FEATURED: How will Evans and On-yee fare on the professional tour?

There is no doubt that everyone will be focusing on the progress of Reanne Evans and Ng On-yee on the professional tour. I cannot wait for it.

Plenty of Positives

The WPBSA announced back in March that World Women’s Snooker stars Reanne Evans and Ng On Yee were given a chance to turn professional from the start of the 2021/22 season with fresh two-year tour cards. Both Evans and On-yee have dominated the women’s circuit, winning the last fifteen World Championships between them. This was a historic moment. It confirms that the Women’s Tour is another pathway to become a professional. WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson described this decision as “one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.”

For me, there are many, many positives from this decision. I think this is brilliant. I would argue that these two sportswomen achieved so much in the sport that they deserve a place on the tour. Transforming the Women’s circuit into a qualifying tour solidifies that players qualify as a professional by merit across the board. It is a decision long overdue. This is also about developing the sport among a huge demographic as well as in many continents. Alan McManus wrote an eloquent piece in favour of their participation and I recommend that you read that.

Snooker has been expanding from being a historically UK-centric and male-dominated sport, inspiring many people around the world. This will hopefully inspire girls to pick up the cue and compete in the sport. It gives women an opportunity to play regularly and raise the whole standard of female snooker players.

There are some arguments to deal with…

The reaction of the majority has been positive. The decision to award Evans and Ng tour cards has received some criticism and accusations of tokenism or positive discrimination. Announcing it on International Women’s Day was slightly corny for me. But there are a number of arguments that need some careful and considerate rebuttals.

There will be a lot of pressure on Evans and Ng to make an immediate impact. Unfortunately, no doubt we will see the same arguments below cropping up as soon as either woman loses a match. So let’s take this step by step:

“They should have to qualify through Q school like everyone else!”

Eurosport presenter Andy Goldstein once attempted to persuade Barry Hearn that Reanne Evans has earned her spot on the tour based on her domination of the Women’s Tour back in 2015. Hearn rejected those claims by saying that she has to qualify via Q School. This abides by Hearn’s meritocratic, winner-takes-all, brutal and ‘level-playing field’ philosophy, regardless of gender and age.

Some argue that Evans and Ng should’ve gone to Q School to prove their worth to receive a tour card. It is true that Evans and Ng have failed to qualify via Q School a few times before. Others pointed out that darts professional Lisa Ashton didn’t need to be given a card because she earned it by qualifying through Q School. The organisation that runs darts is different to the organisation that organises snooker, but there you go.

But Q School isn’t the only way to qualify. There are plenty of other amateur events from where aspiring sportspeople can win a tour card aside from Q School. These events include the EBSA European Amateur Championship, WST Open, Pan-American Championship and Oceania Championship. These events benefit those who are close to the hosted venues or who can afford to go there. Let’s not also forget some players can win fresh tour cards by winning age-category events as well. The juniors (especially U21) and other countries have their qualifying criteria so as to broaden participation globally and attract younger audiences. Shouldn’t there be one for female players as well by the same logic, if there are plenty among that demographic who can compete?

“They are two lucky players to be handed tour cards!”

The argument here is that Evans and Ng took the easy way out instead of doing qualifying properly. Many concluded that they received tour cards simply because they are women. They believe it is unfair that they get a free pass while many have to pass Q School.

First and foremost, Evans and Ng have NOT been given wildcards because the World Women’s Snooker Tour became a qualifying series. Yes, they are ‘given’ tour cards but this is because they are the top two ranked players on the Women’s Circuit. But that is not the same as a plumber from Southend with the highest break of 12 being ‘given’ a tour card.

There has been a lot of chat over the validity of wildcards, recently regarding Jimmy White and Marco Fu. Let’s wonder why they received another chance to play on tour without digressing too much. These players have dedicated exemplary service to snooker over a long period of time. They remain great and highly successful ambassadors to the game by their continued involvement to increase the appeal of snooker. When you look at 12-time World Champion Reanne Evans, who is arguably the greatest female snooker player, and 3-time World Champion Ng On-yee, shouldn’t they deserve a tour card on that basis?

The other perceived injustice is that they took a chance away from someone who could’ve made use of the tour card better than the two. It is only when a tour card doesn’t get used is that is concerning. For example, 2019 Oceania Champion Steve Mifsud accepted the tour card but played just one match within two seasons. Evans described this as “a wasted space“. Why not offer a space to someone who can make use of it instead?

“There is no disadvantage now for any female snooker player over a male.”

No. Just no. I’m not having that.

Some loyal readers of this blog might know that I covered sexism in snooker a few years ago. In short, there are plenty of stories where ladies are disadvantaged due to their sex. This ranges from a sexual discrimination case involving former World Snooker referee Michaela Tabb to the prize money gap between men and women in snooker.

Snooker players Suzie Opacic, Rebecca Kenna and Evans all experienced bans from performing and even watching others play snooker because they are women. There was national coverage involving Kenna a few years ago. Kenna quit the Crosshills & District Snooker League because she was continually forced to miss matches at ‘mens-only’ clubs. This, combined with derogatory comments, bad language and offensive jokes, makes snooker clubs a hostile environment for women. Why would women want to play in a sport they feel unwelcome in for no good reason whatsoever, where historic attitudes of men towards women in snooker still exist?

This, as well as lack of role models, sponsorship and finance, has set the women’s game back massively. Everyone would accept the women’s game is some way behind men’s because of institutional barriers limiting women’s participation in snooker. Women lack experience because they cannot play at a higher level regularly enough, preventing women from pursuing a snooker career in the first place.

What next?

Rant over. Now let’s look forward!

The season starts with the first ranking event between 18th July – 13th August. The Championship League draw has already been released. Ng On-yee has a dream tie with Ronnie O’Sullivan alongside Mark Joyce and Ian Burns (20th July). Reanne Evans is in a group with Tom Ford, Simon Lichtenberg and Simon Blackwell (22nd July).

Hopefully, Ng and Evans had plenty of time to practice and get ready. Please bear in mind that the Women’s Snooker Tour couldn’t host any snooker events throughout the pandemic, unlike the professional circuit. Expect them to be rusty. It is the first event after all. But let’s see how much these two can improve over the next two seasons. Regular match practice can only do good things. Also, the potential for TV time (which is rarer on the Women’s circuit) and eye-catching headlines will encourage female participation globally.

They may take a while to find their feet on the tour and let’s not expect them to take the sport by storm. But let’s get behind them. I’ll be supporting Evans and Ng and looking forward to seeing how they will progress. Can’t wait!