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There's more than one Barnsley - the 2019-20 snooker thread

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    Peter Ebdon has announced his retirement. He's had neck problems and hasn't played at all since before Christmas, now he's chosen to stop and won't be participating whenever the sport returns. He burst onto the scene as a brash young thing complete with ponytail in 1992 and an annoying habit of bellowing with delight at key moments, which fortunately he largely grew out of. His glory day was becoming world champion in 2002 in the decider that no-one remembers now, indeed the BBC's retrospective programmes this last fortnight included both that year's semis (where he somehow beat Matthew Stevens in a match he had no right to win) but not the final. He was also twice losing finalist, 1996 to Hendry and 2006 to Dott in the worst final ever. His other great memorable moment was when he sent Ronnie round the bend at the Crucible in 2005, slowing the game down massively (some would say unfairly), famously taking six minutes to compile a break of 12 and ending proceedings by going into the telly studio absolutely wild eyed and giving an interview where it is fair to say the adrenalin was pumping a bit. Predictably he was completely knackered come the next round. Dropped out of the top 16 around 2011ish and has gradually been falling down the rankings since then. He did some work for the BBC a couple of years back and was pretty good, so hopefully we'll hear more from him in the future.

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      It would have been the semi-finals of the world championship today. Wonder who'd have been in them?

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        With the Bank Holiday being shifted to Friday, when was the final scheduled?

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          Would have finished Monday (4th) as usual. World Snooker put tickets on sale a year ago before the Government confirmed the shift in bank holiday dates.

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            Refund requests would have been interesting. Possibly some empty seats in the afternoon session, or even tickets being sold on the day? Lowest ever TV audience for a live session in a final?

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              World Snooker offered a refund to any ticket holders who wanted one as a result of the changes. I don't know how many people took it up, but there would have been no problem selling any returns - demand far outweights supply for the final. Pretty much every session at the Crucible sells out anyway these days.

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                Originally posted by longeared View Post
                Peter Ebdon has announced his retirement. He's had neck problems and hasn't played at all since before Christmas, now he's chosen to stop and won't be participating whenever the sport returns. He burst onto the scene as a brash young thing complete with ponytail in 1992 and an annoying habit of bellowing with delight at key moments, which fortunately he largely grew out of. His glory day was becoming world champion in 2002 in the decider that no-one remembers now, indeed the BBC's retrospective programmes this last fortnight included both that year's semis (where he somehow beat Matthew Stevens in a match he had no right to win) but not the final. He was also twice losing finalist, 1996 to Hendry and 2006 to Dott in the worst final ever. His other great memorable moment was when he sent Ronnie round the bend at the Crucible in 2005, slowing the game down massively (some would say unfairly), famously taking six minutes to compile a break of 12 and ending proceedings by going into the telly studio absolutely wild eyed and giving an interview where it is fair to say the adrenalin was pumping a bit. Predictably he was completely knackered come the next round. Dropped out of the top 16 around 2011ish and has gradually been falling down the rankings since then. He did some work for the BBC a couple of years back and was pretty good, so hopefully we'll hear more from him in the future.
                He's on Radio 5 right now. He's coming out with all kinds of stuff about 'the current situation.'

                edit: just to expand. I was only half-listening but what started out as a fairly normal interview about his career and the injuries that have ended it, developed into one where he was saying things like 'you have to look beyond the mainstream media' and referencing people and YouTube channels I've never heard of where you need to look to find out 'what's going on' etc, etc.
                Last edited by Capybara; 16-05-2020, 12:10.

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                  Peter Ebdon's neck problem appears to have started to affect his cognitive ability. Apparently we're all being "bluepilled" by the MSM and we're in the midst of the biggest psy-op ever.

                  Mark Chapman's reaction? "Wow".

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                    Originally posted by Toby Gymshorts View Post
                    Mark Chapman's reaction? "Wow".
                    And when the listeners' comments came in, had to 'balance' the one pointing out that this was full-on conspiracy theory with one that effectively said 'nice one,Peter'. I don't follow snooker too closely other than taking an interest when the world championships come around, but was this known about Ebdon or has he effectively used the BBC to come out?

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                      No idea. Like you, my interest in snooker is passing; I just thought this was worth commenting on because - as you say - the BBC's obsession with "balance" leads to them sanctioning this absolute nonsense.

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                        I can just imagine Chappers. That sounds hilarious.

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                          I've been out for my socially distanced Saturday exercise so not heard the interview but ... blimey. (Coming up tomorrow, Matt Hancock's tips for improving your long potting. Probably be no worse than his usual advice) Ebdon's come out with some weird stuff about veganism in the past so this is not a total surprise mind. Fair to assume it's not going to help his chances of getting a BBC commentary gig should the Worlds happen in August.

                          Some snooker players do seem to have unusual views on the world. As Kev noted up thread, Ali Carter is a fully paid up Faragiste to the extent that World Snooker apparently told him to stop tweeting so much positive material about him and there's known to be a few others with similar views. Shaun Murphy was for a while a member of a church of some weird strain of Christianity.

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                            Originally posted by Capybara View Post
                            And when the listeners' comments came in, had to 'balance' the one pointing out that this was full-on conspiracy theory with one that effectively said 'nice one,Peter'. I don't follow snooker too closely other than taking an interest when the world championships come around, but was this known about Ebdon or has he effectively used the BBC to come out?
                            Sounded more like promotion of quackery to me.

