Either you are glued to it or deliberately avoiding it, the Snooker Shoot-Out spread a lot of hype and controversy across social media and not just because it’s too dissimilar to the traditional sport that we all know and love. To keep it brief, it changed status from a non-ranking to a ranking tournament last year, which caused a lot of uproar among the purist for reasons such as being undeserving of the same status as the UK Championships and other ranking events and that there is so much reward for little gain and a lot of luck of the draw. Barry ended the argument by telling them to shut up.
Got to keep being innovative – if it didn’t work commercially then I wouldn’t do it. Let’s see the tv ratings but it’s one event out of 30 so calm down and enjoy the fun and the controversy.
— Barry Hearn (@BarryHearn) February 10, 2018
It’s the event where you can’t be on the fence for. Either you love it for its variety, bringing out character out of players and opening opportunities to lesser-known players to move up on the ranking list and whoever thinks so isn’t moving with the times:
It shows that it gives opportunities to everybody on tour. Look what it has done for @mikegeorgiou147 #worldgrandprix #championofchampions I am also a lover of pure snooker but you cannot deny the entertainment and the chances it creates for the lower ranked players https://t.co/UEw1Q5ky0I
— Jan Verhaas (@janverhaas) February 11, 2018
Or those who say it’s a pub competition in comparison, brings out the worst out of the snooker fans, it’s provides entertainment at the expense of quality snooker, it’s unfair on those who are successful in other ranking events and whoever thinks otherwise has a small attention span and deserves a slap into reality:
@BarryHearn Barry surely you must agree this is embarrassing for the sport?
It encourages a stag do culture at a sports event, that's wrong.
— Andy (@AndyJ147) February 11, 2018
I went on a good rant last year about this while trying to look at both sides but came to the conclusion that the Shoot-Out is alright but giving it ranking status is one of the most stupid thinks Barry Hearn has done yet. Here is the link if you want more detail: FEATURED: Should Snooker Shoot-Out ever be a ranking event?
I managed to watch the Shoot-Out for an a bit on Saturday and the entire Sunday afternoon and caught up with the final between Michael Georgiou and Graeme Dott on YouTube. I also scoured the beautiful and sometimes obnoxious world of Twitter because there is always a lot of material!
Did I enjoy watching the Shoot-Out. Most of the time, yes. There are a number of matches I really enjoyed and it’s fantastic too see newer characters that you wouldn’t see in the business end of other ranking tournaments. My favourites were Akani vs. Gilbert; Bond vs. Stevens; Tian vs. Perry and Brecel vs. Georgiou. This ranges from Hamza Akbar’s constant monkey whooping, Mark Williams playing banter with the crowd, everyone enjoying the cheers whenever a yellow is potted to the wonderful smiles of Sunny Akani as he impresses under the limelight, almost making me forget about Dechawat Poomjaeng, but we know that won’t happen whatsoever, because Poomjaeng is a legend. Fight me. 🙂
Sunny Akani wins again!! Get more and more impressed by this kid every time I see him. Would love to see him at the Crucible in April.
— SnookerInfo (@SnookerInfo147) February 11, 2018
What’s amazing about the event how it drags non-snooker fans to be glued to the event. Even those who haven’t watched snooker before was introduced by this event because it is simplified by traditions. The atmosphere is more joyous rather than quiet and tense and even past critics such as Joe Perry were turned because they enjoyed it out there. Also, the blue ball shoot-out to decide the winner after the scores are tied is a genius idea – no doubt about that.
Not just because I had a little run in it but I feel it’s something different and good for the tour. Really gets non snooker fans into Snooker which surely is a good thing
— Joe Perry (@joegentlemanjoe) February 12, 2018
The main reason why it is a ranking event was to give low-ranking players a chance in a different version of snooker rather than constant best-of-7s. It delivered in spades. Cypriot Michael Georgiou was No. 73 before the tournament and because he won the event, he rose many places to No. 59 in the rankings, a qualification place on the World Grand Prix, possible qualification to the Champion of Champions next season and basically saving himself from relegation and at least a year on tour. It had a similar effect to David Grace when he reached the semi-finals of the 2015 UK Championships.
