CRUCIBLE COUNTDOWN: SHOCKS TO THE SYSTEM

There have arguably been only four surprise winners of the World Championship title during the 33 years it has been staged at the Crucible.

Terry Griffiths stunned the snooker world in 1979 by winning it at his first attempt as a qualifier.

Joe Johnson was 150/1 in 1986 while Shaun Murphy came through the qualifiers to land the title in 2005.

Graeme Dott had been in a world final but was still a shock winner in 2006 because he had never before won a ranking event crown.

Could anyone conceivably come through the pack to repeat these heroics this year?

As ever in sport, it’s the not knowing that keeps audiences coming back. Who could have believed Tom Watson would have had a putt for the Open title last year or that wildcard Goran Ivanesevic, his body racked with injuries, could win Wimbledon in 2001?

To help discern what registers as a shock winner, I have divided the 32 players in this year’s event into six categories represented by the coloured balls.

The yellows are the players least likely to win and the black category features those with the best chance – in my opinion!

I have taken into account the draw, form, past record and personal prejudice.

Yellow: Steve Davis, Stuart Pettman, Mark Davis, Marcus Campbell

Green: Tom Ford, Zhang Anda, Gerard Greene, Martin Gould, Fergal O’Brien

Brown: Michael Holt, Joe Perry, Stephen Lee, Ken Doherty, Mark King, Barry Hawkins, Marco Fu

Blue: Stephen Hendry, Ali Carter, Jamie Cope, Liang Wenbo, Peter Ebdon, Graeme Dott, Mark Allen, Ryan Day

Pink: Mark Williams, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire

Black: John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson

I would say that if any of those from the yellow to brown groups won the title it would register as a shock.

To an extent, it would if any of the blues won but not those from the pink or black groups.

(Is anyone still following this?)

Last year, only two of the top 16 failed to get through the first round.

Who looks vulnerable this year?

Certainly Selby doesn’t have it easy against a resurgent Doherty and Carter could come a cropper against Cope.

I think Dott has every chance against Ebdon and Higgins is not by any means nailed on to beat Hawkins.

It would be a huge shock were Ding or Williams to lose given their recent form and despite what a lot of other people say, I think O’Sullivan will be safe against Liang.

The truth is that although we keep hearing how ‘open’ snooker is these days, it is very likely that the world title will be won by one of the usual suspects.

The fun lies in finding out which one...

MAGUIRE V BURNETT: REPORT SENT TO PROSECUTORS

Stephen Maguire and Jamie Burnett are among five men that form the subject of a police report relating to irregular betting patterns for their match in the 2008 UK Championship forwarded to the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland.

The Procurator Fiscal will ultimately decide whether charges will be brought.

A statement released today read: "Strathclyde Police Economic Crime Unit can confirm that five males aged 35, 34, 31, 31 and 29 are subject of a police report that is being submitted to the Procurator Fiscal at Hamilton in relation to the alleged irregular betting patterns associated with the snooker match involving Stephen Maguire and Jamie Burnett at the Maplin UK Championship on 14 December 2008."

Last year, Strathclyde Police made public that they had interviewed the two players the week before the World Championship. This latest news comes just two days before this year's Crucible event.

Due to the highly sensitive nature of the case comments on this post will be strictly moderated.

CRUCIBLE COUNTDOWN: DING'S RESURGENCE

It’s 30 years since Canadian Cliff Thorburn became the first non-British winner of the World Championship.

His 1980 final against Alex Higgins was a tense, gripping affair and famous in the UK for being interrupted by live BBC news coverage of the SAS storming the besieged Iranian embassy in London.

As Ted Lowe was replaced by Kate Adie, the BBC switchboard was jammed with viewers complaining that they wanted to watch the snooker.

Only one other player from outside the UK has since won the Crucible title. That was Ireland's Ken Doherty 13 years ago.

It’s a poor return for a game with pretensions to be a world sport but Neil Robertson (who I discussed earlier this week) and Ding Junhui are both playing well enough this season to end the overseas drought.

It’s good to see Ding back to his old self and it’s worth remembering that although he’s been on the tour seven years now, he is still only 23.

As for so many players, fate - or randomness if you prefer - intervened to present Ding with his chance to become a star. He began playing at the age of ten on a table in the street outside his family home.

His father invested significant time and money to get him coaching and as a 14 year-old wildcard for the 2002 China Open Ding took two frames off Mark Selby.

Two years later, with a string of top international amateur titles under his belt, he became the youngest player ever to win a match in the Wembley Masters. Ranking titles followed at the 2005 China Open and UK Championship and 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy.

At that point, Ding looked a great bet to supersede Stephen Hendry as youngest ever world champion but two soul destroying defeats to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2007 Masters final and at the Crucible a few months later severely sapped his self belief and the pressures of shouldering the hopes of the biggest nation in the world got to him.

Ding’s form and confidence went walkabout, he slipped down the rankings and his status as China’s top dog was threatened by Liang Wenbo, who reached his first major final at the Shanghai Masters last September.

Ding was at a crossroads. He could either continue to decline or come out fighting. He chose the latter and has reminded everyone this season of why he is a talent to savour, winning the UK Championship and finishing runner-up in the Grand Prix and recent China Open, where he was undone by an inspirational Mark Williams performance.

He is certainly good enough to become world champion but like any other player will need to blend his talent with belief, determination and a little bit of luck. If he won, it would be a great result for snooker, which is still far too dominated by the Brits.

Ding will be joined at the Crucible by Chinese compatriots Liang, who faces a tough first round match with O’Sullivan, and Zhang Anda, an 18 year-old unknown who has qualified in his first season.

I watched him finish off with two centuries to beat Ricky Walden in the final qualifying round and he looked unshakable despite the pressure. The Crucible, though, will provide a much greater test, not least because he is playing the most successful person ever to appear there, Stephen Hendry.

Zhang is nicknamed ‘Mighty Mouse’ and has practised with Ronnie O’Sullivan. He is a former runner-up in the World Under 21 Championship and winner of the Asian junior title.

That’s as much as most people know about him – and possibly more than Hendry does – and the unknown makes him a dangerous opponent.

But few players do well on their debut appearances. Even though Zhang knows little of the Crucible or its history he will soon find out and could be forgiven for freezing in the headlights.

That match – Hendry v Zhang – is one of number of mouth watering first round ties.

If the young man is still standing at the end of the 17 days it will be the greatest snooker story ever.

If Ding scoops the famous silver trophy it will be less of a surprise, more a fulfilment of a great talent.

THE EIGHT RONNIES

The eight players who have made it through to the finals of Ronnie O'Sullivan's Future Stars, his joint venture with Rileys to discover new talent, have been announced.

The eight came through regional qualifying events. They are:

Sean O'Sullivan from Lewisham (won in Wealdstone)
Joseph McLaren from Greenock (Edinburgh)
Lewis Hargreaves from Ipswich (Norwich)
Rhys Clark from Fforestfach (Cardiff)
Joel Walker from Sheffield (Sheffield)
Jordan Rimmer from Solihull (Solihull)
Jake Stewart from Plymouth(Exeter)
Zac Barton from Bolton (Preston)

On Friday, April 23 they will compete in front of O'Sullivan in Sheffield for a £5,000 first prize. The winner will then be mentored by O'Sullivan.

CRUCIBLE COUNTDOWN: THE GREATEST

Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry between them won the world title 13 times within an 18-year period from 1981 to 1999.

Yet, to the regret of snooker fans and, I suspect, the players themselves, they never met in a Crucible final.

In fact, they met only twice at the venue where they each dominated for a decade. Davis won their 1989 semi-final; Hendry came out on top at the same stage in 1994.

They did play in two UK Championship finals and memorably entered the Preston Guild Hall arena for one of them to the strains of Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’.

Davis this year makes his 30th Crucible appearance 31 years after his first.

As Britain gears up the general election it’s worth remembering that when the Nugget first played at Sheffield Jim Callaghan was still prime minister.

Davis’s glory years mirrored those of the game itself in the UK: he was unstoppable, ubiquitous and all conquering.

From his first title triumph in 1981 to the end of the decade there were only three Crucible slip ups.

The first came in 1982 when, as defending champion, he went into the tournament exhausted from a punishing schedule of endorsements and exhibitions under the guiding entrepreneurial hand of his manager, Barry Hearn (what ever happened to him?).

On the afternoon before his first session against Tony Knowles (that year the event began on a Friday night) he was signing copies of his book in Sheffield city centre.

Davis was to be undone 10-1 by Knowles, a result that still resonates high on the Richter scale of all time World Championship shocks.

The 1985 world final was the high watermark of the 1980s boom and ended with Davis missing the black and Dennis Taylor potting it to beat him 18-17.

Taylor, as the underdog, probably had most of the support from the watching millions but, interestingly, both Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins as 9 year-old viewers were cheering on Davis.

Winners relate to winners and it wasn’t long before Davis was winning again, though he had to wait two years to become world champion once more as Joe Johnson, a 150/1 outsider pre-tournament, beat him 18-12 in the 1986 final.

Davis ended the 1980s with three straight world titles, including an 18-3 slaughter of John Parrott, whose miserable weekend was completed by having to then take part in an exhibition with Davis on the final night, the match having finished a session early.

It would take something special to end the Davis reign. It came along in the shape of Hendry.

It’s now 20 years since he became youngest ever world champion and his duels with Jimmy White in the 1990s kept millions engrossed.

