Chinese bloke running away with the World Snooker Final

he was favourite, when a 50 year old is in the World Snooker Final, you know something is wrong with the game, all the snooker clubs shutting down killed the game at grass roots, the Chinese will eventually completely dominate before eventually TV here will give up on it. Kind Regards.

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May 4, 2025 -- 7:14PM, mesmerised wrote:

he was favourite, when a 50 year old is in the World Snooker Final, you know something is wrong with the game, all the snooker clubs shutting down killed the game at grass roots, the Chinese will eventually completely dominate before eventually TV here will give up on it. Kind Regards.

Does look ominous for British snooker that most of the top Brits in the ranking were there 15-20 years ago. Jimmy White is still top 100!

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Snooker clubs in my youth used to be thriving. So many of us playing on the tables. So many shut up shop now and kids on tiktok, not picking up cues, very sad.

Yep,

Think the lockdowns were the final nail for a lot of them.

meant not as it's not really surprising.

9-3

Hard sport to get good at, like golf, takes a few
years to become proficient and many simply don't have
the patience. Littler arriving in darts has energised
that, so snooker needs a star to energise uk snooker.

Was in shang hai a few years back when snooker was on there
and they had great big flags with players on about 8 metres high
all around the stadium it was being played at.

Made them into gods...

I can't see Snooker getting anywhere near the heights in the UK that it once did

You can play Darts anywhere and hone your skills at home, most people can't fit a full size snooker table into their house or be able to afford it at a young age, or someone to teach them, which is why Snooker clubs were essential, most I knew off have now all gone and turned into flats or some greasy spoon. TV shows in 90's like Big Break helped to make them into bigger stars as well, there's none of that anymore, back in those days especially pre 90's, snooker stars were almost like rock stars because there was so little else for people to do of and evening when the Worlds were on in particular other than get caught up in it - the black ball final had 20 million people watching - that's on a level with England in the last 4 of major tournament, those days are gone. Kids today have far too many other distractions to seriously apply themselves a potential full time pro snooker player. More likely to want to become a full time streamer of some console game on twitch.

As far as I understand snooker clubs have popped up all over China, it's still a relative novelty to them as they are obviously behind the curve in when it comes to it being ingrained in their culture like it has ours so they haven't reached the natural decline it has in the UK.

Darts is also a massive night out type of thing and those huge buzzing crowds helps with TV viewing figures.

Kind Regards.

It will be interesting to see the end of term BBC viewing figures for the snooker. From what i can gather its still popular, as for the 23/24 season viewing figures were up 26% on the previous year.

If Zhao wraps it up in the afternoon session today then BBC will be showing a few Dad's Army episodes this evening.

If a Chinese player wins the world title during the evening in China that is going to be huge for the game out there and very lucrative for Barry Hearn

Banned for alleged fixing and betting on his own games ffs
And here he his about to win the biggest prize in snooker

What a strange world we live in...

A little bit like tennis

Snooker games simply take too long. Obviously it's fine for snooker fans but for newbies who are used to instant gratification through their phone, you wonder how much they're enjoying thirty odd frames of safety play and building long breaks.


They need to create a new sport melding pool and snooker. Taking the best from both. Fouls don't mean four points, but mean picking up the white. Maybe down to eight reds on the table. Shot clocks. And have legs and sets like darts. Who can be arsed watching someone who's eight frames down? But if he just wins two frames he can win the next set and be within touching distance. Would be a cracking betting heat too.


Vote winner imo.

snooker tables are now more like american pool tables where you can hit the cushion 4 inches away from the bucket size pockets and they still go in,like pool tables they slide down the cushion instead of bouncing away from cush like they used to, if you hitting the cushion outside the entrance to the pockets it used to and still should be impossible for a ball to drop-in as for the middle pockets their like fire buckets, no surprise the amount of 100 breaks the likes of trump etc get,obviously table made to make scoring easier but they've gone to far and the safety play has gone from boring to been as good if not better than the breaks and potting

Win/win for Mark Williams.

If he wins he is a hero in Wales.
If he loses he is a hero in China.

Two great “ sports “ are snooker and darts…..yawn

Bring back the days of “ Even fatter belly gut bucket “

Can’t help think that anything with Barry Hearn involved might be fixed. I remember I nearly kicked my tv in after Watson- Eubanks 1 was stolen from Watson and “ given “ to Eubanks.

