The Snooker Thread

[John Arne]

I only just found out that Ronnie has been wearing a mic the whole tournament for an upcoming Netflix documentary.

Not sure how I feel about that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't see why Ronnie couldn't get to eight or nine of these, and keep winning well into his fifties.

[Shindig]

I only just found out that Ronnie has been wearing a mic the whole tournament for an upcoming Netflix documentary.

Not sure how I feel about that.

Don't worry. The way Netflix edits will make it look as if he's winning the World Championship in Swindon.

[Yevrah]

I don't see why Ronnie couldn't get to eight or nine of these, and keep winning well into his fifties.

I think he will now - his cue ball positioning somehow keeps getting better. I'll go for 10 before he retires.

[Gray Fox]

I’m sure it was Steve Davis that said it’s the eyes that go and that’s what gets you in the end.
Ronnie seems to be in good shape and hasn’t had one of his meltdowns lately. I see no reason why he hasn’t got another one in him.

[-james-]

Did he try wearing glasses?

[Yevrah]

At 46, Ronnie's eyesight should have gone by now if it was going to be a problem. I'm guessing they just get laser surgery these days.

[niko_cee]

Just tuned in to see Trump on the comeback trail, so he instantly played a catastrophic frame ending shot. Time to zone out and hope for a competitive evening session.

[Yevrah]

Very much game on after that. Huge opening frame tonight.

[Ian]

So what was the score that session then, 5-2 to Trump or something? Fair play to him either way.

[Giggles]

6-1.

[Yevrah]

6-2

[Ian]

Hell of a showing then. Doing that twice in a row will be hard but who knows?

[Spikey M]

Looking pretty finished now.

[-james-]

How does ticketing for this work, do people buy a ticket for only the evening session of the final? Lol if so.

[Yevrah]

Looking pretty finished now.

Always a chance if your opponent needs two, but if O'Sullivan wins one of these before the interval it's over.

[Yevrah]

How does ticketing for this work, do people buy a ticket for only the evening session of the final? Lol if so.

Think you get both sessions for the final, but they wheel out the old cunts if it finishes early for some exhibition shit.

[Spikey M]

I jinxed it. You're all welcome.

[igor_balis]

If he wins the next one he's got a chance

[Boydy]

Alright Ronnie, let him go ffs.

[Spikey M]

That hug was atleast 3 hours too long.

[Boydy]

Trump looked so awkward. :D

[Ian]

I already thought O'Sullivan was a knobhead and I didn't even know his son is called Ronnie Jr.

[Giggles]

Just spotted this on telly earlier this evening (presumably on because of the snooker being on) that did some big calculation over 50 or so years and had John Higgins as the best player ever. Though I suppose you could come up with a formula to prove anything.

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0318/1204649-snooker-greatest-player-of-all-time/

[Jimmy Floyd]

I like the true respect it shows for Marco Fu.

[John Arne]

Oh my.

1522142140473790464

[Shindig]

Add him to the nonce thread.

[Ben]

Especially after that video of him invading Yan Bingtao’s house.

[wullie]

Because I wasn't ready for it all to be over so soon I've been watching a bit of the Seniors. In isolation these are clearly some excellent players but after watching the Worlds for the last few weeks every player looks so shit in comparison I'd fancy my chances. It's not helped that some of the seniors are younger than 3/4 of the final four of the big competition either.

[Shindig]

Maybe snooker goes the way of wrestling and the older guys have longer careers now? Like, you don't hear them having coke and drink binges like they did in the 80s.

[Yevrah]

Really looking forward to this Netflix doc. If they get some archive footage and Last Dance it it could be immense.

[Ian]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/63316258

I wish he'd just retire and then go and live as a hermit somewhere. He's such a colossal bore.

[Shindig]

He needs a nemesis to motivate him.

[Giggles]

Does he not have enough money made by now to jack it in if he's that unhappy?

[Yevrah]

He's fine. He just gets asked questions after every single match he plays and he's bored shitless of that as he's been doing it for nearly 30 years.