Hendry won the title seven times in nine years and came close to an eighth triumph in 2002, losing out 18-17 to Peter Ebdon.

That year he compiled a record 16 centuries. He has made 120 centuries in total at the Crucible, which is just over 10% of all the tons recorded there since 1977.

So to this year...

If Davis beats Mark King in the first round he will become the first 50-something to win a match at the Crucible for 17 years.

It’s not the worst draw he could have got because King does not score as heavily as many of the other top 16 players.

It could develop into a dogfight, although King is tough enough to battle it out in the safety stakes with his former practice partner.

Hendry is making his 25th successive Crucible appearance and faces Zhang Anda, just 18, in the first round.

I’d imagine Hendry would, like most other players, struggle to identify Zhang in a line-up and this makes the match a potential banana skin but the young Chinese is making his debut appearance and the Scot’s experience should pull him through.

Snooker is obsessed with nostalgia and looking to the past rather than the future. Perhaps all sports suffer from this, or perhaps it is merely a symptom of snooker’s sudden and unexpected rise from folk sport to major TV attraction.

But there are certain players who fans can’t help wishing well and many spectators and viewers will hope Davis and Hendry can turn in performances this year worthy of their respective records.

Hendry has played very well at the Crucible for the last two years; Davis produced his best performance of the season to qualify.

Neither has anything to prove but pride of performance remains strong.

More than that, deeply ingrained in their respective psyches is the winning mentality. Defeat still hurts, despite all the success.

CRUCIBLE COUNTDOWN: NO SLEEP 'TIL MAYDAY

There’s no excuse – apart from going to work and having a life – for missing any of the Betfred.com World Championship.

The BBC and Eurosport will provide hour after hour of coverage in the UK and Europe with Chinese TV also taking live matches.

The BBC, who instituted live daily coverage from the Crucible 32 years ago, start their terrestrial programming on BBC2 at 2.30pm on Saturday.

The interactive streams on Freeview, cable and satellite and the BBC website (for UK viewers only) start at 10am.

On week days, Eurosport are showing one table in each session on the main channel and the other on Eurosport 2. It’s also all live on eurosportplayer.com.

In the meantime, I thought we could get in the mood by watching some old stuff on Youtube.

First up, from the days before the theme tune got pimped, a montage of winners from 1977 to 1994.

A little talked about match from 1985.

Stephen Hendry becoming the youngest ever champion in 1990.

The first Embassy final.

Some classic Alex Higgins aggro.

Joe Johnson’s remarkable 1986 triumph.

Here’s the BBC’s most fondly remembered musical item (surely due an update).

People forget how close the 1982 final was.

Some cheer for Jimmy White fans.

Five minutes of genius.

The best match-saving break of all time.

And finally, John Virgo’s impressions of the stars of the 1980s, which were a regular feature of the World Championship back then.


Enjoy!

CRUCIBLE COUNTDOWN: HIGGINS V O'SULLIVAN?

Only once in 33 stagings of the World Championship at Sheffield’s iconic Crucible Theatre have the top two seeds reached the final.

That was in 1987 when Steve Davis gained revenge over Joe Johnson for his defeat the previous year.

It’s a statistic that may point to disappointment for those hoping for a John Higgins v Ronnie O’Sullivan final this year.

Of course, they have played in a Crucible final before, in 2001. O’Sullivan won 18-14. Higgins, nice guy that he is, told him afterwards that he was pleased for his dad, who was incarcerated and thus unable to share in the celebrations.

The two are rivals but they are also friends. They got to know one another on the junior circuit at the end of the 1980s and, then as now, it was the colourful O’Sullivan who garnered most of the media coverage.

He was expected to win the under 16 title at Barry Hearn’s World Masters in Birmingham in 1991 but Higgins beat him and Mark Williams to serve notice of his own potential.

Since turning professional O’Sullivan and Higgins have mirrored one another’s achievements.

They each have three world titles, they’ve each been world no.1 and O’Sullivan has won 22 ranking titles to Higgins’s 21.

They could both achieve the milestone of compiling a century of centuries at the Crucible this year, something only Stephen Hendry has also accomplished.

O’Sullivan has made 93 Crucible tons. Higgins, despite having played there on two fewer occasions, has compiled 96.

O’Sullivan is around 150 centuries ahead in their respective careers and has made nine 147 breaks to Higgins’s five.

The respect between them is mutual and genuine. They each rate the other as favourite for this year’s Betfred.com green baize marathon.

I interviewed O’Sullivan last week for Eurosport and he said, “if John plays his A-game he’ll win it.”

In response, Higgins told me: “I’d say the same about him. He’s maybe saying that to take some pressure off himself but he’s the favourite.”

These two great players are both 34. Younger stars are yapping at their heels but are yet to overtake them.

Higgins was first to win a world title. He did so in 1998, ending a season in which he’d appeared in six of the eight ranking tournament finals.

The then 22 year-old Scot compiled 14 centuries – then a record – and simply blew everyone away.

Many expected him to dominate in the fashion Steve Davis and Hendry had. It wasn’t to be and it took him nine years to land the Crucible crown for a second time.

However, it took him only two more years to win it for a third and he has played so well for the last year that a fourth could follow come May 3.

O’Sullivan watched his great friend Jimmy White take part in a parade of former champions before the 2001 world final. Leaving aside the absurdity of this, it struck a chord with Ronnie who resolved never to feel the disappointment White had of failing to win a trophy his talents were worthy of.

He won it again in 2004 and for a third time in 2008. He feels his game has declined but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good enough to guide him to a fourth success.

The 2001 final was one of two times O’Sullivan has beaten Higgins at the Crucible. The other was far more controversial, coming after O’Sullivan was nearly thrown out of the tournament for a physical assault of a World Snooker official.

Higgins was left in limbo, not finding out whether he would even have to play a quarter-final until late the night before a 10am start.

He still led 10-6 and 12-10 but was beaten 13-12. Higgins got his revenge two years later by winning their semi-final 17-9, including a second session whitewash. He also beat O’Sullivan in the second round three years ago.

They’ve played on five occasions this season with Higgins winning four times, including the extraordinarily dramatic UK Championship semi-final, which he led 8-2 before scrambling through 9-8.

A Higgins-O’Sullivan final would be one to savour. Either one of them would be a worthy world champion.

But what would it say about snooker in 2010 that two players who have been professionals for 18 years are still at the top of the tree?

It might suggest that the younger players have not yet raised themselves to the standards required to pass the ultimate snooker test.

Or perhaps it would merely be proof of what everyone already knows: that John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan are two of the finest talents the game is ever likely to see.

DOYLE RESIGNATION: BARRY HEARN STATEMENT

WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn has issued the following statement in the wake of Lee Doyle's resignation from the board:

"I welcome Lee’s decision to resign as a Director of WPBSA.

"As a manager of players and promoter of rival events in important territories like China, Lee’s position as a Board Director, where confidential information becomes available to effectively a competitor, has become untenable.

"He may well be opposed to my plan to reinvigorate snooker for the benefit of all players and I therefore totally understand his reasons for resigning.

"I’m glad to say that the remaining Board Members, Steve Davis, Brandon Parker and Pat Mooney are, like me, totally committed in supporting these new proposals for taking the game forward and look forward to discussing them with the Players at the meeting planned for 5th May."

LEE DOYLE RESIGNS FROM WPBSA BOARD

Lee Doyle, the chairman of 110sport, has today resigned from the WPBSA board and declared his opposition to its chairman, Barry Hearn, and his future plans for the sport in a move which will precipitate (yet another) bitter battle for control of the sport.

He said: "I feel that my current position as a Director on the Board of the WPBSA is now untenable given that I am completely opposed to the proposals the Chairman, Barry Hearn, has laid out whereby the controlling rights in the Company are handed over to him.

“I do understand what Barry is trying to achieve in snooker and we have discussed this at considerable length. But on this one we agree to disagree.

“Barry has always run his own business and made his own decisions. However, I feel extremely uncomfortable where from my perspective decisions are being taken on contracts without me being consulted as a Board member.

“I do wish some of the players would look at these proposals from the business angle and see the bigger picture and the implications going forward for the game, rather than turning everything in to some kind of popularity contest between those they like and those they don’t want to listen to.”

I have no inside knowledge of the way the WPBSA board works under Hearn.

But I do know that 110sport were the leading cheerleaders of the Altium bid eight years, which bore many similarities to what Hearn is proposing now.

Ironically - or perhaps not - many of those against Altium are now for Hearn.

And so the self-interested, factional world of snooker turns once again.

Doyle's resignation and opposition to Hearn means the bright new future - announced only a fortnight ago - could already be dead in the water, and with it the new tournaments and broadcasting contracts that came with them.

That said, apathy may well yet be the winner. I understand only a handful of players have contacted Hearn since his letter went out, even though he supplied his mobile number and email address.

How many of them will turn up to the May 5 meeting to hear him out rather than rely on 'managers' to decide what's best for them?

Doyle, who manages a large stable of players, neglects to put forward an alternative to the Hearn plan. Perhaps he thinks the way the sport has been run for the last decade is the way things should continue.

However, I understand an alternative proposal is being put together by the very board members who the players rejected just four months ago.

The way things are going, though, the sport will have no credibility left regardless of who is in charge.