In the interests of the law I did say thinking so I hope I cannot be sued for what I think.

WD - anyone can play sports like snooker and darts, that's the great thing about them. I suspect you maybe did not excel at either as a youngster hence your scorn.
I was a very handy snooker player in tournaments at my local social club so in fairness i am rather biased. But any member was entitled to play on the table no matter how good they were and they all seemed to enjoy playing.

Was that Chinese fella on The Goon show.

Sure I heard him singing.

a lot of good golfers are good at snooker too

"Ying tong Ying tong Ying tong Ying tong Ying tong iddle I po"

The tune will drive you nuts.

Broadcast/recorded in 1956 so must have been his Grandad.

I was rubbish at snooker but lots of my golf mates were good.

I smashed the balls up for them, they made a decent break then
played better on the course. Funny world.

Zhao letting Taffy win a couple to make it respectable.

Guessing the chinese lad was told let him catch up a little before you take the winning frame ,makes good TV and is promoting the game !

A cricket ball would drop in these pockets.

4 in a row for Williams - 17-12

for those of you watching on black and white TV, the yellow ball is next to the green

all over

18-12

Top player.

Class above this tournament.

Or Hearn needs to boost ratings and income.

Snooker and Darts! Dixie I have no interest whatsoever. Even scrabble is more physical!

anyone can play sports like snooker and darts, t


'anyone' can play any play any sport, but playing at the level of the pros is a whole other ball game, that's why they're paid the big bucks, if Darts at the very highest level was that easy, they'd be untold Luke Littlers in the fold but there's not, it is a talent. Snooker is a real skilled game talents like O'Sullivan are once every 25 years. Kind Regards.

WD - stop being silly. Just because you have no interest in them doesn't mean snooker and darts are not bona fide sports.

mes - i don't think i said anything to the contrary did i ?  Where did i say darts was easy ? Obviously i know a pro is going to be much better than an amateur and i know snooker is a very skilled game as i played competitions locally for 20+ years on tables that had pockets tighter than a gnats chuff. Ronnie is a one-off let alone once in 25 years.

Shove ha’penny Dixie!

Most people can play pool but would get trounced by a half decent player. Nearly every snooker player would trounce the top pool pros at pool if they focused on it for a few weeks.

Good fun that WD, it was amongst may pub games i played in my well spent youth. Bar Billiards was my fav but very difficult to find a pub with a table these days. Hubble Sports in Maidstone still make them so there must be some demand.

Shove shove ha’penny, I chased birds!

I watched the women’s Gold Medal match for Curling once. 12 million of us did well after midnight. Even though snooker and darts are Games not Sports watching competitors going at it is good. I have watched darts and snooker on tv, hands up don’t shoot but most of it is zzzzzzzzzzz

Hubble Sports still open? At the bottom of Gabriel’s Hill? Good to know. I need some kit! Very hard to find specialist SPORTS shops these days although I imagine you could buy darts and cues at Toys’r’Us or Hamley’s

I used to work for Ace insurance a stones throw away from Gabriels Hill WD. would often nip in Hubbles for a mooch around, had loads of cricket gear in there.. |Unfortunately i think it closed over a decade ago and they now have a warehouse a few miles up the road in Coxheath but specialise in Snooker/Pool/Bar Billiards tables.

My first snooker cue in the early 80s was an Alex Higgins special edition, cost me a weeks wages !

Jimmy White is playing a pool exhibition in pub near my home this month, all sold out.

The only thing I know about snooker is Alex Higgins smoked more Embassy's than the SAS!

I bought my first cricket bat there!

I bought a Gunn and Moore bat in there in the late 70s, weighed nearly 3lb which is pretty heavy compared to modern day bats, i still have it in fact !
Cost about £20 which was expensive at the time, they are £300 plus these days which is crazy.

I paid £50 odd for a County in late 70's I think. I would lot have been able to lift a 3lb bat let alone swing it!

They should make them have a pint a frame like they used to in the old days. No point comparing these guys to the real greats otherwise.

The bloke who owns our local takeaway plays to a high standard. I asked him what it's like to get a 147. He told me it's only the finest pork, and the sweet and sour sauce is from an old family recipe.

Velly funny clisp.

Blind smoker goes into take away, asks for 20 number 6

Old ones...