[igor_balis]

Just watched quarter of an hour of Milkins Higgins and it might genuinely be the worst bit of professional sport I've seen all year.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Judd Trump calling his opponent shit after losing the other night was far worse than anything Ronnie's been up to.

[igor_balis]

They are just underdeveloped weirdos from spending 8 hours a day in dark rooms playing snooker from childhood, it would make anyone deranged

[Don]

Please don't fling such labels at a character like Ronnie. Man's got more personality in his foreskin than all of you combined.

[igor_balis]

Sure, but that combination of charisma, narcissism and talking bollocks is a big case of diminishing returns for me, even from people who are really good at sport. It's why I think you have to be a proper retard to still be going :D :drool: what a legend when "Zlatan" calls some other player a pussy or something.

[Don]

The mistake is with anyone paying much attention to this stuff rather than the people themselves. His comments seem fine and basically what we'd all say if we were forced into analysing our 9-5 every week.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've turned into an unashamed Ronnie fan as I've got older. There's only ever going to be one of him, enjoy him while you still can, before snooker turns into David Bland vs Graham Dull forever.

[Giggles]

I've turned into an unashamed Ronnie fan as I've got older. There's only ever going to be one of him, enjoy him while you still can, before snooker turns into David Bland vs Graham Dull forever.

O’Sullivan is blander and duller (off the table as that seems to matter) than anyone these days with the constant playing of the same old lament.

[Ian]

Judd Trump calling his opponent shit after losing the other night was far worse than anything Ronnie's been up to.

He just insults opponents less directly and if he's having a proper pout slags off an entire generation of players for having the temerity to not also be the best ever.

[John Arne]

Young Thai woman hit a 147 few weeks ago. Perhaps the first women's 147 ever? At least one caught on camera.


https://youtu.be/8hkMmTpQu3Y

[Jimmy Floyd]

Jimmy White (ranked 89, aged 60) has made the UK Championship main rounds.

Maybe Ronnie has a point about the dozens of pros who he says are crap at snooker.

[Yevrah]

Jimmy White (ranked 89, aged 60) has made the UK Championship main rounds.

Maybe Ronnie has a point about the dozens of pros who he says are crap at snooker.

I addressed it at the time and he was bang on. The two up and coming youngsters Steve Davis put forward as a counter were neither young nor good and have done the square root of fuck all since.

[igor_balis]

Matthew Stevens been very frustrating, Jimmy White told Radzi he "has a miss in him", and it's played out exactly like that.

[igor_balis]

Ding :cool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

6-0 :D

I'm really not sure how Ding has managed to fall to number 38, such a good player at his best.

[igor_balis]

If that thumb headed twat comes back from 5-0 I'm gonna fucking cry.

[igor_balis]

Fair play for calling the push shot though

[Ben]

Ding again. :cool:

[niko_cee]

Seem to be a lot of very one-sided games in this so far.

[igor_balis]

Gwan Fordy

[igor_balis]

Oh Fordy :(

[niko_cee]

How on earth did he miss that?

[igor_balis]

The second bester from Leicester

[niko_cee]

That was a bit unfortunate.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The ongoing 8th frame is a good example of the declining standards of snooker. Balls wide open from very early, and both players (Allen and Lisowski) just far too mentally weak and unskilled to take advantage, even given countless opportunities.

[Gray Fox]

I'm impressed by the attempted mini-combover by Lisowski. Clinging onto hair for dear life.

[Gray Fox]

Shaun Murphy continues to be thoroughly unlikeable.

[Ben]

This last frame is nice and tense.

[niko_cee]

Last frame feels like a bit of a race to the bottom.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Lisowski's arse went about three times there. Allen it was more of a problem of execution.

[Ben]

Some very average snooker going on here.

And why have Mark Allen’s fans always been feral?

[igor_balis]

Ding absolutely fucking Allen up

[ScousePig]

Random post but I play football with two snooker players so I thought I'd see if they were in this. One of them lost to Marco Fu and one lost to Ali Carter.

[igor_balis]

Who's the better footballer, father or son?

[Kikó]

Ali carter and Marco Fu are not related.

