Breaking news erupted yesterday when Stuart Bingham, who confessed to betting against the rules of World Snooker, was given a six-month ban from the sport as well as paying £20,000 in costs incurred by the WPBSA. He has placed bets using a couple of his own accounts as well as his manager’s account and though he betted on his own as well as other matches, World Snooker ruled that it wasn’t with the intention to fix matches. He also fully co-operated with World Snooker on his individual case and went to some recommended anti-gambling treatment sessions to educate himself, though he does not have a gambling problem.
Now, I don’t know much about this area of the sport, whether he truly deserves a 6-month ban; how it compares to cases of John Higgins, Stephen Lee and Leo Fernandez; or what could happen to Alfie Burden, Joe Perry and Kurt Maflin. Please click through a number of these links to read official and blogging articles from people who know a hell of a lot more about this than I do:
WPBSA Statement – Stuart Bingham: http://www.wpbsa.com/wpbsa-statement-stuart-bingham/
Betting Bingham Banned from Snooker for 3 months: http://www.snookerbacker.com/2017/10/24/betting-bingham-banned-from-snooker-for-3-months/
Stuart Bingham suspended for betting offences: https://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/stuart-bingham-suspended-for-betting.html
So what does this mean for Bingham? Well, I hope this means Bingham will use this ban to pay his dues, practice hard and come back stronger to win his fans back, to prove doubters wrong and start winning titles again. He’s a popular player on the circuit and it’s a shame his reputation has been tainted by a number of silly mistakes. Unfortunately for him, this ban means he misses the:
- International Championship
- Champion of Champions
- Shanghai Masters
- Northern Ireland Open
- UK Championship
- Scottish Open
- The Masters THE MASTERS? THE MASTERS!!!!!!!!!!
- German Masters
He will return for the Snooker Shoot-Out. During that time he will lose points and put a massive dent in his chances of qualifying for the World Grand Prix and the Player’s Championship. However, his ban leads to a number of permutations to how other players can take advantage of Ball-run’s absence, either immediately or just increases their chances. These are many of the things that will happen, so please bear with me:
WITHDRAWALS
Since Stuart Bingham will be forced to miss the upcoming International Championship and the Shanghai Masters (which he has already won his qualifying matches for), Robbie Williams and Akani Songsermsawad respectively will receive a bye to the Last 32.
CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS
This is slightly more complicated. Bingham would’ve already qualified for this tournament because he won the Welsh Open last season by beating Judd Trump 9-8 in Cardiff. Now that his place has been forfeited, Anthony McGill will take his spot as the Snooker Shoot-Out winner and his place is confirmed. I still wonder why World Cup winner Liang Wenbo is in line in front of McGill, despite the World Cup being a non-ranked, invitational event, but I had a lovely chat with Matt Selt over that so all is well!
https://twitter.com/MattSelt/status/922501347664105472
This means that the final spot is up for grabs. Mark Williams cannot qualify for the Champion of Champions by the fact that he won the 2017 Six-red World Championship because Neil Robertson’s Hong Kong Masters victory is considered of greater importance. The only way Williams or anyone else can knock Robertson off his perch is by being the new, unqualified winner of the upcoming International Championship.
MOVEMENT WITHIN THE TOP 64
This may not seem important now, but it may be pivotal in the fight to stay on tour for some snooker players. Some of these ranking events are structured in a way that the Top 64 players will face the Bottom 64 players in the 1st round, or are structured in a way where the Top 16 players/Top 32 are seeded and it’s a random draw elsewhere. With Bingham momentarily gone, the tournament seeds move up by one to take his place.
- This means whoever is No. 17 in the rankings will be No. 16 seed in the Northern Ireland and Scottish Open, where only the Top 16 players will be seeded (currently Mark Williams).
- This means whoever is No. 33 in the rankings will be No. 32 seed in the German Masters, where only the Top 32 players will be seeded (currently Li Hang).
- This also now means whoever is No. 65 will be the No. 64 seed in the UK Championship (currently Scott Donaldson).
Assuming everyone attends an event in that example, Scott would play vs. a player in the bottom 64, giving him a much better chance to beat a low-ranked player to gain much-needed ranking points to put intense pressure on the likes of Noppon Saengkham and Chris Wakelin to stay as a professional snooker player.
Donaldson needs it too. The 2017 Welsh Open semi-finalist has yet to win a match this season and needs to take advantage. If more Top 64 players decide not to participate in future events as well, it would then give No. 66 John Astley and No. 67 Zhang Anda a lovely helping hand.
THE MASTERS RACE
Bloody hell, my head’s going to hurt big time. Here’s the link for the Master’s race: http://www.wpbsa.com/rankings/race-to-the-masters/.
In short, Bingham’s omission means that it blows qualification to the Masters in January completely out of the water. As it stands, Neil Robertson will take the final 16th spot behind Mark Williams (14th, according to the link above minus Bingham) and Ryan Day (15th). However, this still means that it increases the chances of other players behind The Thunder From Down Under to steal the spot from right under his nose. Liang Wenbo (17th), Mark King (18th) and Stephen Maguire (19th) are the most likely players to do so, which is why the next few tournaments will be absolutely crucial.
These are the main possible changes for me. This season has been a very exciting one, for bad reasons as well as good. Let’s hope Bingham can recover with a thick skin and come back in six months time ready to win and put the doubters wrong. For now, let’s concentrate on the mysterious non-ranking Haining Open, which Bingham happening to be attending, and the International Championship, which starts this Sunday! Onwards and upwards!