CRUCIBLE COUNTDOWN: THE MAN FROM DOWN UNDER

Snooker was never going to be a leading sport in Australia. The favourable climate means outdoor pursuits hold sway over indoor games.

Even so, it is a country that has produced several players who have played their part in the sport’s history.

Walter Lindrum was a billiards genius and his nephew, Horace, won the world snooker title in 1952 but his triumph was discredited as all the other leading players boycotted the tournament in a row over money, leaving a field of just two.

Eddie Charlton was a household name for two decades and reached three World Championship finals in the 1970s.

A dour, hard-as-nails grinder, Charlton, who spent five years third in the world rankings, was a byword for durability. He last played at the Crucible in 1992 at the age of 62.

In 1989 he beat Cliff Thorburn 10-9 in the first round in a match that finished at 2.40am. Asked afterwards by a journalist if he should have thought about providing the crowd with entertaining snooker Charlton’s reply was unambiguous:

“F*ck the crowd, I’m here to win,” he said.

Warren King, who reached a ranking event final at the 1990 Mercantile Classic, and John Campbell were other Australians to play at the Crucible during the age of Charlton.

Robby Foldvari never did. If he had it might have extended the championship by a couple of days.

Foldvari, twice world billiards champion, could make Charlton look like Tony Drago. He contested the longest ever best of nine frame match with Ian Williamson in the 1994 British Open qualifiers. It ground on for seven hours, 14 minutes and 12 seconds.

When he played at the IBSF World Amateur Championship a couple of years ago one of his opponents, perhaps fearing the worst, took a book and pillow into the arena.

Quinten Hann, by contrast, was fast and attacking. Sometimes he was too attacking, as when he several times suicidally smashed into the pack in breaking off.

He once conceded a frame at the UK Championship with nine reds remaining.

Famously, he took part in the ‘Pot Whack’ boxing stunt with Mark King having offered to fight Andy Hicks after the mild mannered Devonian had the temerity to beat him at the Crucible.

Hann, who would probably qualify as a ‘character’, as if that means anything when set against winning titles, had his playing career ended when he was secretly taped by a national newspaper agreeing to throw a match for money. He was banned for eight years.

In 1975, Australia hosted the World Championship thanks to Charlton’s enterprising efforts. An Australian ranking event was announced in 1989, the only snag being that it was eventually played in Hong Kong.

It transpired that the address the would-be promoter had given for his ‘business’ was actually a bus shelter.

Neil Robertson’s introduction to snooker came courtesy of his father, who ran a snooker club in Melbourne.

Who knows why some people take naturally to sport and others don’t? There’s no doubt Robertson had an instinctive eye for snooker and he rose fast through the junior ranks.

At 14, he became the first player ever to make a century in an Australian ranking event and won the national under 18 title.

He took the risky decision to leave school at 15, turned professional at 16 and headed for the UK but was too young, too inexperienced and had too few financial resources for it to be viable. He dropped off the circuit and headed home, uncertain about his future.

Robertson is today a confident character with his fair share of female fans but as a teenager he was self conscious about his appearance and it made him withdrawn. He channelled his energies into improving as a snooker player.

Winning the 2003 World under 21 title earned him another shot at the pro tour and he made the most of it.

Happily settled in Cambridge, he won the qualifying event for the 2004 Masters, reached his first ranking event quarter-final that year at the European Open and first qualified for the Crucible in 2005.

In 2006 he won his first ranking title, the Grand Prix, and went on to capture the 2007 Welsh Open and 2008 Bahrain Championship. He was a World Championship semi-finalist last year.

Tall, blonde and gregarious, he plays the game in an attacking style and possesses a solid temperament. Nothing much seems to faze him.

Off the table, though, he can be a little too relaxed. This season he turned up for one Premier League match just five minutes before it was due to start.

Last year he was docked two frames at the Championship League after taking a wrong turning while following Joe Perry – who he was due to play – which meant he turned up late.

At the Crucible two years ago he returned to Sheffield after taking a break between first and second round matches and found, just 15 minutes before his match, that he hadn’t packed his shoes.

This necessitated a mad dash to Marks and Spencer over the road but he found the shoes rubbed his heels, as new pairs tend to do.

This year represents Robertson’s best chance to so far to become world champion. He won the Grand Prix last October, lost classics to John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan in the UK Championship and Masters respectively and compiled the first 147 break of his professional career at the recent China Open.

This season he has made more centuries than anyone else on the main tour and has a reasonable draw, although Higgins could be waiting in the quarter-finals.

But if he were to win the title, would his compatriots even notice?

Robertson - christened the 'Thunder from Down Under' - gets little press coverage back home. TV exposure has increased in Australia but most matches tend to be on at an unsociable hour. His mother and friends often stay up watching the hypnotic click-click of worldsnooker.com’s live scoring.

He is ploughing a lone furrow, a little like Andy Murray for UK tennis, but the difference is that Britain is a country with a tennis heritage and a major event every year.

Robertson would be a huge star back home were he as successful in a sport more Aussie friendly than snooker.

Maybe that will finally change if he wins the biggest prize of all. He is certainly going to take some stopping this year.

BARRY HEARN PODCAST

You can listen to my podcast with WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn here.

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUNDS

Spare a thought for Reanne Evans.

While twin titans of the Crucible John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan were launching the Betfred.com World Championship, which carries a first prize of £250,000, Evans was completing a 5-1 defeat of Maria Catalano, O'Sulivan's cousin, to win the women's world title and thus a clean sweep of every ladies event this season.

Her reward for winning the biggest prize in the women's game? £1,000.

Women's snooker looked like it may take off in a big way in the late 1980s when Allison Fisher ruled the roost.

Fisher was an excellent player who beat Neal Foulds and Mike Hallett in the Matchroom (now Premier) League.

Barry Hearn (yes, him again) got a couple of women's world championships television coverage but the brutal truth was that the standard was not of the level TV audiences were used to.

Fisher wisely recognised that she had to move on and headed to the USA where she has made a very good living on the 9-ball pool circuit.

Karen Corr and Kelly Fisher have since joined her, leaving Evans as the outstanding player of the current time.

The WPBSA used to subsidise women's events but withdrew this support in the financial crisis that hit soon after the Altium bid was rejected in 2002.

Cut adrift, the WLBSA have done a good job in keeping afloat and maintaining a circuit. Such enthusiasts should be saluted, including Paul Wood, a billiards and snooker fan who provided sponsorship money for the World Championship.

Evans should also receive credit for winning the title for a sixth year in succession but her achievement will, in truth, pass by virtually unnoticed by the wider world.

There's no sign of a massive cash injection for the women's game, which would go some way to increasing participation and providing more challengers to Evans's dominance.

Hearn yesterday claimed that snooker's Crucible World Championship could one day - long into the future in my view - have a first prize of £1m.

The women's game would settle for a lot less than that.

ALL SET FOR THE CRUCIBLE

The Betfred.com World Championship was today launched in fine style by the two top seeds this year, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan, at the Royal Automobile Club in London.

The two stars took part in a raft of media interviews and played a frame of snooker for the Killing Cancer charity. The frame itself was not a classic but, at £50 per point they raised £4,000 for a very worthy cause.

Higgins and O’Sullivan joined WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn and Betfred founder Fred Done for a lively press conference as the countdown to snooker’s biggest event continues.

Done described Hearn in an interview for Eurosport as “the best sports promoter I have ever worked with” and said he wanted to sign on as sponsor for another four years, even though there are still two years to run on the existing contract after this year’s championship.

“What I like about Barry is his enthusiasm. You can see it pouring out of his veins,” Done said. “We didn’t get this enthusiasm last year.”

O’Sullivan was also keen to give his backing to Hearn, who is attempting to push through wide ranging changes to the way snooker is governed after years in which the sport has slowly declined.

“It has to be voted through,” O’Sullivan said. “Look at all the new playing opportunities – what more can you ask?

“I’m sure the players will see sense. If they don’t then it’s all over as far as I’m concerned.”

Hearn described Higgins and O’Sullivan as the sport’s ‘flag bearers.’ He said Higgins “is a great character when you can understand what he’s saying with that accent of his.” At one stage he put his arm around Ronnie and said, “he’s a lunatic but I love him.”

And he disagreed with O’Sullivan’s assertion that snooker could never enjoy the financial success of golf.

“For years, the lunatics have been running the asylum,” Hearn said. “Things have to change and if they do then, in time, we can get to where golf is. One day the World Championship could have a £1m first prize.

“But we all have to work together. All the whinging, moaning mediocrity has to stop. We need to be uplifted. You have to love what you do every second.”

Hearn assured traditionalists that the World Championship will not be messed with, although he is considering musical walk-ons.

“You don’t change the crown jewels,” he said. “You put the World Championship at the top of the pyramid and build everything else around it.”

Higgins and O’Sullivan were once teenage newcomers chancing their arms at the game they had taken up as boys in the height of the UK snooker boom.

They are now two of the game’s leading ambassadors and best known faces. This comes easier to Higgins but O’Sullivan did his round of interviews as well and the day proved to be a good advert for snooker and the direction in which it is heading.

I asked Ronnie if he could see himself going to the Crucible at the age of 52 like Steve Davis. “Yeah, to watch,” he said, incredulous at the idea he would still be playing then.

Despite his well documented blow-ups, you can tell that, deep down, his love for snooker is still there, even if it isn’t there all the time.

