FEATURED: Who’s the numpty now?

While everyone is enjoying the European Masters, one particular player not afraid of striking any controversy or attempting to be the voice of reason decided it would be a lovely time to hit the headlines on the explosive world of Twitter. What a numpty.

I used to think I was a bad player hahahha the snooker tour is now 70 per cent full of no hopers.. all wasting everyone's time #getjob

— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) September 30, 2017

For those who don’t know, Ronnie O’Sullivan once again criticised another aspect of Barry Hearn’s regime by taking it out on the players. Based on the tweet, he said that approximately 90 players on the circuit are “no-hopers” and aren’t going to make a success of anything. Even though he is lately taking the situation to light by referring everyone under the sun as a numpty, it’s pretty bloody rude regardless of how you are and how talented you are to those who have aspirations to work hard and build a career. Sure players ranging from Judd Trump, Liang Wenbo and Hossein Vafaei wouldn’t be classified as such, but to say that the majority of players haven’t got a chance is disrespectful since he lost to decent, lower-ranked players in Mark Joyce and Chris Wakelin last season. As Monique pointed out, this is especially the case that in sport it’s quite normal for a small minority to win trophies at all. Look at the greater field of tennis players, athletes and rugby players. Maybe to Ronnie’s standards, perhaps.

In some ways, Ronnie does have a point. Players like Michael Wasley and Gareth Allen complained about the harsh realities of struggling financially as a snooker pro in the lower depths of the ranking table and never looked back since, something which allegedly wouldn’t have happened as often at least 15 years ago. Not even £16,000 winnings from reaching the Last 16 of the World Championships was enough to tempt Wasley to even consider Q School at the end of his 4-year snooker career. But to claim the likes of Scott Donaldson (2017 Welsh Open semi-finalist) and Li Hang (China CHampionship semi-finalist) as among the numpties; the no-hopers; not likely to win any trophies is disheartening from one of the gods of the game.

But with Ronnie, there seems to be some method in every bit of this madness. His dissatisfaction with playing low-ranking players from the get-go raises repeated talking points to whether the flat tiered draws are actually working, especially when Ronnie would only participate abroad if there is any financial incentive. Top players such as Judd Trump and Ali Carter complained about the lack of atmosphere in the first round of the revamped UK Championships and as Monique pointed out, Neil Robertson only recently complained that playing in the qualifiers felt like playing in the morgue. After all, would Manchester City really give two hoots of the FA Cup if they had to play Swindon Supermarine from the very beginning instead of a bye into the third round proper? No. Because Swindon Supermarine is too big for Manchester City, right? Hang on. Sometimes Connor Thompson is easily mixed up with Sergio Aguero. Silly me.

You love going to Preston Wigan and Barnsley for the qualifiers .. can't beat it mate.. you love playing them numptys https://t.co/7R4OfBq3ld

— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) October 2, 2017

But it raises a number of points. What’s the point of your high ranking if you are more likely going to play an inexperienced pro? Why aren’t the lower-ranked players play each other in the qualifiers? Is the tour of 128 snooker players simply too big to cope? Do we need to introduce snooker leagues to split the current circuit? How will snooker players be financially protected and stable? Well, Barry put a stop to most of these questions?

There are no plans to cut the world snooker tour numbers. While players outside top 64 are beating players inside the top 64 in round one it would be unjustified and quite wrong.

— Barry Hearn (@BarryHearn) October 4, 2017

According to Hector Nunn’s piece published recently, Bazza says that though Ronnie’s comments are disrespectful, they aren’t enough for him to be penalised. He also says:

“There are a few other big names who think that it should be cut from 128 to 64.“I have always thought that was a backwards step. I don’t think the bottom half are a waste of time, because it’s an avenue to changing your life and living the dream.”

Indeed, low-ranked players have always beaten top players. Look at Songsermsawad beating Fu, Doherty defeating Hawkins and Craigie whitewashing Trump. Using shorter matches to reason the unpredictability has already been dismissed by Barry as an excuse, who then reasoned it with “level-playing field.” Personally, it’s good that 128 players are still in. I wouldn’t mind having two leagues though, but would that mean there will be a Snooker FA Cup? God knows.

Anyway, let’s enjoy the lights of Lommel for now, followed by the English Open. Only until then will many knives will be sharpened for the Rocket to fall to the sword of some random numpty…….

References

Monique., “The Numptiesgate.” Ronnie O’Sullivan – a fan website. (4th September 2014) Accessed on: 4th September 2017. Accessed from: https://ronnieo147.com/2017/10/04/the-numptiesgate/

Nunns, H., “Snooker ace Ronnie O’Sullivan under fire for ‘numpties’ comment about fellow pros.” Daily Star. (4th September 2017) Accessed on: 4th September 2017. Accessed from: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/649628/Ronnie-O-Sullivan-Snooker-Barry-Hearn