A lot has changed over the previous decade.
Over the past ten years, there have been more tournaments. In the 2010/11 season, there were 8 full ranking events. This season, there are 19. The quality of snooker players has improved tenfold. These players have come from a diverse range of countries, from Iran and Morocco to Qatar and Switzerland. They have travelled far and wide to Brazil, Bulgaria, Australia, Hong Kong and India. Prize money has increased every year – Mark Selby earned over £1,000,000 between 2015 – 2017.
The fact that in 2019 Barry Hearn signed a 10-year deal for Saudi Arabia to host a snooker event, where total prize money will be £2.5 million, is a testament to how for snooker as a global sport has come. Especially when one article in January 2010 said that “the game is unlikely to exist in its current form for much longer. By 2020, it could be an amateur sport again.”
There is plenty of talk about. Players. Heartbreaks. Successes. Controversies. A number of stupid moments. I have tried to bullet-point some of the main things that have happened over the past ten years. Hopefully this will give you a good chuckle. Enjoy!
2010
- Mark Selby beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in a thrilling encounter in the 2000 Masters final. Selby was 4–1, 5–3 and 9–6 behind before winning the decider.
- At the age of 52, Steve Davis created one of the biggest Crucible shocks as he reached the quarter-finals victorious against John Higgins 13-11 in the second round. He became the oldest player to reach the quarter-finals since Eddie Charlton who was 53 in 1983.
- John Higgins became involved in one of snooker’s biggest controversies when was suspended over match-fixing allegations, after being filmed in a sting operation conducted by the now defunct News of the World. Though he was later found not guilty of match-fixing, he was banned for six months and fined £75,000 for failing to report the approach and bringing the sport into disrepute.
- Neil Robertson became the first Australian to win the World Championship in the modern era. He was also the first player outside the United Kingdom and Ireland to win it since 1980.
- In June 2010, following a vote by the members, Barry Hearn took over a 51% controlling interest in the organisation’s commercial business World Snooker Limited with a view to revitalising the game. This was after being elected WPBSA chairman the year before.
- The Players Tour Championship minor-ranking series was introduced to the calendar in 2010. They introduced a number of small tournaments to spread the word of snooker across Europe and more tournaments in the calendar. Its format became a staple in later seasons and some PTC events later became ranking tournaments, such as the Paul Hunter Classic, the Gibraltar Open and the Riga Masters.
2011
- 2011 became the year where young prodigy Judd Trump jumped into the limelight. After clinching his first ranking title in the 2011 China Open, he took the World Championship by storm. As a qualifier, he reached the final in such form ferocious form, using his brand of ‘naughty snooker.’ He was a breath of fresh air in the sport.
- John Higgins won his fourth World Championship title, defeating the up-and-coming Judd Trump 18-15 in the final.
- Before the 2011/2012 season, Q School was first introduced to help streamline the qualification process to the professional tour.
- The World Cup was reinstated for the first time since 1996. The next World Cup was in 2015 and is currently played every two years.
- The 2011 Brazil Masters became the first professional event of South America in snooker history.
- Australia had its first ever ranking event at the Australian Goldfields Open. This was also the tournament where Stuart Bingham won his first ranking title, beat Mark Williams 9-8.
- Mark Allen walked into the press conference with a piece of gaffer tape over his mouth. This was in protest over what he thought was unfair criticism of his comments towards Barry Hearn over his radical changes to shorten matches in the UK Championship.
- Mike Dunn scored his first maximum during the qualifying rounds of the 2012 German Masters in 2011. But he doesn’t like to talk about it.
2012
- Reanne Evans broke Alison Fisher’s record of the greatest number of Women’s World Championships held by one person. Reanne won her 8th World Championship crown by defeating Maria Catalano 5-3.
- Zhu Yi and Michael Tabb became the first women to simultaneously officiate two matches at the Crucible.
- Stephen Hendry recorded his 11th maximum in career during his first round match against Stuart Bingham in the World Championship. The seven-time World Champion would go on to reach the quarter-finals to lose to Stephen Maguire. This turned out to be his last ever match, as he immediately announced his retirement from professional snooker afterwards. Stephen Hendry retired as one of the greatest and most decorated players of all time, if not the greatest.
- Ronnie O’Sullivan won his third World Championship title, defeating Ali Carter 18-12. He also made a 141 break in the eighth frame, which is, as far as I know, is the highest ever in a Crucible final.
