. But only because I have taken 17 days off from work. Normal people who have jobs to attend will hate the late finish - as they probably do every year. I could not agree more with you on this on, Dave.

Anonymous said...

i take the monday off every year

lately ive been thinking about taking the tuesday off too....

cocoa?....i think its corn flakes we need to ready

shame

colinmcd said...

Totally agree with you Dave. Snooker will never attract the casual viewer if the world final is finishing around 1am on a bank holiday Monday night! I'm a true fan, but I've gotta be up at 5am so may be bailing out around midnight...

I think the powers that be should consider starting the tournament on a Friday so the final can end late on the Sunday night instead.

Janie Watkins said...

Sadly it seems quite a few of the audience have had to leave, maybe because of the late night.

There are a lot of empty seats now.

The Betfred Champions Dinner has now been rebranded as the Betfred Breakfast.

And over on the continent I understand that French fans are seething as Eurosport are not showing the final session there.

Anonymous said...

@ 8.18pm

as 8:48pm quite rightly points out, real snooker fans 'book' the day after the final off work.

no more pathetic excuses from you.

darrus said...

Well, it's 3 am in Moscow, it's still 15-13 and I give up. I actually think that this year's final is good and I'm enjoying the show, but staying up the whole night is not an option.

I wonder how many people will stay up after it is finished to watch the "black ball documentary". Good movie, judging by snippets that were shown, but I think it'll be the middle of the night even in the UK.

CHRISK5 said...

The result of the Final I will comment on later.

Firstly,the fact that both Robertson & Dott have been on their
C or D game through most of the match is an indication of mental fatigue after 17 days.

The late starts on sessions I totally agree with you Dave.

I would prefer a 14 day championship & with the Final taking place on the Saturday & Sunday - with the sessions starting at 1 pm & 7 pm instead.

I know many people who wanted to stop up for the Final but were unable to do so for other commitments. (school or work)

Not to mention the documentary of the 1985 blackball final to follow which many others would like to have watched too!

We could moan - But,at the same time we should savour these moments & events.

For good & bad,the 2010 Worlds has
still been the best WC since the
the memorable 2005 event.

Anonymous said...

Turgid

Dzierzgul said...

In my country match started at 9 pm and ended just before 2 am, so it really is late. I see no reason, why not to play first session in the morning or at noon, then give guys some decent time to rest (they were obviously tired and it influenced their game) and then start final session at 6 pm. Still, despite all this I enjoyed the match. It wasn't high quality classic (as I said, both players were very, very tired), but still they played though against each other. And I'm very pleased for Robertson. He didn't play his usual attacking game, but his safety was very good and he rightfully deserved his win. And all in all that's more important than discussions about late starts and late finishes.

CHRISK5 said...

A great result for Neil Robertson.

A great result for Snooker in it's
Global expansion plans.

Robertson - 5 wins in 5 ranking Finals.

Each new decade in 1970,1980,1990
2000 & now,2010 producing a firstime World Champion.

Intriguing also is that the
John Higgins scenario is linked with whether Robertson will be
world number 1 aswell.

The 1985 blackball documentary -
David Icke - your'e very much
still under the Matrix control!!

The 1985 documentary itself was very high quality viewing -
fullfilling many criteria.

Post WC - The snooker usually drifts off the radar.

NOT this time - Stay tuned for the plethora of developments to come.

The snooker year of 2010 has lots & lots of mileage with plot & subplot to unravel.

KILDARE CUEMAN said...

What a topsy turvy couple of weeks for Jamie Cope.

He lost in the decider against Higgins last year to keep him outside the top 16.

He was well beaten by Carter this year which stopped him cementing his place in the elite.

He still looked favourite to hold on to his spot as long as Dott lost before the semi final, but lo and behold, Dott produced the form of his life to reach the final.

Now, just as all seems lost, there is the possibility of John Higgins disappearing from the list, thereby pushing everyone up a place by default, and once again placing Cope inside the elite.

At the other end of the list, will Parrotts decision to retire turn out to be a tad premature?

Anonymous said...

is someone high up in the bbc trying to kill the game with the ridiculous scheduling?
It certainly looks like they are trying to find reasons to drop snooker.

Anonymous said...

To me it seemed he wanted to avoid Eirian putting back the balls, a task the ref hardly manages, no matter if a video is at hand or not. Can not understand why the refs do not train it.

Rick said...

I think they MUST either start the final sessions earlier on the final day (12noon to allow all frames to be played in the afternoon and thereafter 7pm) or else reduce the number of frames in the semis and final.
If you want to cater to a wider audience of casual fans, they have to be able to see the finish of the flagship event at a reasonable hour. Plus it will give the players a better chance to show their best form maybe.
I count myself as a night owl but even I fell asleep in my bed during the concluding frame and the TV was still on in the morning!! At least I had Sky+'d it!

Keith said...

Having seen the excellent 85 documentary at last, it was ironic indeed to mention those who were waiting up for 'Bleak House'. At least they only had to wait till 12.15.

Unknown said...

My goodness why end on a Monday?

Why not start the tournament early and end it on a Saturday night when the fans and players can go party afterwards? A Sunday ending is kind of awkward as well.

And like everyone else, i was falling asleep when the final session went into injury time.

Imagine if Dott had suddenly popped a few Red Bulls and started to claw back from 17-13 down. We would finish at 6am when the theater would all be empty except for Robbo, Dott, the ref and their family members. Even Doherty and Taylor would have gone to sleep in their icy cold studio.

And finally, come on insert a day break between the semis and final. The final was a turgid affair not surprisingly when the players are too tired (you could them yawning now and then, especially Dott). a day break would give them time to recharge and a chance to come back and fully demonstrate their attacking games which had gotten them to the final.