[igor_balis]

Ali carter and Marco Fu are not related.

:D I bet Ali Carter would be really offended by the thought of that, he's well brexit

[ScousePig]

Who's the better footballer, father or son?

Son now, but dad is about 50.

[igor_balis]

Dings shitting the bed

[igor_balis]

Ding is fucked

[niko_cee]

Yeah, he's not looking great here.

All the "COME ON DING!" shite not helping either.

[niko_cee]

Although, saying that, he seems to have used a lifetime of luck to get a shot at this frame.

[niko_cee]

Allen's face as the ref kept fingering the ball there was classic.

[igor_balis]

This is proper snooker :cool:

[igor_balis]

Bloody hell, M Allen's missus had an interesting choice of attire

[igor_balis]

just seen baldy trump do a 147, fair play. not seen that many live (on telly i mean, i've only been to watch it live once)

[igor_balis]

Cracking frame from thepchaiya there.

[igor_balis]

Thepchaiya beat trump 5-4, with a deciding respotted black :drool:

[Ben]

Any day that Trump loses is not a bad day.

[Giggles]

Just copped that the Mosconi is on :drool:

[Waffdon]

Stephen Hendry’s YouTube channel he’s started is quite good.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Got the Mosconi on. How in the fuck is Earl 'the Pearl' still playing?

[Giggles]

I was surprised to see him there today too. He’s such a ballbag and doesn’t give a fuck that I actually like him. Still has the few genius shots in him just mixed up with a few more awful clangers now.

[Gray Fox]

He must be in his mid 60's by now surely?

Always thought of him as the Ronnie of pool.

[igor_balis]

This Joe O'Connor bloke playing well in the semi against Robertson, couple of mad clearances.

[igor_balis]

He did it :cool:

Gary Wilson vs Joe O'Connor final, lovely stuff.

[Gray Fox]

Proper bottle job in that final match from the yank.

[Ben]

Got the Mosconi on. How in the fuck is Earl 'the Pearl' still playing?

No way? :D

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/64152359

What on earth has been going on here?

[Ben]

I read that most of the players involved haven't been sanctioned for directly match fixing. Likely a couple of them were and between that and the Liang Wenbo thing, the rest of them have been caught in the crossfire for not reporting it or being an accessory.

[Ben]

Look at the replies to this (https://twitter.com/OOCSnooker/status/1473705290189221896) tweet, someone has posted videos of a Champions League game from last season where it's pretty blatant (commentator is fuming). It probably all stems from this.

[Yevrah]

IIRC Judd Trump was suggesting that an organised crime syndicate had heavily leant on the Chinese lads, who have little to no support while they're over here with which to bat those approaches off.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Hopefully the powers that be are lenient then, other than for those who have blatantly/actively fixed matches.

[igor_balis]

vafaei is gonna Denmark 92 the whole tournament :drool:

[Waffdon]

Williams :cool:

[Shindig]

Is he still fighting that wasp?

[Giggles]

I think snooker is the single only reason I miss the BBC.

[Boydy]

Gutted. Really wanted to see Williams win.

[Yevrah]

Been watching some of the Welsh open on Eurosport/iPlayer this week and O'Sullivan looks so measured and calm about everything. Number 8 could be in store in two months time.

[Shindig]

Or he could just as easily strop off.

[Yevrah]

Or he could just as easily strop off.

I'm kinda suggesting he's not going to

[Waffdon]

Been watching some of the Welsh open on Eurosport/iPlayer this week and O'Sullivan looks so measured and calm about everything. Number 8 could be in store in two months time.

Judd is bringing it home.

[niko_cee]

Some fairly epic jinxing from Yev.

[Yevrah]

:D

I watched most of it and he could not pot a ball.

[Shindig]

Told you. Can't take owt for granted with him.

[Yevrah]

Told you. Can't take owt for granted with him.

Even though he lost, he wasn't spitting the dummy out or anything, which was the point I was making, so we'll see.

