A few things of interest from Portugal...
A sponsor has been announced in a new three-year deal. The World Series will be backed by Sportingbet.com.
The press turnout is encouraging. There are more journalists and photographers here than at some ranking tournaments this season.
One of them has come all the way from Belgium to report on Luca Brecel, whose popularity will help increase that of the game in that part of the world.
The crowds have been small so far although they are starting to slowly increase.
It's worth remembering that snooker is not a sport well known in Portugal. In fact, it's reckoned there are only three tables in the whole country.
But Eurosport's coverage can help it grow and, of course, having several of the world's best players here must be a plus.
Out on one of the main roads there is a huge billboard advertising the tournament with a picture of John Higgins - who'd have thought we'd ever see that in the Algarve?
One of the Portugese journalists told me Higgins is the third best known Scot in Portugal "after William Wallace and Sir Alex Ferguson."
As always he has been generous with his time, doing interviews and posing for pictures.
One Portugese newspaper has a two-page spread about the event in today's edition and, cleverly, printed the rules of the game for those new to it.
So there is a fair buzz around the place which organisers are hoping will translate into ticket sales, if not this year then next.
One slight change of plan: because the matches have been longer than anticipated, the games featuring Steve Davis and Ken Doherty will now take place tomorrow morning.
Pleased to see that the betting fraternity are coming into the sport in a big way. It's the one industry that's doing well at the moment.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDelete"tomorrow morning" - is the exact time known already?
And it's good to know that everything is going so well. The matches are entertaining so far.
And thanks to Eurosport for providing the coverage - on main channels and on EurosportPlayer!
*goes back to watching*
"The press turnout is encouraging. There are more journalists and photographers here than at some ranking tournaments this season."
ReplyDeleteI bet there are! I know where I'd rather be right now!!
Great crowd in. Is there actually anybody there?
ReplyDeletethe general table view is shocking
ReplyDeleteThe matches start at 10.30am tomorrow I believe
ReplyDeleteI counted around 150 people in tonight
Doesn't sound much but then again there was a match at the Masters this year that only pulled in 282 spectators, and that's an established event in the sport's UK base
could you ask two of those spectators to lift the main camera 5 feet higher and tilt the lens down a bit?
ReplyDeleteta
Well it does'nt look like there are 150 people in there from the camera angle.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I should have explained quite a few of them were watching Jimmy on the other table
ReplyDeleteGet a red button on eurpsport we could watch Jimmy to lol.
ReplyDelete148 of the 150 must be watching jimmy............
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteWell it does'nt look like there are 150 people in there from the camera angle.
8:02 PM
-------------
to be fair the camera shot looks like a reflection in one of those fairground trick mirrors, so i wouldnt trust it to pick up spectators
8:30pm Dave's already explained it.
ReplyDeleteAnd why are spectators so far from the action? Looks like acres of empty carpet...
ReplyDeleteBrecel beat Jimmy!!!
ReplyDelete282 at the Masters! Just as well there seems to be some interest in Europe, because the sport is on its uppers in the UK.
ReplyDeleteThe table look's like it's 6 foot long and 12 foot wide.
ReplyDeleteI really can´t understand why are you so surprised/ angry with the number of spectators.
ReplyDelete1- We don´t have tradition of snooker in Portugal;
2- We don´t have professional players;
3- The venue (although in a terrific place) is almost 200km from the capital and 500km from the second biggest city, which is the one where the pool tradition is bigger and the area with more pool clubs;
Honestly what did you expect? Hopeffully during the weekend it will be better.
Nuno
the players look the same size as the table.
ReplyDeletethis is among the worst snooker ive seen on tv, spoiled by a dodgy main camera position (and ive watched snooker for well over a 1/4 century)
To be fair, the beeb experimented with various camera angles over the years, if you watch clips from the 70s and 80s
ReplyDeletenuno
ReplyDeletei am not angry at all
i am posting comments. none of them angry
i dont see anyone getting angry nuno
ReplyDeletekeith
ReplyDeletei did say "among"
i dont think i have actually seen worse
the angle is far too shallow and the main camera too far away
it needs to be a fair bit closer so as not to make the table look too square.
it also needs to be a little bit higher up (along with the move closer)
When the player's are playing shot's from under the baulk cushion, you can hardly see the player's head.
ReplyDeleteThere were 97 people watching the first frame of Maguire v Britton - I went in and counted them, a little like Brian Hanrahan
ReplyDeleteNuno is correct to say that there is no snooker tradition and so large crowds can't be expected
There's a lad here who has apparently travelled from Lisbon to see his first taste of live snooker, and he seems to be loving it
which is exactly why as well as needing moved closer, it needs moved HIGHER, as i said
ReplyDeletefar too much view of the legs at the black end........................
dave, was that 97 of the 150 who were at the other match?
ReplyDeleteserious question btw. i aint knocking it. they have to start somewhere
I think the problem is that because the arena is so dark you can't really see them on TV
ReplyDeleteBut they are there, I promise!
dave, it is dark, but we can see them, though its not easy as they are all wearing their hollowman halloween suits. (joke!)
ReplyDeleteAnyone with sopcast copy and paste this into it live streaming.
ReplyDeletesop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/71301
Well, there is applause. And they've shown the spectators - they even tried to make something resembling the 'wave' - like in football matches, when they've noticed the camera is on them :)
ReplyDeleteSo - there are definitely people in there.
But they would have gotten a much larger audience here in Moscow.
(yes, yes, I understand why it was moved to Portugal, but as a fan I am still disappointed :) ).
And I think so far I'm not too impressed with this 'less reds' format.
These matches definitely take less time to finish - there is that. But they seem a little bit... I don't know, pointless maybe?
Or maybe I'm a traditionalist :)
i am a traditionalist too but..
ReplyDeletei think 6 reds is too few
10 reds is ideal
make it 10 reds and a ball must contact a cushion during the shot unless a ball is pocketed
do not do it for rankers though
Is this one of the ranking events? I thought they finished with the World championships. Do they get less points because they are playing with less reds?
ReplyDeleteI also didnt like the Eurosport picture.. horrible.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if Eurosport had a red button feature.
ReplyDelete