A word on the podcast with Hearn, which should be available to download this evening: this was done after he had completed his other media interviews and, because he had meetings to get to, was slightly shorter than I had envisaged.

I didn’t have time to ask all of the questions sent in but got through a fair few in rapid fire fashion.

Alas, I neglected to press record until ten or so seconds into his first answer, so it starts with him in mid sentence. I’m not sure podcasting is going to be a new career for me.

I’ll give Hearn the last word because, like everyone else, he can’t wait for the 17-day Crucible marathon to begin.

“The World Championship is the cream on the cake,” he said. “It’s the reason professional snooker players play the game. It’s up there with the other top events in sport.

“The royalty of our sport will gather in the snooker city of Sheffield and it’s going to be fantastic. We can show the world that we can still deliver great sporting drama.”

WILLIAMS HAS CHINA IN HIS HANDS

The manner in which Mark Williams won the China Open title for a third time yesterday served as a reminder of just how good he is when playing at the top of his game.

This was the sort of snooker Williams was producing in that golden period a decade ago when he was world no.1 and captured all of the game’s major titles.

What a difference a year makes. Last season he had to go to Prestatyn to play in the qualifiers having dropped out of the top 16 after a terrible run of results.

His confidence was low and there was a danger he would carry on sliding away while his contemporaries John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan continued to be successful.

But Mark has always loved snooker and rededicated himself. The results came and he immediately earned promotion back into the elite group.

This season he reached the Grand Prix semi-finals, the same stage of the Wembley Masters and the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open.

In Beijing Williams beat Jamie Cope, Higgins, Marco Fu and Ali Carter and produced a fantastic final session display against Ding Junhui in the final, winning six of the seven frames played to complete a 10-6 victory.

His quarter of the Crucible draw includes Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Stephen Hendry, Liang Wenbo and Ken Doherty so it will be a hard slog if he is to land a third world title.

But on this form nobody will want to play him, at the World Championship or anywhere else.

THE FINAL: DING V WILLIAMS

It's been four years since Mark Williams last appeared in a ranking tournament final - far too long for a player of his class.

Williams has been solid all week and seems to have rediscovered his self confidence after returning to the elite top 16 having dropped out two years ago.

He has won five ranking titles in Asia, including the China Open in 2002 and 2006.

But Ding Junhui will be tough to beat. The 23 year-old Chinese is appearing in his third ranking event final from the five tournaments staged so far this season.

There would be no more popular winner in China. He looks completely in control, match sharp and relaxed and is playing well enough to emulate his 2005 Beijing triumph.

Ding is up against one of modern snooker's toughest ever match players but, if he stays positive, can outlast Williams today.

Win or lose, a huge viewing audience in China is guaranteed.

NB: The final session is live on Eurosport 2.

ASK BARRY HEARN!

The Snooker Scene podcast is returning for a special edition featuring Barry Hearn.

And I will be putting questions from readers of this blog directly to the new WPBSA chairman.

So if you have any queries regarding his new plan for the future of the sport or any other snooker releated issues then drop me an email at snookersceneblog@aol.com.

The deadline for entries is 6pm on Tuesday.

DAY 6 - THE LAST FOUR

Mark Allen beat Ding Junhui 6-0 to win his first professional title, the Jiangsu Classic, in China last summer.

However, since then Ding has landed the UK Championship crown and has played very well in Beijing this week.

Roared on by a large partisan crowd, he is edging closer to repeating his 2005 China Open success.

There would be no more popular victory in China, but Allen enjoys the big occasion and has what it takes to spoil the party.

Mark Williams has evoked memories of his early 2000s peak in reaching the semi-finals but will have to play well again to see off Ali Carter, Mr. Consistency over the last two years.

Carter has moved through to the last four in a quiet, unfussy manner. It’s his seventh ranking event semi-final appearance from the last seven tournaments.

Williams, though, has always enjoyed tournaments contested outside of British shores.

He has won five of his 16 ranking titles in Asia, including two China Opens.

Ding v Williams looks the most likely final based on what we’ve seen so far this week.

DAY 5 - GOOD FRIDAY FOR HENDRY?

Stephen Hendry's 5-0 demolition of Ryan Day passed almost unnoticed in yesterday's excellent second session at the Sanyuan Foods China Open that saw a 147 for Neil Robertson, the exit of world champion John Higgins at the hands of Mark Williams and a quite simply brilliant match between Ding Junhui and Mark Selby.

Hendry is through to his first ranking event quarter-final since last season's Betfred.com World Championship.

His opponent is Mark Allen, a feisty, highly talented Northern Irishman who reached the Crucible semi-finals last season.

Hendry and Allen play the same sort of game, so it will be an open, attacking and hopefully entertaining encounter.

Hendry's problem for the last few years has been consistency. He's played very well in some matches but been unable to keep it going throughout whole tournaments.

Allen can also blow hot and cold and tends to get down on himself when things aren't going well, but he's terrific to watch and will surely win a ranking title sooner rather than later.

Ding very nearly let things slip against Selby when he missed the blue clearing up to win 5-2 but prevailed in a nervy eighth frame to ensure it was a happy 23rd birthday.

When he beat Peter Ebdon 5-0 in the 2005 China Open, a somewhat insensitive Chinese journalist asked the 2002 Crucible champion the following question:

'Mr. Ebdon, how come you win the World Championship?'

His deadpan response was, under the circumstances, creditable. 'I was lucky,' he said.

Of course, the true answer is because Ebdon allied his talent to a never-say-die attitude and ability to play well under pressure.

Even so, with crowd support Ding will fancy his chances again.

Williams impressed, as he has for most of the season, in taking out Higgins and will start favourite against Marco Fu.

Ali Carter has crept through to the quarter-finals without much fuss and faces his fellow Essex man Mark King, a player who is always difficult to beat.

Their match could become quite drawn out. Then again, it might not but I wanted to shoehorn in a reference to 'the long Good Friday' before ending this post.

DAY FOUR - HIGGINS V WILLIAMS

Firstly, a word on yesterday's Ronnie O'Sullivan debacle (if anyone wants to know Saturday's lottery numbers, drop me an email).

If I was able to provide a full psychological report on O'Sullivan I'd be earning a fortune in this field rather than getting up before the start of GMTV to write a snooker blog.

Only Ronnie knows what was going through his mind as he played that black but it did him and the sport no favours at all.

Mark Williams plays in today's second TV match against John Higgins.

When Williams was 12 his dad, a miner, took him down a South Wales coalmine for a shift to show him what life might be like if he didn't apply himself at snooker.

Young Mark was petrified by the experience and so you won't hear him complaining about having to fly around the world to earn big money potting balls. He knows what life might have been like.

Williams has won two China Opens and is back to the sort of form this season that suggests he could capture a third.

Higgins, of course, is as tough a second draw as is possible to get. They clashed at the same stage of the Shanghai Masters last September, shortly after Williams had broken his wrist. World champion Higgins won 5-1 but I'd expect it to be closer this time.

Ding Junhui faces Mark Selby, who beat him in the last 16 of this season's Wembley Masters.

The winner of this one may well go all the way to the final. Selby has a great reputation in the sport but has still only won one ranking title. It's about time he won another.

DAY THREE - RONNIE ENTERS THE FRAY

Let’s start by nailing one snooker myth: that Ronnie O’Sullivan can’t be bothered in China.

He’s actually won three ranking tournaments there, which is more than anyone else.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the two China Opens he won were played in December, not a couple of weeks before the Crucible.

Ronnie could be forgiven for saving his best for the Betfred.com World Championship. The thing is, though, that he doesn’t have to play his best to win the tournament.

At the Shanghai Masters last September O’Sullivan was not at his awesome peak but still came home with the trophy. How much this pleased him I don’t know but his fans were happy and he has several million of them in China who will cheer for him even though he’s playing one of their own today.

Tian Pengfei was the best wildcard and duly came through at the expense of Mark Davis. I’d be amazed if he beat O’Sullivan but he can hopefully contribute to what should be a match played in a great atmosphere.

Yesterday, all eight top 16 ranked players who played first round matches were successful.

Can this hit rate continue? If it did it would surely be the first time ever (unless an anorak out there knows different).

Stephen Hendry will certainly hope so when he faces Andrew Higginson in the day’s first TV match.

Hendry won the first ranking event staged in China 20 years ago. He’s not lost a first round match in a ranking event this season and, though Higginson is a very solid campaigner, I’d expect that pattern to continue today.

Peter Ebdon was a surprise winner in Beijing last year based on his poor form leading up to the event. Judd Trump is a dangerous opponent but if he plays his normal go-for-everything game they’d better go in, because Ebdon played very well in the Championship League and will take advantage if he’s left in.

Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby will play their first matches for two months against Nigel Bond and Rod Lawler respectively.

All things being equal Murphy and Selby would be big favourites to progress but sluggishness as a result of the enforced lay off may mean that an upset or two is not impossible.

DAY TWO - BJORN AGAIN

John Higgins may not have things all his own way today in the Sanyuan Foods China Open against Fergal O’Brien, who remains a fiercely determined snooker hard man.

O’Brien’s season began so badly – he lost his opening match in the first three ranking tournaments – that by Christmas he had thoughts of dropping off the circuit.

He has since qualified for the Welsh Open, the Crucible and beat Sam Baird 5-2 at Prestatyn to make the trip to Beijing.