[igor_balis]

Even though he lost, he wasn't spitting the dummy out or anything, which was the point I was making, so we'll see.

yeah it's like when he got whitewashed by his mate ding at the UKs and he seemed just about the happiest i've ever seen him in the post-match interview

[Yevrah]

I've been watching the qualifiers for the World Championships on Discovery+ this week. Jimmy White is on now and absolutely shitting it up (7-2 down) against some absolute no mark. Stephen Hendry lost 10-4 to James Cahill yesterday and I think all of the Womens are out too.

Stan Moody (the 16 year old) did win a match, but he's getting battered in the second round now.

[AJ23]

I've been watching quite a bit of 'Stephen Hendry's Cue Tips' on youtube of late. https://www.youtube.com/@stephenhendryscuetips

Really good channel which only started 5 months ago. It's nice how Hendry usually plays a frame with snooker players, ex-snooker players and non-snooker players, and has a chat and a bit of a laugh with them like he's in a snooker club.

Also, Hendry is a surprisingly good interviewer. Shows a genuine interest and asks good questions.

[Yevrah]

+1 for that channel as well. It's about as good as it could be and better than I thought it would be.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The one with Steve Davis was great. Not sure if I have the stomach to watch a John Terry edition.

[Yevrah]

I skipped that one too, albeit the comments were fun.

[AJ23]

The one with Steve Davis was great. Not sure if I have the stomach to watch a John Terry edition.

Agreed. That one was beyond me too.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Annual audit of player ages at the WC is not looking good, unless you're Chinese. In the 16 seeded players the average age is 39.4 with one player (Brecel) under 30, and in the final 32 of qualifying, there are only 7 players under 28: Xu, Pang, Zhou, Page, Si, Wu and Fan.

Barry 'the Hawk' Hawkins misses out for the first time since 2005.

[AJ23]

Annual audit of player ages at the WC is not looking good, unless you're Chinese. In the 16 seeded players the average age is 39.4 with one player (Brecel) under 30, and in the final 32 of qualifying, there are only 7 players under 28: Xu, Pang, Zhou, Page, Si, Wu and Fan.

Barry 'the Hawk' Hawkins misses out for the first time since 2005.

Ronnie is right. The standard of young players is decreasing drastically. Hardly any characters either. 20 years ago there were so many good players and characters. Even Quinten Hann was a good watch in his own bizarre interesting way. Now we've got boring Mark Selby and co. Over the years I've seen quite a few snooker clubs nearby close down. Could be a problem there.


https://youtu.be/7wnrz4z0xfs

[Yevrah]

The smoking ban killed the profitability of snooker clubs and in turn the development of youngsters in the sport itself.

Chinese interest should have made up for that, but it simply hasn't. If I was being charitable I'd say it's a hard thing for their kids to excel at when it involves moving here to do it and if I wasn't, I'd say the Chinese might just be a bit rubbish at snooker.

[niko_cee]

Snooker strikes me as the kind of thing where you need to be pushed [by better players] to really get good/better. Without those gatekeeper players, or the ability to play them, it's hard to really improve beyond being very talented. That said, from my very local experience snooker actually has a reasonably strong club culture, unlike other 'cue sports' which are dying on their arse big time.

It's not just snooker though. It might be at the forefront, but I can see loads of other sports struggling for players in the future. Without going all old man on the world, you simply don't see kids playing sport in general life in the way that you used to. I don't blame them, if the tech we have now existed when I was young I'd never have gone out either.

[Ben]

Definitely. I peaked early on with snooker because of a lack of better players to learn from. I played exclusively with other lads my age and we were all 40-50 break players. I excelled more at pool because I was in teams with older lads who were/are on the tour.

[-james-]

The smoking ban killed the profitability of snooker clubs and in turn the development of youngsters in the sport itself.

Chinese interest should have made up for that, but it simply hasn't. If I was being charitable I'd say it's a hard thing for their kids to excel at when it involves moving here to do it and if I wasn't, I'd say the Chinese might just be a bit rubbish at snooker.

It's probably Esports as well. A 13 year old that's very good at snooker is probably also very good at pwning noobs on Fortnite, and the latter is a much more efficient serotonin releaser and probably has a clearer pathway to making money.

