Some photos

The Showpiece Event

Dressed in our suits and buffed shoes and with three and a half hours of travelling behind us, Kris and I entered the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for the very first time. Upon taking my seat, I couldn’t believe how small the arena was; on TV it looked like there was acres of carpet either side of the solitary table. I’ve grown up hearing about the intimacy of the Crucible, the proximity of the spectators to the players. But it wasn’t until being there for myself that I could appreciate any of it. How, I wondered, had they managed to have two tables in here for twelve days?! The players must have been able to feel every cough, every sigh and every rustle of a sweet bag. In an arena so full of snooker history- Cliff Thorburn’s 147, Alex Higgins winning in 82, the marathon final of 85 between Davis and Taylor- no wonder the players got nervous. This place had been witness to moments of sporting drama that will forever live in the memory of those watching. And now I was there, to witness the latest final for myself.

This blog post has been delayed for a few days out of both laziness and a need to let the events of the weekend to sink in. I’m sure anyone reading this will know the result; you either watched it live or you have read about it online, several scrolls down from the headlines of Leicester winning the Premier League. So I’m not going to go through a frame by frame retelling of the match. I’m going to talk about the event, the funny things that happened and what I took from my first visit to the home of snooker.

One of the things that I love about going to an event is all the preparation that you don’t see on the TV. Before we go live on air, Rob Walker introduces the referee, the commentators and the pundits in the studio. You feel included, like you’re part of the snooker family. You realise how good these people are at their jobs and the passion they have for snooker. The players are introduced, they walk on to their chosen music and the match begins. The job that the cameramen do is one that is often overlooked. You take it for granted when watching the TV that the action is being shown using the right angle at the right time. You don’t see the cameramen as they shift around, moving from the player, to the table, to behind the shot, totally in tune with one another. And during the long frames that stretch far into the night, how they keep their concentration is remarkable.

A little boy in the audience was introduced before the action began. A nine year old Leicester City and Mark Selby fan who has a high break of 105! I wonder if we’ll be seeing him in the future. “Stay away from girls and alcohol!” was Rob Walker’s advice.

The first of four sessions began and it took Ding Junhui until frame seven to get his first frame on the board. When he potted frame ball, there were tears rolling from his eyes. With our position just above where he was sitting, we could see how emotional he was as he walked back to his seat. To come out of the afternoon session 6-2 was quite a result. But how different could things have been if he had taken frame 2, when he had Selby requiring snookers?

Kris and I made our way to the Betfred lounge during the interval. Within minutes we were taking part in a sports quiz, teamed up with two chaps from the Sheffield area, one of which looked like Phil Taylor. I asked him if he’d also won tickets. He said he’d got the complimentary tickets for being a regular customer of Betred’s. A compulsive gambler in other words. He seemed to be very knowledgable about sport though. Ken Doherty popped into the lounge and said a few words into the mic, regaling tales from the year he won the trophy. Next it was Dennis Taylor and he went around the whole room to shake everybody’s hand. We had a chat about the session so far and I asked him for a photo. The funny thing was, the next day, we were promised further visits from snooker legends. But it was Dennis Taylor and Ken Doherty again, telling the same stories. This must be what their lives are like, making public appearances and telling the stories of their success. I wonder if they get bored of it or whether they just love the attention. Having achieved the pinnacle in the sport, you know that you will forever be able to step into a room and talk about those days, with most of the room listening intently. What about a talented player who reaches the top of the game but doesn’t manage to win any major trophies? Well, Tony Drago entered the lounge not long afterwards and was immediately asked for his ticket. “I don’t need a ticket, I’m a player,” he said. Irritated that he hadn’t been recognised, he bounded over to another member of staff who also didn’t recognise him and told him he didn’t care if he was a player, he needed a ticket. “Don’t say you don’t care, that hurts,” responded Drago. And it was clear that it did hurt him. Understandably so, too.