The Dubliner joined a running club last year to work on his fitness. So many snooker players are following Ronnie O’Sullivan’s lead in this regard that it may be our sport’s best hope of getting into the Olympics.

“People might be surprised to hear that I’m quite fast,” the methodical Fergal told me.

Higgins won the 1999 China International in Shanghai and was runner-up to Peter Ebdon last year but, generally, he doesn’t fair that well in China.

With the Betfred.com World Championship just around the corner he can be forgiven for having his focus distracted by the defence of his Crucible crown.

All that said, if he plays the sort of snooker he’s produced for the last year then he’ll coast through.

If Higgins reaches the Beijing semi-finals and goes as far at Sheffield he will equal the record for eight successive ranking event semi-finals held jointly by Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.

Today’s first TV match pits Marco Fu against Bjorn Haneveer. They’ve never played as professionals but, in 1997, Fu beat the Belgian 11-7 to win the IBSF World Under 21 Championship.

The Hong Kong man has had a wretched season in ranking tournaments, winning just one match, in last September’s Shanghai Masters.

However, in the Championship League he was awesome and that’s the sort of form he needs to start producing in the game’s major events to restore some much needed confidence.

THE BARRY HEARN GAMBLE

Barry Hearn is promising 11 televised tournaments plus 12 Pro Tour events each worth £10,000 to the winner and an increase in prize money of at least £1m next season.

The new WPBSA chairman wants control of the game’s commercial rights in exchange, although these will revert back to the players if he fails to hit his targets.

In a bullish, at times confrontational letter to the players, Hearn has set out his master plan to revive snooker’s fortunes.

At the centrepiece of this is the Pro Tour which will be open to all 96 players on the main tour.

It will include some established events, including the Paul Hunter Classic in Germany, and new ones and have its own order of merit. TV coverage and internet streaming of some events is a possibility.

The top 24 at the end of the season will go into a televised Players Championship worth £60,000 to the winner.

The players, with justification, have complained of not having enough tournaments to play in. The finances are not there to stage legions more ranking events. If they were, the previous WPBSA administration would have done it.

But a Pro Tour along the lines of the successful PDC darts model would provide significantly increased playing opportunities and the chance to earn more money.

These new events may also, in time, be built up into bigger ranking tournaments, just as many of Hearn’s overseas tournaments for Matchroom in places like China, Thailand and Dubai in the 1980s were.

However, one of the major differences between the Hearn chairmanship and those of the past is that he believes the association should reward achievement and not mediocrity. He has told the players as much.

As Hearn sees it, the players deserve only one thing: an opportunity. What they make of this is up to them but if they fail to make the grade they should do something else.

This will be hard to hear for some players, although in reality most of them will be no worse off than before. The pro circuit will still consist of 96 players. The top 64 will still be safe and those relegated will have an immediate chance to re-qualify through a new Cue School held after the 2011 Betfred.com World Championship.

New tournaments include a ranking event in Germany, a gloriously tacky one-frame shootout on Sky Sports which will have purists crying into their back issues of Snooker Scene, a World Seniors Championship and a World Open, featuring the 96 main tour players and amateurs, which will replace the Grand Prix.

This is because the BBC has stated they will drop the Grand Prix in any new contract renewal. Hearn has therefore immediately instituted the World Open in the hope the BBC will be sufficiently impressed with it to take it in 2011, which would be the first year of their new contract.

Hearn is not the sort to do things by committee. He likes to be in control and, as such, is proposing to purchase the game’s commercial rights for the nominal fee of £1. He will then issue share capital in this new company worth £500,000 and control 51% himself.

Players will be able to purchase shares with priority given to those who have won most based on a points system taking into account tournament wins, meaning Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins would have first chance to become shareholders.

Prize money would rise from £3.5m to a minimum of £4.5m next season and by more in the years that follow. If it does not, the rights would be ceded back to the WPBSA.

The new commercial body would pay an annual licence fee to finance the WPBSA’s rules and regulatory functions, still controlled by the players. Hearn describes this as a ‘win-win situation.’

The Hearn plan includes support for the Snooker Players Association and a new ranking system that will change during the season rather than at the end of it.

Not everyone will agree with all of it. Cost cutting has seen the end of CueZone – which was popular with many fans, although at some tournaments it was little more than a table in a foyer – and courtesy cars for the players.

Some players lower down the rankings will fear for their own futures but, in reality, they aren’t any better off now. Snooker Scene’s own player columnist Jordan Brown spent in the region of £8,000 in expenses in his debut season and earned less than £1,000. Had he turned pro under the new Hearn plan he would have had the chance to play more, to earn more and to improve, possibly even keep his tour place if the results started to come his way.

At its core, the Hearn plan is a major attempt to increase snooker’s profile, the players’ opportunities and end the stagnation in the qualifying system and ranking list. Even Hearn’s critics would be hard pushed to deny his enthusiasm and commitment to making it work.

So will it work?

Hearn is a great ideas man but some of the fine detail needs to be ironed out. Players should attempt to ascertain how all this will operate in practice and have the perfect chance to because, unusually for a WPBSA chairman, Hearn has given every player his mobile number and email address and invited them to contact him with any questions or concerns they have.

But he will resign the WPBSA chairmanship if they reject his proposals in May, which would most likely sink the entire plan and deal a possibly fatal blow to snooker’s credibility with the broadcasters and sponsors he has been negotiating with.

We’ve been here before. The Hearn plan shares many similarities with the Altium bid, which failed to attract enough player support in 2002.

They were promising significant investment into the sport in exchange for its commercial rights. The players clung to the rights themselves, after which prize money fell dramatically and the number of tournaments on the circuit were reduced.

Players should read Hearn’s plans and consider them carefully rather than asking their managers – or those who call themselves managers – what it says and what it means. If they have any queries, they should address them directly to Hearn instead of relying on rumour.

Black propaganda was what did for Altium in the main, with talk of hidden agendas and ‘taking over the game,’ as if the game belongs to anyone in the first place.

On May 5, the players will get their chance to decide their own futures – again.

They should ask themselves three simple questions:

1) Do we really want to play more?

If they do, as they have always said, then the Hearn plan is a no-brainer.

2) Why should we care who runs the game’s commercial rights?

Surely players should concentrate on playing and earning money from their sport. As long as the money is going up, why does it matter who is in charge?

3) What is the alternative?

Most of them aren’t happy with the way the game has been the last few years. Supporting Hearn may be a gamble but turning down this chance to reinvigorate the sport is a bigger one.

DAY ONE IN BEIJING

Eight invited Asian wildcards face the eight lowest ranked qualifiers on day one of the Sanyuan Foods China Open.

Gone are the days when this was an extended practice session for the main tour players. The Chinese invitees are very dangerous, not least Tian Pengfei, who faces Mark Davis in the first TV match.

Tian was on the pro circuit last season and beat Andrew Higginson in the campaign-opening Shanghai Masters.

For reasons unknown, Tony Drago's match with Shi Shuamgyang has not been put on one of the two main TV tables by the organisers so the fast potting Maltese won't feature in Eurosport's opening day coverage.

Drago has had an outstanding season and proven that though, yes, it is tough to survive as a first season professional it's not impossible.

He won four matches to qualify for the Welsh Open and another four to get to Beijing.

Another veteran campaigner, James Wattana (it doesn't seem that long since he was the young up-and-coming dangerman) has also qualified and tackles Au Chi Wai.

Bjorn Haneveer is Belgium's best ever player, although young Luca Brecel - currently defending his EBSA European under 19 crown in Malta - may in time assume that mantle.

Haneveer plays Yu Delu, a stalwart of the wildcard round, for the right to meet Marco Fu in the first round proper.

The wildcard day is not, let's be honest, one that is usually remembered fondly but it's still good to have snooker back on our screens and the top players get the tournament well and truly going on Tuesday.

FAR EASTERN PROMISES

The China Open deserves to be regarded as more than just a warm-up for the Betfred.com World Championship but its slot in the calendar hardly helps its cause.

There’s been two months between the Welsh Open and the Beijing event but only two weeks between China and the Crucible.

Playing well at the China Open is no guarantee of success in Sheffield. The last player to win the final ranking event before the World Championship was John Higgins in 1998. He captured the British Open and then the Big One a few weeks later.

This year’s China Open is sponsored by Sanyuan Foods, a huge company, and the players will be treated to a red carpet opening ceremony on Sunday.

Peter Ebdon defends the title he won against the formbook a year ago when he emerged from a serious slump to beat Higgins 10-8 in the final.

Some players in the field haven’t had a competitive game for over two months, Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby included.

Others, such as Tony Drago, have been enjoying success in the qualifiers while a number of players will end their seasons in Beijing rather than at the Crucible.

The first prize is a not inconsiderable £55,000.

Eurosport’s live coverage starts at 7.30am UK time on Monday with Mark Davis v Tian Pengfei in the wildcard round.

FU FIGHTER CLAIMS PREMIER LEAGUE PLACE

Marco Fu, who finished bottom in this season's Premier League, has earned another chance at the title after winning the Championship League at Crondon Park Golf Club, Essex tonight.

Fu (pictured with Matchroom boss and WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn) came from 2-0 down to beat Mark Allen 3-2 in the final of the winners' group.

Fu needed a snooker in the third frame, got it and forced the mistake from Allen. The Hong Kong potter then finished off with breaks of 94 and 134 to clinch the £10,000 first prize and pick up an invite to the Premier League, which he won seven years ago.

