5.7.13

BENDIGO BOUND

The Australian Goldfields Open begins on Monday with a field of recognisable faces but also missing several star names.

Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Stephen Maguire and Mark Allen were the leading players who elected not to enter.

However, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui and the defending champion, Barry Hawkins, are among those who have made the trip to Bendigo.

I’m sure we’ve all seen rotten matches between big names and great matches between lesser lights but perception is everything and the perception of the Australian Open is that it’s a poor relation of the other ranking events.

Its first prize is around £42,000, which is still pretty good but of course not everyone can win the first prize. It’s a long way to go for a mainly British tour and, if players are told they can pick and choose then it therefore follows that this is what they will do.

This is the final year of a three-year deal for the Australian Open. It remains to be seen whether the contract will be renewed.

It would be a rather cruel irony if it was not. Australia currently has the world’s top ranked player. However, Robertson’s progress through the tournament is actually less important than Ding’s. I have it on good authority that viewing figures in China are the key to the survival of the event, so Ding’s fortunes will be monitored closely.

One of the problems for players seems to be Bendigo itself, which is not one of Australia’s major cities.

But the television production values are among the best on the circuit. Between frames they show tourist shots of Melbourne rather than just watching the referee rack the balls up again. Michael O’Dwyer, the executive producer for IMG and master of ceremonies, is really enthusiastic and professional in pulling it all together.

Time difference, scheduling and a depleted field has seen Eurosport pass on covering the event live. Despite this it remains blocked in Europe on liveworldsnooker.tv although it is apparently available on Bet365.

With various title contenders not present the event gives the chance for players a little further down the list to grab some glory, as Hawkins did last year and Stuart Bingham in 2011.

It’s also a chance for Selby and Murphy, surprise casualties at the Wuxi Classic qualifiers, to regain some momentum.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

so is this tournament not on eurosport dave??

Anonymous said...

There was good odds on robertson winning this a few weeks ago until big names withdrew you could of got him at 8s good value.

Anonymous said...

RE: 1.47pm

What big names withdrew a few weeks ago then?

Anonymous said...

Without repeating what has been said here before, if the contract is renewed it needs to be in Melbourne or Sydney and it needs to be better promoted..

Anonymous said...

Sorry didn't enter

Anonymous said...

Euro sports decision to "pass" despite having the tv rights says it all.

Less is more, a return to a sept to may season please and ditch the smaller tournaments. What other sport play all year?

IAN1959 said...

IT LOOKS LIKE THIS IS END FOR SNOOKER ON EUROSPORT THEN AND BACK TO THE DARK AGES AGAIN. WELL IT WAS GREAT WHILE IT LASTED.

Anonymous said...

Bendigo Bendigo,
With your wintry feel during The Ashes,
In our british summer heat wave,
Your venue of a sports hall,
not to forget your local referees,
We salute your vigour & effort.
The memory of past Aussies greats,
Not lost on us, in an opposite hemisphere,
Shake your losses Australia please act it up.

Anonymous said...

what is the time difference what times are morning lunch and evening sessions uk time to watch online

Anonymous said...

the whole event is being streamed in High Qaulity on Eurosport Player with the host broadcasters commentary

Anonymous said...

You can watch the whole tournament on Eurosport Player with the host broadcaster Fox Sports commentary

Trevorp said...

Ding has WD from the event.so that is a hammer blow to the viewing figures in China then and possibly the events future.

Anonymous said...

ok, well done Eurosport

Anonymous said...

Won't do World Snooker any harm to see the consequences of Ding missing the odd tournament here and there, since it is bound to happen if they expect him to qualify for these things in the future.

Anonymous said...

what a sham this should be on tv in the UK. the players really need to support this tournament the sport is no longer a uk sport and quite frankly it annoys me that this is the attitute. Ronnie, trump and the rest should be their.I hope robertson wins this week I really do. If not then Hawkins but my hat goes of to selby and murphy who dont think they are to big for this tournament. Sometimes its about promoting the game and not personal reward.look at bingham and hawkins their careers really took of from this tournament. If bingham hadnt of won this he would not have been invited to premier leaugue where he won well over a 100k in winning the tournament including round robin money. I even think he won 16k in one night.

Anonymous said...

Why has Ding withdrawn?

Anonymous said...

Be dingo bound hurray.

Anonymous said...

Bendigo is nine hours ahead of uk

Schedule is on live snooker scores website

Ray said...

Dave - Does this mean that all snooker coverage will no longer be shown on British Eurosport?

Anonymous said...

Ooops, I meant @5:45

Because the Ding-o ate his passport.

Anonymous said...

4:37 - you are correct in that Bazza has replaced the premier league with another event that all the ranker winners will be invited to (the Champion of Champions), which the winner of this tournament will get an invite to next year.

If the prize fund was the same as the International Champs they would all be there, but that isn't where the game is in Australia at the moment. Great shame, but its not the 1970s any more.

Dave H said...

Ray - no, not at all. It's just this event they aren't showing.

Anonymous said...

Murphy did well to fill the air on the Selby/Burns match, especially the Ted Lowe anecdote and his commadore 64 tale. Good stuff

Ray said...

Dave @ 12.03
Thank God for that!

Anonymous said...

Radio Bendigo,
The news submerges the rugged parts,
Word is that Selby only just won,
The jungle drums beat out to confirm this,
Horses roam freely,
Hann boasts pointlessly,
The bandwagons have reached down under.
The snooker boys are in town.

Anonymous said...

Shaun Murphy was commentating today for host broadcaster Fox Sports and gave a great insight! He also played earlier in the day...Shaun's never shy to promote the game!

Anonymous said...

Sean Murphy commentating today.

Anonymous said...

If he was commentating alongside Shaun Murphy I bet that was confusing.

Anonymous said...

Must be great to be so clever, 10.52

Trevorp said...

anon 12.02 are you serious what other sports go allyear round you asked ?.have you ever heard of golf,tennis or darts all played yearly like snooker.

Trevorp said...

Dave will Ding pulling out be a fatal blow to these Chinese viewing figures you are talking about ?.or are the Chinese so totally mad into their snooker they will watch all the other players who they seem to cherish more than the uk viewers anyway ?.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed Robertson match this morning

Anonymous said...

4:29 pm "anon 12.02 are you serious what other sports go all year round you asked ?.have you ever heard of golf, tennis or darts all played yearly like snooker."

You are right, darts play all year (if that is a sport). ATP Tennis have six weeks off, PGA Golf have 2 months off, Football about 10 weeks off, Rugby longer, cricket isn't played for half the year apart from the national overseas tour...


Anonymous said...

I see Eurosport ARE showing highlights of the final, on Sunday night.

Then coverage for a week on Friday from Rotterdam - 12.5 hours scheduled that day on ES2

Anonymous said...

Hawkeyes will spot a Sheffield season ticket holder in the front row of the Robertson match.

Anonymous said...

Dave do you think marco fu and his goo run in the tournament will boost chinese ratings so the tournament stays on the calender..I hope it does as the tournament seems to be well attended considering allot of big names didnt bother turn up

Anonymous said...

Is the blog broken?

kildare cueman said...

Local favourite in the final against the nearest thing to a Chinaman.

Surely a reasonably successful event commercially.

Hope Robbo wins. You never know how things will take off if he does.