It was a late finish to the day with frame seventeen finishing at half past midnight, with the score at 10-7 to Selby. But it could so easily have been 9-8. Ding did incredibly well in an evening session of gruelling matchplay. One frame lasted 66 minutes, but was compelling throughout. It was amazing to look around the crowd and see how engrossed everyone was and how they appreciated the incredible safety exchanges between the two players. However, it was ridiculous how many phones went off, despite repeated instructions to turn them off before play started. At one point, a man’s satnav app went off not once but twice, leading him to be directed out of the arena. It’s not just the phones but the incessant coughing. Surely not all those coughs are genuine. Perhaps it’s just some people can’t bear to be quiet for all that time and use coughing as a means to express themselves.

Arriving at the Crucible for the final day of the championship, we saw Steve Davis and John Parrot in the foyer, dressed impeccably, recording a piece for the TV. We made it in at just the right time as shortly afterwards, the heavens opened. We watched from the Betfred lounge as people rushed towards the venue, struggling with umbrellas in the wind. The afternoon session’s frames were split equally but at one point Ding got within one frame of Selby at 10-11. Selby took three of the last four frames to go into the evening session with a 14-11 lead.

There were noticeably more smartly-dressed spectators for the final session of the championship but some people, like the man to the left of Kris, failed to make the effort and came dressed in tracksuit bottoms. Even the large man with glasses, who spent all tournament in the front row to the left of the table, dressed up with a shirt and tie. The Betfred co-owner, Fred Done, joined us in the lounge and offered the room some special offers on bets. He would later present the trophy to the winner, alongside Steve Davis.

The evening session was upon us and the early evening sun shone over the Crucible. The players entered the arena down some steep steps to Adamski’s “Killer”. I felt goosebumps. This was it. Tonight we were going to see who was going to be World Champion. There was a lot of support for Ding and many people were hoping for a close-run match (perhaps not as late as the previous night though!) Selby took the opening two frames and it was looking ominous for Ding. But he reeled off the next three and it was game on. Another phone went off in the audience and the referee, Paul Collier, received cheers and applause when he said, “don’t be the idiot that spoils this!” Selby went on to win the two frames he needed, with a gritty break in the last frame. When match ball went in, he pointed his finger to his wife in a display of relief and determination. He had joined an elite list of multi world champions. There was little more emotion shown by Selby though; he went and took a long sip of water, looked on straight-faced as he spoke to Hazel Irvine, and looked more tired than jubilant. He even looked irritable when holding the trophy to the photographers. Ding, meanwhile, was smiling and that was great to see. He had played such a huge part in this year’s championship and did incredibly well in the final after his nervous start. Congratulations to Mark Selby, a true champion.

So this year’s championship was over and it was only just gone 10pm. We left the Crucible and set off on the long journey home. I felt a little numb. I wanted to be backstage. I wanted to join the after-party. After seventeen days of following this wonderful event, I didn’t want it to be over. And I’m sure there are many other people that feel the same. But what a privilege to be able to go to the final. A very special experience that I will never forget.

 

 

The Last Four

On Wednesday night, the famous Crucible theatre was transformed from a cramped two-table setup with a partition wall down the middle to a spacious one-table arrangement, ready for the semi-finals and the final. Now the front row look far from the action. No longer do the players have to squish next to each other but they do have a painful trudge of shame back to their seat after missing a shot. This is where a player knows he’s a real deal in snooker. But at the same time, he realises the opportunity, the enormity of the situation and can soon find himself in “Shredsville”, as Jimmy White would say.

With these being such long-winded matches, I’m not going to bore you with a blow by blow account. Lets just say, coming into Saturday’s play, both matches were close; Ding had a lead of four frames against Alan McManus and Mark Selby and Marco Fu were level pegging. Now, here are the talking points from Thursday and Friday:

Marco Fu’s tip came off mid-frame. For the following fifteen minutes, anyone switching over to BBC2 who was unaware of this wonderful game would have been confused to find coverage of a man in a suit in a small room rotating the end of a pointed stick in his hand. This was the riveting coverage of Paul Collier sticking the rogue tip back on with commentary of the whole charade coming from Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry. Crisis was averted and soon the players were back in the arena. Fortunately for Fu, his tip stayed on and he won the frame.