This is the fairy tail ending I was hoping for last year.. if it wasn't for that "dead-set" plant 👀😂😂😂 congrats @mikegeorgiou147 fantastic result @WorldSnooker1 #CoralShootOut brilliant watch all weekend 👌
— Steven Hallworth (@stevenhallworth) February 11, 2018
It’s a beautiful thing for the sport when a rookie or an underdog wins the big prize. The fact that he is the first Cypriot to win a ranking title, beating more snooker-savvy countries such as Germany and India is even more memorable. Considering no Top 16 has ever won the Shoot-Out, we will get more stories like this. There have been numerous of tweets from Cypriots congratulating them and seeing everyone come together is a fantastic thing. The final was brilliant, with two +50 breaks, tremendous excitement as Dott rapidly catches up. A fantastic frame while showing amazing composure under a lot of unexpected pressures. Surely it deserves a place on the calendar, much more worthy than a standard invitational event for the Top 20 players?
Weird? Oh well. #UKCypriots have been excelling in whatever they do. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Proud of every single one of them, including @mikegeorgiou147. Congrats, VBW always. #SnookerShootOut #Snooker cc: @UKCypriotFed #Cypriot #Cyprus #UK https://t.co/RJnq82xlMv
— Euripides L Evriviades 🇨🇾🇪🇺 (@eevriviades) February 12, 2018
Yes, it does. However, I still can’t admit it should be a ranking event based on not just my opinion but of what I’ve seen and read over the past week or so.
The first match I actually watched was Billy Castle vs. Jimmy White and it made me realise that the fans are utter morons and make the event less ‘proper’ and ‘professional’ and less worthy of looking like a ranking event. I don’t mean whooping when a yellow is potted or cheers, jeers and encouraging their favourite player. I mean deliberately off-putting Castle by making noise when he is on his backswing to give fan favourite White multiple opportunities to win. Or even during the blue ball shoot-out when silence when genuinely needed.
Great to see Tian win that after some dickhead screaming just as he was about to hit it. I didn't realise snooker had so many knobheads as fans.
— Niall (@Crusty_Crouton) February 10, 2018
Second of all is the Shoot-Out’s status. You only need 7 frames to win the Shoot-Out (£32,000 winner’s kitty) and because it is a ranking event, it is of equal standing as of the other events such as the Paul Hunter Classic (£20,000 despite playing at least 28 frames) and the UK Championship (£170,000, despite being 46 frames!) Matthew Stevens won the UK Championship in 2003 and Martin Gould won the 2016 German Masters – their sole ranking event, only to be equalled by somebody won seven frames. That is ridiculous. Maybe that’s me being incredibly pedantic, but that still doesn’t sit right with me at all. Particularly since you don’t need quality break-building to get there – there are a number of times where I saw players like Jimmy White, Ashley Hugill and Kurt Dunham missing blacks off the spot – whether it is because of pressure, we can debate all day about that.
I want Kurt Dunham to win the Shoot Out. if he joins the likes of Fergal, Stevens, Gould and Bond then maybe the stupidity of it might convince even @BarryHearn that it was very silly to grant Shoot Out with ranking tournament status
— alex (@alex7_7_7_) February 9, 2018
The crucible….the coliseum…both count as ranking wins on your cv
— stephen hendry (@SHendry775) February 11, 2018
Lastly, the thing that makes me more hesitant is how it came about. Apparently, no player was consulted in it being a ranking event. Former Shoot-Out champions Robin Hull and Anthony McGill don’t think it should be a ranking event, especially the latter when holding the trophy in it first year as a ranking event. Barry Hearn put it to the vote to the players: the Shoot-Out as a ranking event or no Shoot-Out at all. It’s just not a nice way of doing it (though I quite ignorant of these matters), especially when the likes of Peter Ebdon boycotted it last year and played this year because the amount of points on offer was too good to turn down. Barry Hearn also said that it wouldn’t have been broadcast if the event WASN’T a ranking event. That makes no sense to me at all and I’m not sure how this event would be so remarkably different if it was.
I'm not against it at all. Not my cup of tea and the ranking thing is just silly. Lots of players seem to have forgotten being held by gunpoint last year.
— snookerbacker MBE 🗣️ (@snookerbacker) February 12, 2018
Anyway, that’s what I’m feeling. My feelings of the Shoot-Out as just a fun event are slightly different – it’s a enjoyable event that may split opinion and not every match is good-quality but the atmosphere looks great! Even though it should never be a ranking event, Georgiou definitely deserves the trophy for being the best player, best breakbuilder (had four +50 breaks as well as the highest break). Most importantly, it’s being new fans in, especially young fans and that can only be good for the sport.
What I do wonder is the long-term effects. We’ve seen Tom Ford losing his place in the World Grand Prix to new champion Georgiou being of its new status, this will have a massive impact on the ranking table – I’m sure whoever finishes No. 65 at the end of the season will feel hard done by because of Georgiou’s ascent. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I hope it returns next year! Let’s just enjoy the final one more time…….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Wl8paexB8