2013
- Five-time ranking winner and former No. 5 Stephen Lee was found guilty of seven charges of match-fixing. The 38-year-old was handed a 12-year ban, which was backdated, until 2024 and was ordered to pay £125,000 in costs.
- Dechawat Poomjaeng. That’s all I’ve got on that one.
- Ronnie O’Sullivan became World Champion for the fourth time in his career, as well as defending his 2013 crown. He defeated Barry Hawkins 18-12. The feat was even more remarkable, considering O’Sullivan chose to take a sabbatical away from snooker and ended up working on a farm for almost the entire season. An incredible and legendary comeback.
- Indian hosted its own ranking event for the first time, known as the Indian Open in 2013.
- Reanne Evans became the first woman to qualify for the main stages of a professional ranking tournament. She won the decider (5-4) against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic.
- In 2013, Barry Hearn introduced the 128-player flat in the UK Championship for the first time, with all players starting in the first round. This was one of the many dramatic changes during the reign of the chairman.
- On 7 December 2013, Mark Selby ended up scoring the 100th maximum in the history of the sport, during his 9-5 semi-final win against Ricky Walden in the UK Championship.
2014
- Ronnie O’Sullivan produced an absolute masterclass in the 2014 Masters, where he whitewashed Ricky Walden 6-0, taking just 58 minutes to win the match. He also set a new record by scoring 556 points without reply.
- Mark Selby won his first World Championship by defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan 18-14. The Jester of Leicester is the first player to defeat The Rocket in such a final, despite being 3-8 and 5-10 behind. Sheffield’s Brendan Moore refereed the World Championship final for the first time.
- Australian Neil Robertson became the first player ever to score ‘a century of centuries’ over a single season. A testament to his scoring prowess, Robertson scored his 100th century during his 13-11 victory over Judd Trump in the World Championship quarter-final.
- Ding Junhui (2013/2014) equalled Stephen Hendry’s record of winning five titles within a single season. He won the 2013 Shanghai Masters, 2013 Indian Masters, 2013 International Championship, 2014 German Masters and the 2014 China Open.
- Ronnie O’Sullivan won the 2014 UK Championship after an epic encounter against Judd Trump, despite being pegged back from 9-4 up until the decider. He won the tournament despite having fractured his ankle shortly before the tournament.
- Ali Carter was given the all-clear by doctors in 2014 after he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour on his lung in May earlier that year. Ali Carter was forced to miss many months of snooker due to a cancerous tumour on his lung. Despite this, he managed to win the General Cup.
2015
- World Ladies Billiards and Snooker had a huge restructure in 2015 and became a subsidiary company of snooker’s world governing body.
- Ronnie O’Sullivan equalled Stephen Hendry’s record of 775 centuries while getting a fluke in the process during the Masters against Ricky Walden.
- Barry Hearn announces the ‘Home Nation Series’ of four tournaments across the UK, starting in the 2016/2017 season.
- Ng On-yee became the first overseas female player since 1980 to win the Women’s World Championship. She beat Emma Bonney 6-2 in Leeds and ended Reanne Evans’s streak of ten World Championship titles in a row.
- After 20 years of graft, Stuart Bingham lived a fairytale and won the 2015 World Championship for the first time. The 50-1 outsider, he became victorious by taking the hardest rote to the trophy possible, pushing aside Graeme Dott, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and finally Shaun Murphy to pick up win the title with the £300,000 cheque.
- Jamie Jones had a slight mishap when to traveled to Mülheim in Switzerland, intending to play in the 2015 Ruhr Open, instead of Mülheim an der Ruhr in Germany. Remarkably, he managed to travel to the correct Mülheim on time and won his first match 4-0!
- Heartbreak for Thepchaiya Un-Nooh as he missed the final black of the maximum in the 2015 UK Championship against Neil Robertson.
2016
- A number of snooker journeymen started to win their first ranking titles. They include Anthony McGill, Liang Wenbo, Anthony Hamilton and most memorably, Mark King. Hamilton became the oldest ranking event winner since 1989 at the age of 45.
- Heartbreak AGAIN for Thepchaiya Un-Nooh as he missed the final black for the maximum AGAIN against Anthony McGill in the final qualifying round of the 2016 World Championship.
- Snooker legend Steve Davis announced his retirement from professional snooker after a 38-year-long career. He won 28 ranking titles, including six World titles and many Triple Crown victories and was No. 1 in the world for seven years. His last match was against Fergal O’Brien in the first round of the World Championship qualifiers.