Anyone who had the sense to switch over to Eurosport for the evening coverage would have found Colin Murray and the boys joined by a youthful looking Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, along with his dog Dolly, while on the table sat a selection of chocolates from Mrs Wood, promoting her confectionary business. It made me think of that classic situation when a few friends are having a quiet evening in when their other wilder friend who they haven’t heard from in weeks stops by unannounced with boundless energy and their dog. It’s why I like the Eurosport coverage; you never know what might be said next or who might be sat on the sofa in the studio.

I can’t write about Friday without mentioning Alan McManus’s astonishing comeback against Ding Junhui, winning a number of frames on the bounce when it seemed like Ding might run away with it. The top moment for me was when Angles’ trademark “black around the angles when the frame is already safe” finally went in, leading to rapturous applause. The Crucible had a new hero. Despite the Scot’s best efforts, he couldn’t stop Ding winning the match on Saturday afternoon with a record seven centuries over the three days. McManus was magnaminous in defeat, praising Ding’s incredible scoring.

In the evening, the tussle between Mark Selby and Marco Fu finally came down to the best of three when scores were level at 15-15. The match had been like a seesaw throughout the third and fourth sessions. Earlier in the morning session, they broke the record with a frame lasting 75 minutes or something like that. Frame 32, the decisive frame, was close to an hour and was an incredible display of tactical matchplay. Selby finally came out on top to win the match 17-15 but not without taking out some of his frustration on the table. It seemed a more agitated Selby to the one two years ago and I’m not convinced he’s going to hold up for the two days of the final, against a Ding who looks to be in the form of his life and feeling fresh despite having to go through seven matches to get to the final.

I can’t wait to actually be at the Crucible tomorrow and even as I write this on Saturday evening I still can’t believe it’s happening. I had incredible luck to receive two tickets for all four sessions of the final after entering a competition before the tournament, courtesy of the sponsors Betfred. My experience of going to the Masters last year showed me how different it is to actually be there when compared to watching on TV. And to be going to the biggest snooker match of the season at the home of snooker is something quite incredible.

Quarter finals complete

The story of the day has to be about Alan McManus. Twenty three years after his last appearance at the Crucible semi finals, he’s made it again after overcoming his compatriot John Higgins 13-11. In a match that was a close run thing all the way through, McManus took off in the final few frames, winning four in a row while knocking in a century and three 50+ breaks. It’s an incredible achievement for a player who had to come through three grueling qualifying rounds just to get here. He will face fellow qualifier Ding Junhui in the first of the semi finals on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Mark Selby saw off a stubborn Kyren Wilson 13-8. Despite the deficit, Wilson showed great resolve and knocked in a championship best of 143 in the twenty first frame. Selby looked back to his best and will surely be the player to beat this year. His opponent in the semi-final will be Marco Fu after an epic victory over Barry Hawkins which provided the crowd incredible drama on Wednesday evening. Hawkins, 9-1 down at one stage, almost brought it back to 10-10 but let his opponent Fu back in to take a two frame lead at the final interval. Fu was beginning to unravel and missed almost identical shots with the rest, giving Hawkins the momentum. But Fu held himself together and showed why he’s got as far as he has. I think a lot of people were hoping for an outpouring of emotion as Fu knocked in the final black but all they got was a controlled fist pump. For quiet-mannered Fu though, that was a huge release.

Overnight the auditorium will be transformed to its famous one-table setup and the players, who have each won thirty six frames so far in the tournament, need to win a further thirty five to be crowned champion on Monday evening.

Through with a session to spare

In all but one of the quarter finals it was a very one-sided opening day of the quarter finals. At least that’s what the scores would suggest. Mark Selby, despite looking heavy-eyed and towelling down his face in the morning session, stormed into a 6-0 lead against Kyren Wilson who, only days earlier, had inflicted the same treatment on Mark Allen. Wilson took two vital frames at the end of the session to reduce his arrears to four frames at the break. He then came out in the evening and narrowed the gap even further before Selby renewed his four frame cushion going into the conclusion on Thursday morning. The biggest talking point was frame 16, the last of the day, when Wilson was lucky to fluke a red before being unlucky to get no position after an excellent fine cut to the middle pocket. It was a tense frame and was so pivotal, being the different between 10-6 and 9-7. It went the way of Selby and gives him a huge advantage.

