The
fourth Players Tour Championship event, currently underway in Gloucester, will
be played in pink t-shirts, as it was last year, to raise awareness for breast cancer.
This
was the disease which killed Kay Suzanne, sister of South West Snooker Academy
owner Paul Mount. The event is named in her honour.
Cancer
does not discriminate. It has affected people of all ages in all walks of life
and snooker is no different.
It
killed Paul Hunter at the tragically early age of 27. It left Alex Higgins
almost unable to speak. It left Doug Mountjoy with only one lung.
Jack
Lisowski underwent chemotherapy at only 16. Jimmy White suffered from
testicular cancer. John Spencer succumbed to stomach cancer.
It
has affected many other players, officials and members of snooker’s travelling
community.
This
year, Tony Knowles received treatment for throat cancer that thankfully appears
to have been successful.
Now
Billy O’Connor, an up-and-coming talent who practises at the Grove in Romford,
home to Judd Trump, is undergoing chemotherapy for germ cell tumours. Billy is
15.
First
season professional Sean O’Sullivan, his friend, tweeted this photograph of
Billy in hospital. All in snooker wish him well for his treatment.
Sport
thrives on controversy and often fanatical support from the public. But we must
remember that it is played by human beings. Talented they may be but they are still at the mercy of life's harsher realities.
The
Kay Suzanne Memorial Trophy reminds us that though snooker is a game we love,
it is only a game.
14 comments:
Just a reminder you can watch 2 tables on livesnooker on the internet in UK and presumably elsewhere.
There's no commentary today so you can pretend to be Joe or Mike...
Hi Dave
I left a comment a couple of weeks ago about the J Higgins match at the International Championship...did you ever get a chance to look at the footage?
No good point, I'd forgotten all about that. I will try and find it.
What a shame judd trump doesnt bother to support such a good cause. every player except him is in pink and he worn a black waistcoat.
does he think hes bigger than the game now hes numbre one?
he isnt bigger than cancer
What a plonker 4.09 is. Trump was dressed as a pro, like the no.1 should be. If everyone else wants to look ridiculous with their pink shirts then thats there business. For that matter, its a professional sport, not a cancer charity. Im sick of hearing about cancer when I want to watch snooker. Theres to much of it.
Lets be honest, Pink shirts don't look great under waistcoats (think of Dominic Dale winning in Shanghai - quite cringeworthy). I can only assume Judd was thinking of his sponsors (not something Higgins has to worry about!) or that the picture of him holding the trophy would look better if he was wearing black tie?
11.39....your comments are so incredibly ignorant it is amazing that they were approved for publication. All efforts, however small, to combat this horrific illness should be encouraged.
May you never experience the heartbreak of losing someone close to you to cancer.
(Spending some time brushing up on your grammar would also do you no harm).
Dave,
Ref the loose cannon at 4.09
Surely such abhorrent comments have no place here ?
I was out for most of Wed, turning on the final at around 8.45pm. I turned the volume up until the noise from the air con at the venue was just bearable. After a while I could hear what sounded like talking. I checked to see if there was a radio on in the house. There wasn't. Then I realised - it was a commentary. No idea who, couldnt hear a word he was saying - he would have made Whispering Ted Lowe sound loud.
The sound has been poor at times over the 3 days - pictures were fine.
It is difficult to take this online service seriously when clearly nobody is monitoring the sound.
308, this isnt a school. bad show taking issue with someone over their comments and then adding in their lack of english skills. some on here have english as a 2nd or further language.
ok, you disagree with his or her point, but your making yourself out to be a smart ass makes you just as bad as him/her
Not your first language, obviously.
Worrying that my grammar comments stand out above the incredibly obnoxious views concerning cancer charity exposure.
Like attracts like.
Graham.... You should learn to distinguish the difference between grammar and spelling.
A. Nonymous @ 7.13,
Spelling - In the context of spelling someone's name for example ?
Anyway, we're way off topic. Dave provides us the opportunity to comment and we shouldn't lose sight of the this particular subject. I take issue, and always will, with those who belligerently disrespect any effort to raise awareness of cancer charities, as was the case with A. Nonymous @ 11.39.
Graeme.
...and yoo taik issues with lose less "fortunate" than you who can use the english lanwich better than yoo.
giv yersell a pat on the back, big man.
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