Snooker In Crisis.
The sport of Snooker is currently embroiled in a corruption scandal that threatens the sport's very existence.
On a weekly basis, an ongoing investigation by the sports governing body continues to expose a deep-rooted culture of corruption amongst a core group of players. At this moment, ten snooker professionals, all members of a tight-knit group of Chinese players, have been suspended from the tour and are suspected of ‘manipulating the outcome of matches for betting purposes”.
These players have openly acknowledged themselves as the best of friends and even brothers. Unfortunately, the close fraternal and familial relationships among these players present a nightmare scenario to investigators and anyone interested in containing this crisis before it blows up and cripples the sport.
Is it possible that criminal gang members have got their hooks into these players? Are criminals blackmailing players by threatening to harm them or injure their loved ones? How will snooker’s present leaders prevent the current crisis from fatally undermining snooker’s precarious existence within the UK?
UK-based snooker halls are becoming a near-extinct species. The most important market within snooker is the Chinese market. Snooker halls proliferate within China’s major cities. On Fridays and Saturdays, when most UK youth are out partying, thousands of Chinese youth can be found at their local Snooker halls enjoying what they consider a regular social event.
Covid has removed the Chinese tour from the season. That’s caused many players to see their income opportunities dwindle. In addition, severe Chinese covid restrictions required many Chinese players to commit to extended stays in the UK. The resulting psychological pressure has been immense. Imagine being away from family and children for months, even a year, and then - because of failing rankings and poor performances - not even sending good money home to one's family. This has been a recipe for disaster.
During the 80s, Barry Hearn and Steve Davis led the charge to expand Snooker into China. Back home, reading about the Matchroom exploits, I always felt I was watching Englishmen chasing after false gold. I went to a local snooker hall in Beijing about six years ago. Upon hearing my English accent, one of the managers rang up an old man to come to the hall and play me. With his chest all puffed out, the old man regaled me with tales of his time spent with Steve Davis. I was stunned by how dear these memories were to him and the continued potency of these still vital memories. As things stand, a unique thirty-year-long collaboration between Chinese and English business and sporting interests is at risk.
Over twenty Chinese snooker professionals are competing on the world tour. Many of these players are based in Sheffield, England, at the Victoria academy. The Academy hosts major tournament winners and players tipped to become future world champions. This current generation of players has been groomed to not only take over the sport but to become the faces of the sport. Several players who have been suspended are already national heroes and are regarded as aspirational role models. The Chinese snooker federation and Asian snooker fans must be reeling.
The Masters, one of snooker’s more prestigious events, begins on 11 January 2023. The Masters is a restricted tournament. Only the top sixteen players in the world can compete. The suspensions of Yan Bingo and Zhao Kington from such a high-profile event affords the governing body no hiding room. The current infestation is in full public view.
As things stand, the governing body suspends and expels its members for accepting bribes. It also suspends players who fail to report that they have been approached, even if they refused the offer. It must be hard, if not impossible, for an individual to report to the authorities a close friend they have known since boyhood. I hope most of the present offences fall into the category of non-reportage.
If the government body does end up expelling any of these players, the effects on the sport in China will be incalculable. Think of Alex Ferguson’s team of the 80s and the likes of a youthful Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs being banned for gambling. Try to imagine the adverse short- and long-term effects on Manchester United for the next fifteen years. You can’t. It’s unthinkable. Can you imagine the present state of American tennis if the likes of Sampras, Agassi and Jim Courier had been banned early in their career for match-fixing?
The current list of suspended professionals will surely grow. The names on this list represent not only the future of Chinese snooker but of snooker itself.
Yan Bingo and Zhao Xington are their generation's Ronnie “Sullivan and John Higgins. So the suspension of Yan Bingtao, who won the 2021 Masters, was hard to take. (Because of their close relationship, I could not imagine Zhao Kington retaining untouched, even speculatively, by the fallout. And the same cold logic applies to other Chinese players who are close friends with the pair.
The subsequent suspension of Zhao Xington, the 2021 UK Champion, chilled my heart. A sound claim could be made that Zhao is the most stylistically beautiful snooker player currently practising his craft. Moreover, Zhao has been hailed by Ronnie O'Sullivan as potentially the best player of all time. Let that sink in. Then accept that in the German Masters final of 2021, Zhao Xington beat Yan Bingo by the improbable scoreline of 9-0: The current suspension of both players must call that result into question.
At the moment, every single match that involves one of the suspended players is now questionable.
And there lies the rub. If a sporting body cannot deliver genuinely competitive activity to a paying public, it has no product or purpose.
I recently visited former snooker haunts in Balham, Battersea and Richmond, hoping to bump into old friends. Unfortunately, all of the old halls were closed. The former camaraderie earned within the buildings has long since been extinguished. A few new businesses had chosen to keep the dramatic exterior facades of the snooker halls while gutting the interiors and changing the existing spaces into resultants and stores. The current scandal threatens to make the sport as redundant and as lost in time as these former venues.
Note: The Ten suspended players;
The world No 9 Zhao Xintong, aged 25, winner of the 2021 UK Championship. Yan Bingtao, aged 22, world No 16 and Masters winner in 2021. Lu Ning, age 29, ranked No 46. Liang Wenbo, aged 35, ranked No 56. Li Hang, aged 32, ranked 64. Chang Bingyu, aged 20, ranked 77. Zhang Jiankang, aged 24, ranked 85. Chen Zifan, aged 27, ranked 93. Bai Langning, aged 20, ranked 126. And Zhao Jianbo, aged 19, with no current ranking.
samjhere@icloud.com
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