[igor_balis]

Robertson looking scary good

[Yevrah]

He is, but as the past has taught us that doesn't generally have much bearing on whether he'll win the whole thing.

Would be cracking if he got a 147 here.

[Ben]

Some good needle set up for Friday with Vafaei vs. Ronnie. :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Nothing says fossil fuels burning the planet like Joe Perry v Robert Milkins in the crucibile last thirty-two.

[wullie]

They also pulled a similar trick just as we were going in to see dippy the dinosaur, as nothing gets people on your side like targeting snooker and free dinosaur exhibits for kids. They must be double agents hired by Shell

[Ben]

Nothing says fossil fuels burning the planet like Joe Perry v Robert Milkins in the crucibile last thirty-two.

That’s the issue with what Vafaei was saying. All well and good saying Ronnie needs to make way for the kids but those kids are getting schooled by goofs like Perry and Milkins.

[Yevrah]

Nothing says fossil fuels burning the planet like Joe Perry v Robert Milkins in the crucibile last thirty-two.

These people are genuinely the thickest group going. They even picked a day when the 7PM live coverage was on BBC4. :D

[Ben]

Oh fuck what did I miss? :D

Edit: fucking helmets

[Waffdon]

Them snooker tables cost a fortune, don’t they? Nice wee sentence incoming.

[Waffdon]

Oh fuck what did I miss? :D

1648029098839535616

Huge fan of the ref stopping fatty on the other table from getting up there

[Giggles]

Hopefully they had seven colours of shite knocked out of them backstage.

[Dark Soldier]

Can imagine Higgins is fucking fuming he wasn't there to throw a snide punch while shouting hold me back.

[AJ23]

The most powder anyone's seen around a snooker table since Jimmy White retired.

[Waffdon]

Ronnie still exists

[AJ23]

Ronnie still exists

If he's doing that whilst getting up early every morning going on mile long runs, fair play to him.

[Shindig]

Just Stop Oil are shit at picking targets. :D

[igor_balis]

the worst protest of this ilk is still when some XR dweebs started fucking with the trains a couple of years ago. trying to save the planet and you target public transport. nice one lads.

[wullie]

All in for Noppon here even though he's surely losing. A lot of players are objectionable but there's something about Lisowski in particular I can't get on with. Probably his face

[Ben]

Probably the fact he comes across smug as fuck but has fuck all to show for it (ie. zero professional event wins). Being best buds with "Judd" probably doesn't help him, other than getting stints on BBC as a pundit when he bottles another tournament in the mid-stages.

[Waffdon]

We are all Judd Trump. :cool:

[wullie]

I've not seen Trump recently, excited to see if the hair's still clinging on for dear life.

[Yevrah]

Maximum for Wilson.

The second session of Trump vs McGill this afternoon should be a cracker.

[Ben]

I still think Trump will edge it but it will be scenes if he doesn't. Proper toys out of pram stuff when he gets dumped out.

[Gray Fox]

Maximum for Wilson.

The second session of Trump vs McGill this afternoon should be a cracker.

Poor Ryan Day saw his highest break payday evaporate in front of his eyes.

[Yevrah]

Has to be said, Trump has been magnificent here.

[Yevrah]

I've clearly cursed Judd and this is now looking ominous.

[Gray Fox]

He's just had a massive reprieve. Can't afford to go 6-9 down.

EDIT: Never mind. That pink miss could kill him off.

[Waffdon]

We all hate Judd Trump

[Yevrah]

McGill was 9-6/9-7 down in the qualifiers and I really should have put a few quid on him, for a back out later on. He's an absolute fucker to beat.

[Gray Fox]

Another black missed you'd expected him to have made. His goose is cooked now and it could well have been 8-8.

[Waffdon]

Thought he was a bit unlucky with a few things that slightly went against him but he’s been a bit useless since returning from the break.

McGill was 6/4 to win going into the break, Yev. I was tempted but assumed bookies knew best. Evidently not

[Waffdon]

Joe Perry looking like a pub player. He’s absolutely shot

[-james-]

I've not seen Trump recently, excited to see if the hair's still clinging on for dear life.