                            (remote healing - tick
                            reiki - tick
                            acupuncture - tick

                            crystal therapy and homeopathy seemed to be missing though)

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                              I listened to the Ebden interview when it was on earlier.

                              it's fair to say, I wasnt expecting to learn quite so much about the Great Malvern faith healing scene.

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                                Snooker joins horsing in restarting in Britain tomorrow, which should keep the entire nation indoors with excitement given that ITV4 will be showing it. World Snooker have created a tournament for the occasion, a non-ranking event going under the Championship League banner. 64 players are participating, mostly British based given current travel restrictions, the only Chinese entrants are Liang Wenbo and Chen Feilong. They're playing in biosecure conditions in Milton Keynes, regular testing of all involved, no spectators, everyone being kept in a single on site hotel, no handshakes, social distancing as far as can be achieved and players have to provide their own rests and extensions. Fuck knows what the standard will be like given that there hasn't been any competitive snooker since mid March and it's not clear how much access players have had to regular practice. The tournament is taking eleven days to wade through, but if this works then it'll set some template for how to host the sport for a while and it should enable the Worlds to be hosted in a couple of months time (assuming the national position allows it).

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                                  Willie Thorne's died, following complications caused by his leukaemia treatment. Peacefully and with his family in Spain, which must be some comfort to them. One of those characters in sport whose personality will be remembered more than just their achievements, which isn't a bad epitaph for anyone.

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                                    He seemed a likeable character whose playing achievements are not all that substantial - only one ranking tournament win (the 1985 Mercantile Credit Classic), never got above 7 in the world rankings, never won a major. Should have won the UK in 1985 - he was 12-6 up on Davis in the final before ultimately losing 16-14 - but never got past the quarters at the Masters or the Crucible. His mid 80s peak coincided with snooker's boom years which helped his exposure, to the extent that he had a verse in Snooker Loopy. He was a BBC commentator for a long while before they eased him out a couple of years back.

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                                      Boris has said that the World Championship from July 31st can be played in front of spectators.

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                                        They've not announced details of how it will work yet, but clearly there's not going to be a full capacity of 950 spectators for every session. On the face of it it doesn't strike me as a terribly sensible decision in general (but it's the government so, you know), it's indoors, it's not got a huge ceiling or anything, there's only one entrance and staircase so they're going to be creative to put a one way system in place. I'd hope it's going to be nothing more than something like 100 spectators for each session of the final. Going much beyond that is asking for trouble.

                                        Qualifying starts next Tuesday, that's at the Institute of Sport in Sheffield and entirely behind closed doors. About 18 tour players haven't entered, mostly from China - the most notable of these are Zhou Yuelong, Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong. All of these are ranked in the 20s and have played at the Crucible in recent years. The sport as a whole has a China-shaped problem for next season, the Chinese government has announced there will be no international sport in the country for an indefinite period beyond football, basketball and preparatory events for the Beijing Winter Olympics. That'll rule out the usual block of Chinese events in the autumn, which will create a significant hole in the calendar.

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                                          Tickets now on general sale for all sessions of the Worlds, including the final. I might give a session of the final a go as my debut snooker match, especially if I can combine it with a non-league friendly in the afternoon.
                                          Last edited by Ray de Galles; 23-07-2020, 13:39.

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                                            Ah, tickets only available in "bubbles" of three or four and at ?121 - ?132 pound per ticket.

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                                              Asterisk or not, I hope Ronnie shows up in the right mood (see threads going back to 2001)

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                                                Crikey, there's more of the auditorium available than I expected. This feels like a big risk that they don't have to take. On the other hand if the tournament does complete successfully then it's going to provide a potential template for getting a lot more venues open in the autumn.

                                                Ray - just for your info, non league friendlies round here in August are all going to be behind closed doors as things stand, unless government advice changes.

                                                Qualifying has been underway since Tuesday. James Cahill (who beat Ronnie last year) has been the main casualty so far, he lost to Ben Mertens, a highly promising young Belgian. "Young" is certainly the operative word there as Mertens was born in October 2004. He's not even the youngest player in the tournament, that accolade went to Iulian Boiko who was born the week after Michael Vaughan lifted the Ashes at the Oval. He lost to Thor Chuan Leong, but we'll hear that name again. Reanne Evans lost to Andy Hicks. There's a desire in the sport for Evans to "do a Sherrock" but if she can't beat Hicks in a best of 11 it seems reasonable to assume she's not going to trouble the Crucible any time soon.

                                                Jimmy White is in action this afternoon, he's currently 3-1 down to Michael Georgiou. Other eye catching score is in form Allan Taylor already 5-1 up on Lee Walker.

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                                                  Originally posted by longeared View Post

                                                  Ray - just for your info, non league friendlies round here in August are all going to be behind closed doors as things stand, unless government advice changes.
                                                  Yeah, that's the case everywhere for now but I think the FA has asked the government to allow small, socially distanced crowds at grassroots games from August 1st so hoping that is granted

                                                  Anyway, I'm not going to head up to Sheffield with the ticket situation as it is currently.

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                                                    Lot of unexpected results today. Last year's semi finalist Gary Wilson lost to Alex Ursenbacher, who is one match away from becoming the first Swiss player at the Crucible. Ali Carter is missing the final stages of the tournament for the first time since 2002 after defeat meant defeat against Louis Heathcote. Luca Brecel lost to Fergal O'Brien. Jimmy Robertson lost to Rotherham's finest Ash Carty. Standing between Carty and the Crucible is Rob Milkins, who beat Jimmy White 6-1 in a more predictable outcome.

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