"Qualifying for the Premier League is a very special moment for me as everyone wants to play in the league. Only the top players can play in it and with it being live on television it is a very prestigious competition," Fu said.

The Premier League returns on September 2 and concludes at the end of November.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

The winners' group of the Championship League is brimming with quality. Stephen Maguire, John Higgins, Judd Trump, Marco Fu, Neil Robertson, Mark Allen and Jamie Cope will fight it out over the next two days for a place in the Premier League.

Of these, Higgins is the only one assured of an invite to the League, although Robertson must be a leading favourite for a call up as well.

Cope became the last player through to the winners' group by beating Peter Ebdon and Ding Junhui at Crondon Park last night.

The Shotgun from Stoke could certainly cause a few problems in the League itself were he to qualify, just as last year's winner Trump did.

And he has the advantage of having had two days on the tables while the rest of the field - Trump aside - haven't played competitively for up to two months.

For them, the next two days represents a chance to at the very least tune up their games for next week's China Open.

There's plenty of cash available too. Robertson has already earned £13,000 from the event and it's now £300 per frame and £10,000 to the eventual winner.

IN LEAGUE FOR PREMIER PLACE

It’ll be a big week for one of 13 players taking part in the Championship League, with one of the seven from Group 7 going forward to join the other six in the winner’s group on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Baronial Hall of Crondon Park Golf Club in Essex has become an unlikely favourite for the top players, who get quality match practice, not inconsiderable prize money and the chance to get in the Premier League next season.

Already through to the winners’ group are Stephen Maguire, John Higgins, Judd Trump, Marco Fu, Neil Robertson and Mark Allen.

Of these, only Higgins can be sure of a Premier League place regardless of what happens this week, although Robertson must be a leading contender as well.

Group 7 features Ding Junhui – surely a cert for the PL too after his UK Championship win – plus Steve Davis, Michael Holt and the returning Jamie Cope, Peter Ebdon, Mark Williams and Joe Swail from group 6.

The action is all live online over the next four days and more information can be found at the official website.

IS THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOO LONG?

The simple answer to that question would be ‘no’ but that doesn’t fill up half a page on the internet.

John Higgins recently told STV in Scotland that he thinks there is an argument for reducing the world final to a single day.

Ronnie O’Sullivan said this year that ‘if we can’t play for an hour and find out who is the best then there’s something wrong.’

When 110sport announced their breakaway tour ten years ago I remember Stephen Hendry saying he thought the World Championship should last 12 days and no longer.

These three great champions have more than earned their right to hold an opinion on this and are worth listening to but I suspect snooker fans may not agree with them.

Let’s take Higgins’s comments. If the world final were reduced then it logically follows that all the other matches would have to be as well, leading to a shorter World Championship.

Times change. Maybe people today prefer a ‘quick fix’ than to sit for hours following sport but the fact remains that snooker, and the World Championship in particular, pulls in viewers because it provides absorbing drama, and this by its very nature is slow burning.

Admittedly, it can sometimes be so slow burning that it almost gets extinguished altogether but the 17 day marathon provides exactly what it should: the ultimate test of a snooker player.

But is 17 days really that much more of a test than, say, 14 days? After all, the World Championship is longer than the Olympics and every major annual sporting event outside of the Tour de France.

Well, if the BBC wants to show 17 days of continuous snooker then I’m certainly not going to talk them out of it.

In truth, some of the matches are too long. The first round would be better as best of 17 frames because this would reduce pull-offs and late finishes. The semi-finals seem to go on forever.

But this format has basically worked for the last three decades and I wouldn’t advocate changing it.

The longer matches provide more subplots and greater drama. This is why six reds, shot clocks et al will never replace the traditional game, even if they do have their place on the fringes of the sport.

Of course, the old sweats from the 1940s and 50s would look down their noses at the notion that today’s World Championship is long at all. In 1948, Fred Davis won the title by beating Walter Donaldson 84-61.

These days you can afford to have a bad session. Back then you could afford to have a bad week.

Society changes and with it so does television. Snooker needs to change as well but its major event is fine as it is. It’s a showpiece occasion that puts snooker front and central for a fortnight every spring.

Snooker’s problem is not the World Championship, it’s the low profile most of the other tournaments have.

This is why I would go along with format alterations for other ranking events. I find it absurd that in finals players play for eight frames, everyone goes away for three hours with nothing to do and then they come back to finish off.

This doesn’t happen in any other sport I can think of.

The Premier League play best of 13 frames right through in one session. This would be better for the likes of the Grand Prix and Welsh Open. You could start at 5 or 6pm and there’s half a chance the audience could get home before turning into pumpkins.

Traditionalists will howl in protest and disbelief that anyone could conceive of changing anything.

Well, when it comes to the World Championship I would agree with them. When it comes to everything else I’d say there is a very strong case to look again, including getting rid of intervals.

All this doesn’t mean reducing every tournament to a lottery but snooker has to reach out to casual sports fans as well as its own diehard constituency. Balancing the needs of both isn’t easy but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t try.

In any case, television will ultimately decide. What they want is what snooker will have to accept because, without TV, the professional game will be back to where it was in the 1950s.

Still, in that scenario we could always go back to three week world finals...

HENDRY V WHITE

Snooker is a sport that has been blessed with many fascinating rivalries.

There was Ray Reardon and John Spencer in the 1970s, Steve Davis and Alex Higgins in the 1980s and, right now, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan.

But, for me, the most enduring of them all was Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White, who kept snooker fans gripped by a series of world finals in the 1990s.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hendry’s capture of the 1990 world title, making him the youngest ever winner of the game’s biggest event, a record he still holds despite the influx of young talent in the last two decades.

He won it with an 18-12 defeat of White, although their first Crucible meeting had come two years earlier in 1988. White had already lost in the 1984 final to Davis but was widely expected to win the Big One at some stage. Hendry was just 19 but had already won two ranking titles and was regarded as highly dangerous.

Their second round encounter was a revelation, so much so that the BBC devoted the whole of its end of year snooker review programme – these were the days when it had one – to this match and this match alone.

Just as all today’s leading players modelled their games on Hendry’s playing style, so Hendry had adopted White’s ultra-attacking approach.

White won the match 13-12. In 25 frames there were 26 breaks over 40.

I dare say if it were shown today the match would not appear to be anything special but back then it was like a burst of excitement and it deserves to be remembered as an all time classic.

The 1990 final was another quickfire affair with an average frame time of just 12 minutes.

The 1992 Crucible final between Hendry and White is one everyone old enough to have seen it remembers, more particularly if they were supporting the Whirlwind.

When White went 12-6 up, Clive Everton, not a man given to overstatement, said on BBC commentary, ‘surely he’s going to win it now.’ Most people watching probably thought the same. Hendry, though, had other ideas.

At 14-8, the Scot won the last two frames of the third session, the last of which with the aid of a superb brown that, had he missed it, would have almost certainly made it 15-9.

White was still favourite at 14-10 but immediately lost a black ball frame and the wheels started to come off. Had he won the title before he may have had enough resilience to repel the Hendry comeback but it wasn’t to be. Hendry made three centuries, including two in the final two frames, to complete a winning streak of ten frames and win 18-14.

Hendry was never better than when under pressure, the precise time when most players start to falter.

Their 1993 final was a landslide to Hendry. He won it 18-5 with a session to spare having played some of the best snooker of his career during the tournament.

In 1994 it was Hendry v White again. The final session attracted a peak viewing audience of 13.4m to BBC2 and, in terms of quality, tension and excitement, remains one of the best matches ever played.

White trailed 17-16 but made a 75 break to force the decider. What followed will live long in the memory of his fans. Perfectly placed in the balls and not far from capturing the title he snatched at a black. Hendry, predictably, cleared up to win 18-17.

It was a crushing blow from which White never really recovered. And yet he didn’t sulk, he didn’t blame anyone but himself and, interviewed by David Vine just minutes after the end, he smiled, shrugged and said, ‘he’s beginning to annoy me.’

It was this sort of gesture that helped endear White to millions. Those who run him down now because his game is not of the same standard as it was then should remember the popular appeal he helped give snooker.

And it was part of another reason why the Hendry-White rivalry is worth celebrating. Their matches were always played in a sporting context. Indeed, in that 1994 final, very near the end, the referee awarded a free ball to Hendry but Hendry got down and said he didn’t think it was one, despite it being a clear advantage to him.

When Hendry appeared on This Is Your Life, White gave him a £1 note (it was a long time ago) on which he had written, ‘from Jimmy White to the next Jimmy White.’ Hendry returned it with the message, ‘there’s only one Jimmy White.’

They met again at the Crucible in 1995, this time in the semi-finals where Hendry made a 147 and won 16-12.

White was to take one very small measure of revenge in the first round in 1998. He’d had to qualify and drew Hendry, beating him 10-4.

By chance, I was stood next to him in the pressroom when he called home the night he went 8-1 up. ‘I bet he still comes back and wins,’ he said, deadpan, to whoever was on the other end.

Of course, White beat Hendry a number of times, including in finals. He nearly whitewashed him in the 1991 Classic final, leading 9-0 before winning 10-4. He also beat Hendry 18-9 in the 1990 World Matchplay final.

But their rivalry came to be defined by the Crucible and by Hendry’s relentlessness in the face of White’s failings.