On this, as a sporadic snooker watcher, the speed of McGill and Brecel's descents into balddom is quite something.

[Pleb]

Selby potentially getting MUDDED

[wullie]

Murphy's right in the shit here.

[niko_cee]

Fairly insane shot that.

[niko_cee]

That phone going off 10 seconds later would have been amazing.

:D

[niko_cee]

What's he looking at John?

Oh no . . .

[Boydy]

Hand switch from Si. :cool:

[Waffdon]

Bye bye, Murphy. Prick.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Absolutely top trolling from Si to knock him off again.

[Gray Fox]

Isn't that the guy who Murphy said shouldn't have been at an event because he was an amateur? After the guy beat him then as well?

[Waffdon]

Aye.

Thought he through it by going for that pink but made up for it with the safety. Was a bit unlucky with the cannon shot earlier anyway, was looking supreme in that final game up until then.

[Gray Fox]

Excellent stuff. Though when he goes out they do seem to drag him in to do the punditry at first chance, so win some lose some.

I look forwards to the lack of handshake to get some needle into the Vafaei v Ronnie match.

[Yevrah]

Has to be said, in nearly 35 years of watching this I can't recall a first round of such quality, both in terms of standard of play and entertainment.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Bottom quarter could be a bit of a grind, but the rest of the draw should be good stuff from here on in. Wide open for Ronnie now with Trump and Murphy out.

[Yevrah]

Just checked the draw and I'd reckon McGill will be much longer odds to get to the semi's than he should be.

[Yevrah]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H46cBZEfB38

Barry. :cool:

Not a Man to get on the wrong side of.

[Don]

I got £200 on my boy and am ready to write off the afternoon at work, let's go :drool:

[Waffdon]

I’m tempted by putting a little something on Jones at 9/4. I know there is still a long way to go but Robertson doesn't look comfortable playing him at all. Seems to be the year of upsets as well.

[Ben]

John Virgo looks on his arse.

[Don]

Mon the prince.

[Don]

Jesus :D

[Dark Soldier]

His hairline is putting in some graft.

[Yevrah]

Lol at that. Ronnie living in his head rent free.

[Dark Soldier]

Hendry is outright offended by that. Quinten Hann has a stiffy, wherever he is.

[Gray Fox]

I get the feeling he's poked the bear here.

[Yevrah]

The disrespectful angle is a red herring, it's just an insane thing to do. Perhaps worse still, having decided to do it, he did a piss poor job of it as well.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Think he might have crossed into Stephen Ames territory here.

[Don]

The gammons up in arms and look at how he chucked that cue on at the end there. He'll flop his girthy 12 incher after the next frame and just take a piss right there and then.

[Gray Fox]

Mark Selby will be looking at all this aggression in disgust.

[Gray Fox]

The gammons up in arms and look at how he chucked that cue on at the end there. He'll flop his girthy 12 incher after the next frame and just take a piss right there and then.

Looks like his girthy 12 incher is a bit shy.

[Dark Soldier]

I fucking love how utterly obsessed with cock Taz is. Fair play dude.

[Don]

The gammons are still seething with their little wieners.

[Gray Fox]

13-2? Oof. Should have just gone home.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Think he might have crossed into Stephen Ames territory here.

Everything has already happened on the golf course.

[Gray Fox]

Some very one sided matches going on today.

[Yevrah]

Jesus, I did not expect that.

[Ben]

The impeccably timed match fixing hearing is underway this morning.

[igor_balis]

The impeccably timed match fixing hearing is underway this morning.

si just missed match ball by a mile :eyemouth:

[niko_cee]

The real question is when is he going to be the subject of a Rob Walker home invasion?

[Ben]

Still one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. :D

[Jimmy Floyd]

But probably justified in light of his subsequent match-fixing rap.

[igor_balis]

jack borderline suicidal in the post game on Eurosport

[Yevrah]

This might be the most stupid approach to playing Ronnie imaginable from Brecel.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If it's more stupid than Vafaei's it must be some going.

[Yevrah]

Fair point, probably should have caveated that by saying "stupid approach from an otherwise good player".