Mark Williams was brushed aside by Ding Junhui in just two sessions, with the Chinese wrapping up victory with a 13-3 scoreline. Williams struggled throughout and it was later revealed that he was playing with a new tip. It must have been an enforced change; no player would choose to change their tip halfway through a world championship. It takes time to get used to a new tip and for it to “bed in” similar to how a cricket bat needs to be knocked in.

Barry Hawkins who, after his dramatic victory against Ronnie O’Sullivan believed he had a day off, was back in action against Marco Fu. Hawkins wasn’t at the races and Fu raced to a 7-1 lead. It’s going to take something special for The Hawk to find his way back.

The only close match of the day was “The Tartan Tussle”, as Colin Murray referred to it. John Higgins against Alan McManus. It was a topsy turvy session; Higgins took the first, McManus the next three and then Higgins the next four for a 5-3 lead.

I can’t help but feel after the drama of recent days, Quarter Final Tuesday was a slight disappointment. Let’s hope the one-sided scorelines are eroded earlier on Wednesday morning and we can have some exciting snooker before we reach the one table setup.

 

“This is sport at its finest”

They were the words uttered by Terry Griffiths when Ronnie O’Sullivan took Barry Hawkins to a twenty-fifth and deciding frame. Having trailed 12-9, the Rocket pulled out some incredible snooker to level up at twelve apiece and put himself as favourite for the match. But in a final frame that saw half of the reds up in baulk, it was Barry Hawkins that got a priceless break of forty something to put him in command. O’Sullivan looked to be staging a counter attack but he sank the white in the bottom right pocket, leaving Hawkins just a few balls for victory. It was an incredible finale to a match that saw the losing player with a shot success rate in the high nineties.

Although it’s a shame to see the back of such a snooker genius, O’Sullivan’s demise does throw the tournament even wider open that it was before. And let’s not forget Ding’s vanquishing of the other favourite, Judd Trump, earlier in the afternoon. On any other day, it would have been that game that dominated the headlines. Day 10 also saw John Higgins and Kyren Wilson complete their second round work, seeing off Ricky Walden and Mark Allen respectively.

So, as we head into Quarter Final’s Day, this is who we have left still competing:

• 3 former champions
• 5 non-English players, with a guaranteed one non-English player in the final
• 3 qualifiers
• 3 players over 40 years old
• Potential for the first all-asian final or even an all-qualifier final

Just one more thing to mention. I’m thoroughly enjoying the evening coverage on Eurosport with Colin Murray, Jimmy White and Joe Johnson in the studio. They discuss the action and players with such informality but with such sharp observations. And the interviews with Matt Smith seem to bring out the characters within the players. Jimmy White has coined the term “shredsville”, for when a player looks to be in turmoil. I’m sure other new terms will come up before the championship is out.

Halfway Sunday

The second Sunday of the championship marked the halfway point and featured the final four second matches. Judd Trump started out against Ding Junhui and made some uncharacteristic errors, with Ding taking the session 6-2. Eurosport commentator Dominic Dale, known in the snooker world as The Spaceman, was critical of Judd’s cue ball control. Trump caught wind of this criticism at the interval and went on Twitter to respond to Dale, describing his views as “clueless”. This raises the pertinent question in the modern game: in a sport that’s played as much in the head as on the table, should players be in touch with social media during a game? Trump’s concentration failed to improve in the evening session and even though Ding was far from his best, he finished the day with a four frame lead at 10-6. Trump seemed to get bogged down in longer frames and became impatient with himself.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, Kyren Wilson was in imperious form, storming to a 7-0 lead against Mark Allen. The Northern Irishman did manage to take the final one of the session and promised a “legendary comeback” in a tweet at the interval. Allen stuck to his word, firing on all cylinders in the evening session, taking the first four frames. Suddenly, there was a game on. But Wilson held his composure and took the second four frames of the session to regain his advantage, leading 11-5 overnight. Frame fifteen will be looked back on as a game changer with both players missing the pink and Kyren stealing it on the black. If it had gone the other way, it could well be a different match altogether going into Monday.

