COUNTDOWN: Four Things I Love About Snooker

It’s about time I wrote something positive about snooker!

Not that everything I write is negative of course. Unfortunately, negative articles or countdowns over someone’s hates and pet peeves seem to attract more comments and views. That is how the internet works sometimes. I have done some countdowns over things I dislike about snooker in the past as they are quite fun to write.

So this is one of the opportunities to celebrate the game we love. As much stick we give to sportspeople, the game, the venues and the boss, there are many reasons why we still cling onto the sport. Here are some out of many reasons why I love snooker and I am interested to hear yours!

Sportsmanship in Snooker

Sportsmanship is something that snooker takes tremendous pride in. Sportsmanship is defined as “fair and generous behaviour or treatment of others, especially in a sporting contest.” There are numerous examples of sportsmanship in snooker. Declaring a foul on themselves either for feathering the cue ball, applauding an opponent’s shot, touching a ball with their waistcoat, pushing the ball are the most common.

It is news when a player failed to declare a foul or acted indecent. Liang Wenbo was accused of cheating when Liang accidentally hit a red with his cue while playing a safety shot away from the pack in the 2020 World Championship Qualifiers. Stephen Lee’s 12-year ban for match-fixing is a reminder that sportsmanship and fair play is taken very seriously indeed.

Then there are other situations where players start to show their true colours. Stephen Hendry requested an early interval at 7-5 when Mark Williams needed time out to repair his faulty tip. Ronnie O’Sullivan walked out the area with his arm over Ding Junhui’s shoulder after the tearful hot prospect walk up to shake his hand in the 2007 Masters final. O’Sullivan later went to the trouble of asking the photographers to not overwhelm Ding after winning the match. The most recent example is Williams owing up to touching the yellow in the 2020 World Championship against O’Sullivan. Williams was 12-10 down and it was a critical moment in the match.

This is the sort of trait I cannot seeing dying down in snooker.

The Fans At The Venues

I’ve been to a few venues, some of which I went alone or with my father. Motorpoint Arena. K2. Watford Colosseum. The Centaur. Alexandra Palace. Finally, The Crucible.

Some of my best memories are when I chat with other snooker fans from all walks of life. I randomly got chatting with five typical ‘blokes’ with the smoothest Welsh accents. A few lovely people who I met first via Twitter. A few people who were sitting next to me, fortunate for them or not. Peter Lines. Rather randomly, Jak Jones’s father.

The short of it is that snooker fans are very typically friendly and sociable people. Of course, none of the conversations happens during the match. Except the Shoot-Out, where you can do anything you want, let’s be honest.

The Game Itself

It’s hard to answer why you like snooker. There are plenty of reasons why I like snooker.

They include the strategies, the personalities and the satisfying sound of the ball hitting the back of the pocket. The escapes, the gentlemanly outfits and the mental torture we fans endure. The fans, the screwbacks and learning the history about Alex Higgins’s shenanigans. The tension, the outbursts and the precision of every shot, every touch and every roll where a sixteenth of an inch could make a difference

All on a 12 foot by six foot JV.

There is a lot more I could describe than the short paragraph. But there are fewer sports that are so engrossing to watch in absolute silence, where the pressure builds and builds until complete elation and devastation.

Snooker Twitter

Generally, Snooker Twitter is great.

It is much better than Politics Twitter, where everyone is angry at everything and full of ad hominem rubbish. Football Twitter is decent but there are too many who gloat to the opposition team that they lost with a GIF of Kylian Mbappé crying. I support Swindon Town and there are many instances among small clubs of concocting a rivalry based on one transferred player. Just reading these interactions are quite tiresome.

I had many wonderful interactions and am lucky to meet some of them in person from my home country and abroad. Maybe in the future once this current situation sods off. It’s good to talk about snooker to people who like to talk about snooker and have some knowledge on snooker. When something personal happens, some of us either send congratulations and support from our way. A lot of it is friendly banter, puns and one doesn’t feel that they have to be careful with how they talk to people. Also, there’s plenty of fun content – videos, GIFs, puns, bad jokes and light-hearted fun towards Dennis Taylor.

There are some fiery debates and some irritating comments – no Twitter community is without them. For example, some of the tweets during the World Championship semi-final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby were quite vicious. But I’m grateful that I’ve interacted with many informative, funny and interesting accounts on there and long may it continue!