The best rivalries are between opposites. Hendry was quiet, driven and utterly obsessed with winning; White was gregarious, Jack-the-lad and would admit now that his preparation for big events was not always what it should have been.

He wasn’t unlucky not to be world champion. He had his chance – more than one chance – but couldn’t quite seal the deal even though, in terms of pure talent, he was a better player than some of those who have won it.

His popularity has never wavered, but I’m sure he’d swap some of that for at least one world title. Similarly, Hendry – sometimes booed by sections of the crowd – would have loved some of White’s appeal.

But who they were as people and how they played created an enthralling rivalry, one that snooker fans still remember fondly even though they are unlikely to ever again play each other on a big occasion.

LETS GET THE BOYS (BACK) ON THE BAIZE

This always used to be the height of the season but there has been such a long lay-off for the top players that they must feel as if the campaign is already over.

John Higgins won the totesport.com Welsh Open on January 31. By the time he starts out in the winners’ group of the Championship League next week it will have been seven and a half weeks since he last hit a ball.

It will be interesting to see if this has halted the momentum he had in the early part of the season. Higgins has appeared in the last six ranking event semi-finals. If he gets that far at the China Open and Betfred.com World Championship he will equal the record held jointly by Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.

But I doubt he’s done much practising in recent weeks – what’s the point? – and may find it hard to pick up where he left off.

We are now entering the final furlong of what has been a disappointingly disjointed season. The Championship League returns on Monday, the China Open starts the following week and then the drama of the Crucible gets underway on April 17.

For some players – Ricky Walden among them – the season is already over. There’s nothing worse for a player than knowing the World Championship is on the TV when you’re not in it.

Even going abroad on holiday doesn’t make much difference these days because the championship is shown around the world.

The Championship League will be a help for the players involved next week in terms of fine tuning their games for a very important month ahead.

Group seven features the returning Peter Ebdon, Jamie Cope, Mark Williams and Joe Swail along with Ding Junhui, Steve Davis and Michael Holt.

The winners’ group features the group seven winner plus Higgins, Stephen Maguire, Judd Trump, Marco Fu, Neil Robertson and Mark Allen.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME?

Consider the following players: Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy.

All great names, all first round losers on their respective Crucible debuts.

The Sheffield theatre is like no other snooker venue. It has turned many a leg to jelly and quickened the heartbeat of even the most laid back players.

This is partly because it is the World Championship and therefore matters so much but there’s no doubt that the unique atmosphere the cramped arena creates adds to the pressure.

Nobody in a million years would choose the Crucible as a World Championship venue today. There’s barely room for the two tables and the audience can reach out and almost touch the players.

But this is precisely what makes it so special.

When Higgins made his debut in 1995 he said he hated the place. It felt strange and uncomfortable playing there. Three world titles later and it’s fair to say he’s changed his mind.

Of course, some players do get over the nerves to get through the first round at the first time of asking.

John Parrott did in 1984. Peter Ebdon shocked Davis in 1992. Mark Williams was successful in 1997.

And, most famously of all, Terry Griffiths went all the way to the title in 1979.

But newcomers are invariably like fish out of water, struggling to find the game that got them to the Crucible in the first place.

So what fate awaits this year’s two debutants, Tom Ford and Zhang Anda?

Ford is set to face a player in Mark Allen who himself made a fine debut appearance in 2007 when he beat Ken Doherty.

And Allen will be looking to exploit any signs of nerves or discomfort from his opponent, seizing on a slow start as he did last year against Martin Gould.

Zhang’s advantage is that he is not steeped in the folklore of the Crucible. Refreshingly, he’s one of the few people who neither knows nor cares about THAT black ball final.

But he will know about Hendry and what he has achieved in Sheffield over the last quarter of a century.

And as it’s the biggest match so far of the 18 year-old’s short career it’s fair to assume there will be a few nerves fluttering around.

Hendry’s disadvantage is that he will almost certainly never have seen Zhang play. I’ve only seen him play once and that was in coolly beating Ricky Walden to qualify.

I was impressed with him there but it’s impossible to say if he can repeat that performance next month when it really matters.

If Zhang does lose he should take heart from Hendry’s own debut in 1986 at the age of 17.

He was beaten 10-8 by Willie Thorne who, through a mixture of sporting goodwill and sheer relief, applauded him out of the arena.

Like everyone else Thorne knew that, even though the young Scot’s first appearance had ended in defeat, he would be back...

SO THIS DRAW, THEN

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s first round tie with Liang Wenbo looks tough on paper but the match will be played on the green baize and I don’t think it’s the worst draw O’Sullivan could have got.

He’s never lost to Liang, has beaten him at the Crucible before and beat him in a final this season.

That’s not to say it’s an easy draw but at least Ronnie knows how he plays and is more than capable of taking him on again. He’d have been relieved to avoid the likes of Graeme Dott, who has a very good record against him in recent times.

Two matches stand out for me: Stephen Hendry v Zhang Anda and Mark Selby v Ken Doherty.

Like O’Sullivan v Liang, they both take place in what will from now on be known as ‘the quarter of death’.

Hendry will know hardly anything about his 18 year-old opponent and the unknown quantity could cause him problems. Zhang is the only player in the tournament who won’t fully comprehend how special the Crucible is.

However, few debutants ever do well and Hendry has played some good stuff in Sheffield for the last two years.

Neither Selby or Doherty would have wanted to draw each other. Doherty won their last meeting at this season’s Grand Prix and is back playing to a high standard.

Selby knows that if is to be world champion this year he will have to do it the hard way: Doherty then possibly Hendry and O’Sullivan just to get into the semi-finals.

John Higgins, the defending champion, is not a certainty to beat Barry Hawkins, one of those players well capable of causing an upset even though he’s yet to win a match at the Crucible.

Even so, Higgins fans will already be plotting his course through to the quarter-finals, where Neil Robertson looks his likely opponent.

All in all it’s an interesting draw that will take a bit more careful study before I for one make any clear predictions about who is going to win the thing.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND DRAW: LIVE

Here is the draw for the first round of the Betfred.com World Championship

John Higgins v Barry Hawkins

Mark King v Steve Davis

Neil Robertson v Fergal O'Brien

Marco Fu v Martin Gould

Ali Carter v Jamie Cope

Joe Perry v Michael Holt

Ding Junhui v Stuart Pettman

Shaun Murphy v Gerard Greene

Stephen Maguire v Stephen Lee

Peter Ebdon v Graeme Dott

Mark Allen v Tom Ford

Ryan Day v Mark Davis

Mark Selby v Ken Doherty

Stephen Hendry v Zhang Anda

Mark Williams v Marcus Campbell

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Liang Wenbo

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DRAW: FOLLOW IT HERE

OK, so here is the *plan...

I will be at the draw for the first round of the Betfred.com World Championship tomorrow.

I intend to update it on this blog as it is drawn, so start pressing refresh from 10.30am UK time.

Otherwise, you can watch it in any UK betting shop but it won't be on the TV, radio or internet.

*Surely nothing can go wrong.

ALAN CHAMBERLAIN RESIGNS

Alan Chamberlain, the circuit's longest serving referee, has resigned with immediate effect.

Chamberlain, 67, has officiated on the professional circuit since 1983 but decided to hang up his white gloves on Monday a day before the end of the world qualifiers.

I understand he was exhausted by the long hours the refs were required to work for little financial reward.

Alan refereed the 1997 World Championship final, was a long time official at the Masters and took charge of many other big occasions.

Like many referees, there were moments of controversy too but he was regarded as a very safe pair of hands and his sudden resignation has shocked his fellow officials.

He will continue to referee at the Championship League.

ZHANG'S GOLDEN FINISH

Zhang Anda, nicknamed the ‘Mighty Mouse’, produced a sensational finish to beat Ricky Walden 10-8 and qualify for the final stages of the Betfred.com World Championship in Sheffield tonight.

The diminutive Zhang, just 18, ended the contest with successive breaks of 134 and 103 to cause a huge upset.

Last week, he was driven past the Crucible Theatre and had no idea what the building was. He’ll find out when the 17-day snooker marathon gets underway on April 17.

“I didn’t feel nervous at all. I was just concentrating so hard on the match,” said Zhang, who practises at the Grove in Romford, also the base for Ronnie O’Sullivan.

“I have practised with Ronnie and even watching him play can help you,” he said.

Zhang was heading for main tour relegation having started the qualifiers 79th in the provisional rankings. He may still fall off the circuit but has provided proof of his potential with victories over Craig Steadman, John Parrott, Andrew Higginson and now Walden, whose hopes of joining the elite top 16 were dashed by the defeat.

But Walden, who broke down on a break of 32 in the 18th frame, sportingly led the applause after Zhang’s grandstand finish.

The Chinese finds himself in the hat for Thursday’s draw alongside some of snooker’s all time greats, including Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, O’Sullivan and defending champion John Higgins as well as compatriots Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo.

SHODDY TABLE CAUSES HOLD-UP

Graeme Dott and Jimmy Michie have had to switch tables as the one they began their match on is currently unplayable.

Balls were rolling off and table fitters have so far spent over half an hour trying to rectify the problem, without success.

Michie was leading 3-1 at the interval but will now resume on the table used by Stuart Pettman and Stuart Bingham, who have finished their session.

The players were given the option of continuing the match in the World Snooker Academy but gave the idea short shrift.