Trump and Allen weren’t the only seeds struggling on Sunday. Ronnie O’Sullivan, the bookies’ favourite, found himself up against a Barry Hawkins finding his form. The Hawk held on to a narrow lead and will begin the final session on Monday night ahead at 9-7. John Higgins leads Ricky Walden 10-6 in the other match that will conclude on Monday night, looking to book his place in a quarter-final date with fellow Scot Alan McManus.

Selby suffers second-round scare

A week on from the beginning of the championship and there was more late night drama at the Crucible. Mark Selby took the first two frames of his concluding session against Sam Baird in convincing style, giving him an 11-7 lead and what seemed to be a certain pathway into the quarter finals. But Sam Baird continued to play in his characteristic calm manner and went on to level the game at 11-11. Selby, known for his solid tactical game and his ability to squeeze the scrappy frames, looked frail at times and Baird took advantage. However Selby did manage to fall over the line in frame 24, holding off Baird’s best efforts to take the game into a decider and a post midnight finish.

Earlier, veteran Alan McManus also made it through to the last eight, recovering from a 9-7 deficit to win 13-11 against a frustrated Ali Carter. It was Carter’s turn to be furious with the table; he got some frame changing bounces and kicks which led to him caning his cue against the cushion (in a similar fashion to O’Sullivan last year) and later wrapping his knuckles. As a commentator on Eurosport said, he was “boiling over in spectacular fashion.” In his post match interview he described the table as the worst he’s ever played on.

Mark Williams joined McManus in the over 40s club in the quarter finals, overcoming Michael Holt 13-8. The match was played in exceptionally good spirits with hugs, banter and smiles throughout. This ultimately played into the Welshman’s hands.

Ronnie O’Sullivan returned to the Crucible with a fresh hairdo, a vast improvement on his scruffy mane and sideburns of round one but with a quiff that made him look like he was auditioning for a part in Saturday Night Fever. His opponent Barry Hawkins, who underperformed in the first round, played some quality snooker and came away with a 5-3 lead.

John Higgins was also in action, continuing his excellent form with a 5-3 session win over Ricky Walden.

Without doubt the highlight of the day was the tense finale to the Selby-Baird match. The snooker was slow and sometimes resembled that which you’d witness at your local club. But the Crucible does funny things to these players and even a big gun like Selby is not immune from losing out to a gritty underdog. Fortunately for Selby, he scraped through. While I can’t advise Selby on anything snooker-related, I would say he needs to pick a different suit for his next match. Pale grey does nothing for a tall pale man and maybe it was this that led to his anaemic snooker towards to the end of the match.. Perhaps being a Leicester City fan, he should go for a vibrant shade of blue.

First Quarter Finalist: Marco Fu

In a match where neither player showed the form they displayed in the first round, Marco Fu emerged victorious 13-10. In a scrappy affair, the highlight was when Fu accidentally poked his opponent in the arm with his cue and later McGill climbed on the table to show how difficult it was to reach his shot using conventional methods. Although Fu showed improvement in the final session, he’s going to have to pick his game up for the next match when he faces either Barry Hawkins or Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Sam Baird started his first ever best of twenty five match against Mark Selby and showed the same kind of form as in the first round, holding the world number one to a drawn session at 4-4.

Good mates Mark Williams and Michael Holt began their second round match with a hug rather than a handshake. However on the table, Holt was ruthless in taking a 4-1 lead. But when he failed to extend it to 5-1, he let Williams back in and when they finished their evening session, Williams held a commanding 10-6 lead. Williams attracted criticism from the purists when he took at damp cloth to the cushions between frames, rubbing against the nap of the table. Like many other players, he was unhappy with the inconsistent bounces and believed that rubbing a damp cloth would aid the issue. But Williams’ frustration was nothing compared to Alan McManus in the afternoon session when he suffered some severe bounces and kicks, leaving the Scot livid as he fell to a 9-7 overnight deficit to Ali Carter.