[Gray Fox]

That's a hell of a miss on the blue.

https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/attachments/ooh-and-thats-a-bad-miss-jpg.50973/

[Waffdon]

The positional shot on the pink in the same frame was just as bad. The whole frame itself was pretty lol

[Yevrah]

So nice watching somebody I like (in John Higgins), who will have no problem dealing with Mark Selby's absolute bullshit.

EDIT: That isn't to say I don't think Selby will win, but he's not going to get in John's head with his wank as he does with other players.

[Ben]

He's such a boring cunt, which is quite out of the ordinary for a pool player.

[Yevrah]

This has been delightful so far. Hopefully it ends with the Crucible's first televised suicide.

[Ben]

Fucking hell. :D

[Yevrah]

Fuck showing me what a typical referee's day is like, I wanna know what Rob Walker gets up to...

[Gray Fox]

I feel like Higgins is nailed on to win it all from here.

[Yevrah]

Ronnie looking very dodgy.

[Yevrah]

I might moan about this every year, but the BBC's coverage really is a sack of shit. Every single fucking session I have to change channel about 4 times to watch all of the same sodding match (missing bits along the way as adverts for wank on iPlayer HAVE TO FINISH) and come the evening, it's a complete crapshoot as to whether whoever is in charge of the snooker is allowed by whoever is in charge of BBC4 to stay with it when it inevitably overruns the ill sufficiently allotted timeslot.

I find the obvious back office tug of war between the two amusing "Snooker? This is an ARTS channel dear boy" - I assume the BBC4 man is having the last laugh tonight though as he's scheduled "The Crucible: 40 Golden Years" at 9PM. If they get pulled off for that I might actually go postal.

[Ben]

It’s pathetic. I’m watching on Eurosport this year. And they’re absolutely crucifying Brecel.

[Yevrah]

There's a fair bit to criticise about Brecel, but Ronnie has been absolute bilge in this match.

[Gray Fox]

Another easy ball missed into that right middle pocket. Is it just a lack of concentration?

[Yevrah]

:D

Ronnie of 15/20 years ago would have walked out by now.

This is the worst standard of snooker I've seen at this tournament since the dark days of the qualifiers on Discovery+, maybe even worse.

[wullie]

Some cracking picks here https://wst.tv/crucible-walk-on-music/

Mark Allen -Can’t Stop, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Ali Carter - Moves Like Jagger, Maroon 5
Robert Milkins - I’m A Cider Drinker, The Wurzels
Ronnie O’Sullivan - Drops of Jupiter, Train
Wu Yize - Generic Track

Thankfully Hossein Vafaei picked Hypnotize and he's now my best friend

[Jimmy Floyd]

Anthony McGill - Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Ritchie

Can't get my head around this one.

[Waffdon]

The McGill match throughout has been absolutely dreadful. Surprised if any of them have even hit a break of 70.

[Boydy]

The BBC studio setup with all the gimps in the background trying to get into the shot is so annoying.

[Gray Fox]

Ugh. Shaun Murphy again in the studio.

Ronnie not looking overly interested so far. He might wake up soon.

[Yevrah]

This is painful to watch, Ronnie is playing so badly and the commentators really need to start calling it.

[Dark Soldier]

One of the worst sessions I've ever seen from a player, that. I've seen better play the local snooker hall

[Waffdon]

Selby to win it all then. :sick:

[Yevrah]

He was bad enough yesterday, but I'd agree, that was something else. Don't think he got a break of 20.

[Gray Fox]

Christ. 10-6 up to lose 10-13.

Brecel gave him loads of chances in the first 2/3 frames of the day as well. Almost seemed like Ronnie had somewhere else to be.

[Waffdon]

Selby to win it all then. :sick:

[7om]

That pink shirt can barely contain Shaun Murphy's mantits.

[Yevrah]

That pink shirt can barely contain Shaun Murphy's mantits.

I somehow hadn't noticed that and now I can't stop seeing it. :sick:

[Jimmy Floyd]

If he was called Won Ni he'd have been hauled in for match fixing by now.