- Ding Junhui became the first Asian player ever to reach a World Championship final. He lost to Mark Selby 18-14 in the final.
- Relief for Thepchaiya Un-Nooh as he FINALLY scored his first maximum against Kurt Maflin during the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic.
- Mark King was docked a frame in the UK Championship after forgetting his snooker cue. This happened the tournament after Mark King won his first ranking title in the Northern Ireland Open.
2017
- The Masters trophy was finally named The Paul Hunter Trophy, named after three-time Masters champion Paul Hunter, who died of cancer in 2006. Ronnie O’Sullivan was the first player to receive the trophy, beating Joe Perry 10-7 in the final.
- Controversially, the Snooker Shoot-Out became a ranking event for the first time.
- Reanne Evans became the first woman to win a World Championship match. She defeated Finland’s Robin Hull 10-8 in the first qualifying round, only to lose 10-4 to Lee Walker in the second round.
- Ryan Day ripped off the ‘best player to never win a ranking event’ tag but winning his first title in the Riga Masters. He defeated Stephen Maguire 5-2.
- Luca Brecel became the first snooker player from Continental Europe to win a ranking event. The Belgian clinched the title by beating Shaun Murphy 10-5 in the 2017 China Championship.
2018
- Mark Williams and Darren Morgan get into fisticuffs with each other over the wonderful world of Twitter. Williams criticised the decision of failing to give prodigy a wildcard in the 2018 Welsh Open while insulting Morgan in the process. This led to Morgan branding Williams being a ‘total joke’ and ‘keyboard warrior’. Both men later shared a studio in a hilarious and incredibly awkward encounter.
- Ng On-yee became the first Asian player to top the women’s rankings.
- Mark Allen won his first Triple Crown event by defeating Luca Brecel, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and finally Kyren Wilson to win the 2018 Dafabet Masters.
- China suffered its biggest match-fixing controversy, with professionals Cao Yupeng and Yu Delu received bans of six years and ten years respectively. Yu was given a larger sentence due to lying to the investigator and failing to reports any breaches deliberately.
- World Ladies Billiards and Snooker became rebranded as Women’s World Snooker.
- World Snooker created The Challenge Tour, the initiative for amateur players to participate in regular and competitive tournaments.
- Mark Williams wins his third World Championship trophy, fifteen years after his second world title in 2003. He is the second oldest Crucible winner at the age of 43 behind Ray Reardon. He won in one of the most high-quality finals in Crucible history by beating John Higgins 18-16. Williams caught the eyes of viewers by his relaxed demeanour and eating Minstrels during one match. Williams celebrated by stripping naked before his post-match interview, wearing just a towel due to, well, obvious reasons. Amazingly, Williams was contemplating retirement the year before.
2019
- The ‘maximum of maximums’! David Gilbert ended up making the 147th maximum break against Stephen Maguire, who he lost to 3-1.
- Ronnie O’Sullivan adopts an Australian accent during some of his interviews at the Players Championship for some odd reason.
- Ronnie O’Sullivan made his 1000th career century during the 2019 Players Championship final, which he won against Neil Robertson 10-4.
- Thai player Nutcharut Wongharuthai made a 147 break during a practice session. This is the first and only known maximum break achieved by a female player.
- Rebecca Kenna brought women’s snooker into mainstream news after being barred from playing matches because she is a woman. After a number of radio and TV appearances, including the One Show, MPs of written to two men-only snooker clubs urging them to overturn their “archaic” ban on female players.
- James Cahill became the first amateur in World Championship history to qualify for the event. He also became the first amateur to win in the World Championships by beating multi-World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-8. He forced a decider against Stephen Maguire in the second round, but ultimately lost 13-12.
- Jimmy White finally won a world title at the Crucible by winning the 2019 World Seniors Championship by beating Welshman Darren Morgan 5-3.
- Neil Robertson broadened everybody’s knowledge on UK geography by wrongly driving to the village of Barnsley in Gloucestershire rather than the Barnsley Metrodome in the Yorkshire town – 170 miles away.
- Mark Selby spending 6 minutes on a simple safety shot. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
- Barry Hearn announces a 10 year-deal for Saudi Arabia to host a ranking event for next year. The Saudi Arabia Masters will include a total prize money pot of £2.5 million.
- Judd Trump became the 11th snooker player to win the Triple Crown. He finally completed the trio by thrashing John Higgins 18-9 in the 2019 World Championship final, winning £500,000. He also won the Masters earlier that year, defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-4 in the final.