The original table hasn’t been used since the previous round last week.

A WPBSA spokesman said: “After complaints from players the table was deemed unplayable and the decision was taken to continue on the first available table. A decision will then be taken to see whether the match can resume on the original table for the second session.”

If the table is still not up to scratch the players will have to hang around waiting for a table to become available later on tonight.

This is the last thing they needed for what many players regard as the most important match of the whole season.

UPDATE: Dott, who leads 6-3 after the first session, has said the table is "as bad as one can be."

The match will not resume until 6pm at the earliest and might possibly go on a third table.

IRISH EYES SMILING AGAIN

What a difference a year makes for Ken Doherty.

12 months ago he was close to tears after he lost to Gerard Greene in the final qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship and was even contemplating retirement.

It says a lot about his character that instead of feeling sorry for himself he dusted himself down, put in the hard work and is now very likely to be back in the top 32 next season.

His 10-1 defeat of Joe Swail tonight underlined how he has turned things around.

"I’m just delighted to qualify. I’ve had to drag myself back up and it’s great to be at the Crucible again,” Doherty said.

“I was almost in tears last year when I failed to qualify. I didn’t know where my game was going and whether or not it was the end for me but everything has turned around this season."

Credit must also go to Tom Ford, who has qualified for the Crucible for the first time after a top drawer display against Judd Trump, who he beat 10-3.

Ford said he had been motivated to cut down his drinking and apply himself more after watching his fellow Leicester man Mark Selby's rise to the top.

"I see Mark on the TV all the time and it winds me up," he said. "That's nothing against Mark, who texted me to say good luck today, but it makes me realise I should be doing the same thing as well.

"Mark's very, very dedicated and doesn't drink that much. I took the wrong path when I was 18 and started going out too much while he concentrated on playing.

"You have to knuckle down but it's not easy to practise with a hangover. You can party in the summer when there are no tournaments."

David Morris won't be making his Crucible debut this year after losing 10-6 to Michael Holt, who won a big 15th frame on the black.

Barry Hawkins and Martin Gould are also heading back to the game's best known venue after respective wins over Ian McCulloch and Nigel Bond.

DAVIS RETURNS TO THE CRUCIBLE

Steve Davis will make his 30th appearance at the Crucible Theatre next month after producing a highly determined performance to beat Adrian Gunnell 10-4 in the final qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship in Sheffield tonight.

The 52 year-old, who won the last of his six world titles in 1989, cued very nicely and retained a positive frame of mind to enhance his chances of remaining in the top 32 for another season.

And Davis admitted he is thinking of history as he prepares to play at the Crucible in a fifth decade.

He believes by defying the years he may set a record that even his great friend and rival Stephen Hendry will find hard to beat.

“There was a time in the 1980s when I thought I was unbeatable, a bit like Phil Taylor probably feels now in darts,” Davis said.

“I thought, nobody will ever come along and beat my standard. And then I quickly had that thought rammed down my throat by a young man from Scotland and plenty of others after that.

“From then on, you look at your career differently. It’s not been a case of clinging on but it has been tough against good opposition.

“So to still be doing it – wow. I’m chuffed that I can still compete at any level because in a way you’re not supposed to. To be at the Crucible in your 50s is hard to do.

“I was trying to think of my objective after I stayed in the top 16 at the age of 50. My long term ambition now is that Stephen Hendry doesn’t beat my record of playing at the Crucible. To beat me, he’ll have to play there at 53.

“He’s won more tournaments than anyone else and is the best player who ever lived but I’ve still got one record that he’ll find it hard to beat and I’ve just put another year on it.”

SO FAR SO GOOD FOR DAVIS

If Steve Davis beats Adrian Gunnell today he will make his 30th appearance at the Crucible and will appear there in a fifth different decade.

The good news for Davis fans is that the six-times world champion is 6-3 up although his 6-1 lead was trimmed by Gunnell making two successive centuries.

The first of those could have been a 147 but he missed the penultimate red with the rest on 104.

Davis looks very determined. He may have generally taken his foot off the gas but this is the one match of the year he really wants to win.

The 52 year-old has certainly brought in plenty of support. There's a huge crowd in watching, most of whom are watching him.

He needs four more frames from 4pm.

THE THREE DAY TWITCH

There are five players appearing in the final qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship who have never played at the Crucible.

They are Adrian Gunnell, Tom Ford, David Morris, Anda Zhang and Mark Joyce.

Two others, Jimmy Michie and Rod Lawler, have not played there since 1996 and either would set a new record for the longest amount of time between first and second appearances were they to qualify.

Three former champions – Steve Davis, Ken Doherty and Graeme Dott – will be action as will twice runner-up Matthew Stevens.

The next three days is where it gets really serious. The difference between winning and losing is the difference between taking part in the greatest snooker show on earth or having to watch it on TV at home.

It will also be vital to the various machinations of the provisional ranking list.

I’ll be blogging from the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, posting updates throughout the three days.

I will also be posting updates on Twitter.

It promises to be a nerve-wracking three days.

WHITE'S WAKE UP CALL

Jimmy White's reward for beating Mark Boyle 10-8 in the Betfred.com World Championship qualifiers last night to salvage his professional status is another 10am start today.

This is both unfair and unnecessary. His match finished at around midnight. I'd imagine with all the adrenalin coursing through him White did not get straight off to sleep.

There are six tables at the EISS so his match with Ken Doherty could easily have been played this afternoon to conclude tomorrow afternoon.

Jimmy is not, I think he would agree, a morning person. That said, he's always been the sort to just get on with it and as this is the World Championship I'm sure he'll do exactly that.

Now White's main tour place has been safeguarded the pressure transfers in part to Doherty, who will need to win to stand a chance of returning to the top 32 next season.

White's victory relegated John Parrott - who beat him in the 1991 world final - from the professional circuit after 27 years.

All good things must come to an end but I'm sure he would rather it had ended at the Crucible than down the road in the qualifying dogfight.

Pulling on the waistcoat week after week, month after month, year after year becomes more than a habit. It's a way of life. That's why people who say, 'well, he's had a good innings' should understand how difficult it is for players of longstanding to just stop playing.

Parrott is very unlikely to carry on as an amateur but is involved in the forthcoming snookerlegends exhibition tour and will, of course, be on the BBC sofa for the 17 day drama that is now - get this! - just six weeks away.

IS THIS AN EX-PARROTT?

John Parrott's 10-6 defeat to Anda Zhang in the Betfred.com World Championship qualifiers this afternoon seems likely to herald the end of his professional career.

Parrott won the title at the Crucible in 1991 - a few months before his Chinese opponent was born.

But he will now struggle to remain in the top 64 and thus keep his place on the pro circuit after 27 years.

By my reckoning, if Jimmy White wins his match tonight then Parrott will be pushed down to 65th on the list.

This would be a considerable irony as it was White who the Liverpudlian beat 18-11 to win the title 19 years ago.

JP has long since become better known for his media work, in particular as a pundit alongside Steve Davis on the BBC's snooker coverage.

He hasn't been a title contender in over a decade but I'd imagine he'll still be sad if this is to be the end.

SNOOKER ON THE BBC: AN UNCLEAR FUTURE

Professional snooker owes its rise to the TV big time to the BBC above anything else.

It was the BBC who showed black and white matches, usually featuring Joe Davis, as fillers between racing and other sports on Saturday afternoons in the 1950s.

It was the BBC that brought the viewing public Pot Black in colour, which made household names of the players of the 1970s.

And it was the BBC who took the decision to televise the 1978 World Championship at the Crucible from first ball to last, which led to the explosion of interest in the 1980s and the creation of the professional circuit as we know it today.

But what is the future for the sport on a BBC that now finds itself in a crowded broadcasting marketplace having to defend its use of the licence fee?

This week, it's director general, Mark Thompson, pledged to cut services to plough more money into programme making but also to cap the BBC's spend on sports rights to 9% of the licence fee.

Today's Daily Mirror newspaper claims Thompson "wants snooker and darts off BBC2."

They do not quote him directly but the BBC's Strategy Review document proposes to 'reduce the volume of sport on BBC2.' As snooker is currently broadcast for many hours on this channel there must be fears that it is one of the sports that will be shifted elsewhere - or even scrapped altogether.

This would seriously threaten snooker's future as a top level TV sport.

Of its sports rights strategy, the BBC document states: "[we will] Continue to provide a home for major sporting events, free-to-air, as well as a broad range of other sport. The strategy for sports rights will, however, prioritise the list of the most important events for free-to-air coverage followed by sports with particular public service potential (such as Olympic sports and the Commonwealth Games) and others that deliver significant value to licence fee payers, recognising that the BBC needs to set a clear limit on how much it can invest."

Snooker is, of course, not an Olympic or Commonwealth sport.

The current BBC contract runs out at the end of next season. Barry Hearn, the WPBSA chairman, has been to see the corporation but no new contract has yet been announced.

It would be a surprise to everyone if it wasn't agreed but snooker has few options if the worst did happen.

Sky has shown little interest in snooker in recent years. ITV hasn't screened a tournament for the best part of a decade.

I would expect the BBC to sign another contract but for a reduced fee and possibly for three rather than four tournaments.

Make no mistake, though: if they decide their love affair with the green baize game can no longer be justified in the current economic climate, or that it simply doesn't fit in with their view of what the BBC should be, snooker is going to find itself in very serious trouble.