[Ian]

And everybody would agree he's just a fucking cunt rather than "Oh ho ho, Ronnie eh, what a character!"

[Ian]

Oh he's out. Lol.

Did he look like he couldn't be arsed / are we due one of his "I'd rather never play snooker again" interviews?

[Shindig]

Nah, Mr. "None of the young players are any good." Applauded Brecel for being such a cool, smooth snooker playing guy that he loves watching.

[Waffdon]

Si couldn’t have handed McGill more frames if he tried. Absolutely brain dead time and time again

And vice versa from McGill. It’s a proper shit off at times.

[Ben]

The tournament has nose dived the last couple of days.

[Waffdon]

Every time I flick over Si breaks off well and is 30-40 ahead and then makes a stupid decision or plays a ridiculously risky shot and McGill either wins it or gets right back in. Think it’s over now after that last frame. What a tantalising semi final that promises to be

[Yevrah]

Nah, Mr. "None of the young players are any good." Applauded Brecel for being such a cool, smooth snooker playing guy that he loves watching.

Not sure if you’re making this point, but I feel compelled to point out that Brecel is far from young.

[Shindig]

It was more the juxtaposition between him spending time moaning about the other tour players and then being, "Super happy to be going home, Hazel. The guy who beat me is amazing." It's an improvement on him buggering off and sulking but he's so frustrating to listen to.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, he talks absolute shite.

[Boydy]

His praise for Brecel was so over the top, it seemed sarcastic to me.

[Boydy]

Fuck's sake, the switch from BBC4 to BBC2 there. I switched over to BBC2 and they're showing "The Irish League Show" on the NI version of the channel. Had to go onto iplayer to get the final frame of this.

[Yevrah]

He was right about the youngsters being shite, they are, but everything else is just nonsense.

Back from the pub and surprised to see Si still in this. Not getting McGill'ed would be some achievement.

[Yevrah]

Fair play to Si, that was immense.

If neither he nor Brecel shit the bed due to the occasion their semi-final should be a cracker. I'm also hopeful that Allen can run Selby close, albeit I think the latter will still win.

[Boydy]

Si doing an interview with an interpreter now. I guess we're not getting that Rob Walker home invasion anytime soon if he doesn't speak any English. :(

[Waffdon]

He pots some incredible shots, it must be said. Very exciting to watch, if nothing else. He seemed to get to about 30-45 after potting a long red and then careless positional shots costs him and McGill got back in to put him under pressure with safeties. Clearly lack of experience doesn’t help the situation.

Thankfully Brecel seems to have similar issues so hopefully a cracker of a match. Couldn’t care less about the other

[Waffdon]

Si doing an interview with an interpreter now. I guess we're not getting that Rob Walker home invasion anytime soon if he doesn't speak any English. :(

He lives in Sheffield which won’t help him much with their horrendous accent

[igor_balis]

Anthony McGill - Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Ritchie

Can't get my head around this one.

Used to have this charming man, maybe it's a conscious effort to distance himself from Morrissey's bad racism. It ain't exactly the revolution will not be televised by Gil Scott-Heron, but Lionel is at least black I suppose.

[igor_balis]

It’s pathetic. I’m watching on Eurosport this year. And they’re absolutely crucifying Brecel.

Yeah Eurosport is great, shame they have table two on "discovery plus", whatever the fuck that is.

[Spikey M]

Yeah Eurosport is great, shame they have table two on "discovery plus", whatever the fuck that is.

It's yet another subscription streaming service.

[Giggles]

How do you get Eurosport these days - Sky box only? I have a VPN so can watch BBC but there's no VPN app for my telly and I can't be arsed watching on a laptop.

[Ben]

Sky or IPTV, yeah.

[John Arne]

Been reading a bit about Fred Davis.

In the 92/93 season he was ranked 181 in the world, whilst competing in the seniors tour. His last partly competitive year was 1980, where he reached the Irish Master finals, and the 2nd round of the World Championship.

What makes this pretty extraordinary is the Fred Davis reached the World Championship semi-finals in.... 1936. A pro for 64 years.