On a day that will be remembered more for what happened off the table than on it, more criticism of the refereeing came from the commentary box when Tony Camilleri asked Ali Carter to nominate a colour when he was snookered behind a red. Steve Davis correctly pointed out that the referee shouldn’t ask; if the player fails to nominate then it is a foul shot. But in the grand scheme of things, this kind of action has very little bearing on the game and I feel the commentators and pundits are too quick to criticise the officials. They do a fantastic job and are rarely complimented on the correct decisions that they make. While the players, the audience and the commentators have comfortable seats to sit down in, the referees are standing throughout and have to maintain a high level of concentration. So when they make a small error according to rule 162.5 section b of the snooker rule book, I think they should cut a bit of slack.

The drinks are on Judd

The first Thursday of the World Championship is unique as it is the only day when matches from different rounds are played. It’s a kind of tidying up day with two first round matches still to complete and two second round matches beginning. And for the first time in the event so far, no morning session.

A very entertaining game between Trump and Liang resulted in Trump coming away the victor 10-8. However at one stage it seemed likely that he would be going home to Bristol early when Liang led 7-3. Trump tweeted before the afternoon session that he would buy everyone a drink if he made it through this match and later declared that he’d put £200 behind the bar of the pub around the corner from the Crucible. Trump’s resilience when trailing is a indicator that he has both the game and the maturity to win the title this year.

There were controversial and rather farcical moments in a game that the referee would rather forget. In frame fourteen, Trump was trying to clip the edge of a red lurking behind the pink on a safety and ended up hitting the pink and scattering the balls. Liang then asked for them to go back and this led to eight minutes of watching the referee replacing the balls under guidance from the other referee behind the screen. Why, John Virgo rightly asked, don’t they give the referee a screen so he can place the balls back based on the image he can see. It seemed totally unnecessary for this scene, which didn’t seem that far from something you’d see the chuckle brothers trying to do. The referee actually did a good job until it came to the red that Judd was trying to clip. He’d hidden it behind the pink when actually, as Judd pointed out, it was sticking out just slightly. The referee wouldn’t take this, adement that he’d replaced the balls correctly. As it happened, Judd Trump played a different shot. But what a farce. There’s the players who have their view of where the balls are. There’s the referee who can’t possibly remember without the help of a screen which is bizarrely only visible for the other referee to view. Then there’s the commentators throwing airing their views, safe in their comfy chairs behind a split screen showing the before and after. Surely there must be a way for all parties involved to work together to resolve such an issue quicker, for the sake of the paying audience and the sport’s integrity as a whole.

More controversy followed in frame eighteen when the referee couldn’t respot the pink and had to place it in a direct line behind. The screen clearly showed that it wasn’t in line and this thus messed up the position for Judd Trump’s next shot. John Virgo in the commentary box was incensed by the referee’s failure to put the pink in the right position. When Trump rightly questioned the decision, the referee was adamant that he’d replaced it in line while viewers at home could clearly see that he hadn’t. Credit to Trump who just got on with his next shot. 

The other first round match to conclude was the one between Joe Perry and Kyren Wilson. 4-5 overnight, the match went all the way to a final frame decider with 24 year old Wilson prevailing. It will be frame 18 that most fans will remember though, a monumental forty or so minutes of drama. The boys in the Eurosport studio enjoyed it. While the BBC coverage is very professional and striving to uphold impartiality at all times, the Eurosport coverage spearheaded by Colin Murray in the studio, resembles a group of blokes down the pub, chewing the fat over a few pints, a bag of crisps and a pickled egg. There is no concerted effort to remain impartial and no hesitation in bringing their own lives’ events in to the conversation. It’s very refreshing and very unrehearsed. Last evening as an example, Colin was joined by regular Jimmy White and Joe Johnson. They discussed the goat curry they had been for before coming on air. I’m not sure if this was some reference to Martin Gould and The Goat as they so indearingly refer to him. Later, Jimmy White was mimicking Joe’s Bradford accent, all in good spirits of course. It’s almost as if the Eurosport chief has gone on holiday for seventeen days and left the boys free reign. It’s fantastic.

There were of course two second round matches getting under way today, overshadowed somewhat by the conclusion of the first round. But interest will turn fully to the second round tomorrow as the tournament is down to the last 16.