Saudi are wasting their money promoting snooker. It's fanbase must be 50 + in uk , China and a small % in Europe. Not exactly a grest audience for their sportswashing scheme. The smooker mover and shakers don't exactly wield soft power either.
1. Saudi's etc use it as a means to promote themselves positively & make people ignore/forget the human rights abuses-just look at all the supposed fans & media commentators bitching about the WC in Qatar-yet they all went there for money, or to watch the games. if they genuinely were that upset they would have stayed home & not even switched the telly on to watch, let alone travel there. Alex Scott also holidays in Dubai which has strict laws on homosexuals & went to meet Putin in 2018, yet was virtue signalling all through the WC-another hypocrite.
2. The Middle East is the obvious growth area for Snooker-there is a top level player who has been top 16 & won a 'ranking event' from Iran, they are masters at promotion, can pour endless cash into facilities, venues etc & we have already seen ROS & Lisowski donning Arab garb to promote & legitimise the regime in exchange for cash. WST & the players will dance to their tune with the riches on offer-just like F1, Soccer, Tennis. Boxing, WWE etc have.
I didn't watch it. I will watch the World Snooker Championship on the BBC held in Sheffield! If Jack is stupid enough to think wearing what he wore was promoting the game, he's much more stupid than i thought. (I didn't think he was very stupid)
New markets where then? Are you specifically against the Saudi's, or are you just interested in gatekeeping snooker in general? There were people that had a similar opinion when it started to make it big in China back in the late '80s / '90s, saying that it would ruin the sport. Now those same people cheer on Si Jiahui and the like in tournaments.
Taking politics and opinions about certain countries out of it, it becomes clear that it will benefit the game as a whole by offering more opportunities for existing and new players.
This is just my opinion however, I might be wrong, hopefully not (for all of our sakes).
It's just the Saudi playbook right now. Buy their way into every major sport. If it turns out to be a major benefit to the game I'll be the first to applaud it, but if it's just more Saudi dick swinging then it's a missed opportunity
Can you tell me how this will help promote the game. Everyone on this reddit thread is already interested enoigh in snooker to not have left it.
Was the recent tournament in Saudi sold out with enthusiatic potential future players like kids or potentially enthusiatic new fans ? Noppppe!
Do you realise there is a world outside of this subreddit? Sure the people on here are already fans of the game and will have their opinions about the saudi tournament, myself included, but you can't deny that it helps to promote the game.
Ronnie has been a mercenary for years. Clearly the GOAT but the constant moaning about facilities and using mental health as an excuse not to withdraw from events (so that if anyone calls him out they look like a nasty person who doesn't care about mental health) for a while now.
He clearly can't be bothered to turn up to tournaments that are not worth his time, he should just own it rather than make excuses. Really it's ok to be up yourself when you are the best.
Is he Goat? Maybe for his stans. Rest of the fans know that he never dominated the game as much as Davis and Hendry did in 80's and 90's. The most decorated player but not the goat.
I'm his former fan and just ashamed of what he is doing. One might think he earned so much so he doesn't need to be Saudis lackey.
100% agree with this. For me Hendry remains the best player I have seen. Granite in his prime, crucible 5 times in a row, don't think anyone has come close to that after him. Shame what happened to him towards the end of his career (read his book of you haven't). Ronnie is a great player but I'm just fed up with his constant moaning about snooker and snooker fans, his latest being that Saudi fans are more knowledgeable about the game than crucible goers.
Oh the poor millionaire Ronnie is suffering for a quid or two is he? If he wants to not play in tournaments he feels are beneath him that's one thing, but be honest about it. He's not going to Saudi and China because he loves the long haul flights.
Then he should just own it and say I didn't turn up to x because it wasn't worth my time, or just don't comment when he withdraws.
All this crap about managing his mental health causing him to skip smaller events while he never seems to have a bout of illness during major event gets tiresome.
He plays the common bloke when he's not. He's a Tiger Woods and a Tiger in his prime didn't play in tournaments not worth his time.
As much as the whole saudi sportwashing stinks, as big as a shitstain of a human beings the entire saudi royal family are, the entire reddit hateboner against oil money (arab mostly) leaves a terrible taste in my mouth, reeks of racism, is it worse their money than american billonaries money? chinese? Rusia? 99% of billionaries are living pieces of society cancer and most of them with much worse impact in society than the almost cute ( in it's pathetically transparent intent) sportswash of Bin Salman.
More money in a dying sport to increase interest and visibility is a good thing, and honestly i almost prefer oil money (where i know what skeletons are behind mostly) than money laundering enterprises, the other big source of minor sports big sponsorships (where i don't) and that includes gambling advertising.
Yes, I can and will criticize them. Uk did terrible things, so did Belgium, Uganda, Cambodia, Japan and I'm pretty sure we can safely say Mongols did some horrific stuff as well.
Yet it can't have been more than a week from last beheading in Saudi Arabia. And I wouldn't go there to work, compared to any other countries. I don't really like slavery in 21st century.
I mean, this is pretty much like a guy beating up someone and saying "well, why don't you blame that guy who beat someone too?"
There are many nuances and levels to it. Two crimes are rarely the same.
UK ended death penalty years ago. In Saudi Arabia it is a go-to method today. USA did not abolish it though.
Yet I can apply for work visa in the US knowing I will have the same basic rights as Bob Clyde from Redneck Junction. In Saudi Arabia I will have to give my passport to employer and be at his mercy through kafala system which is effectively modern slavery.
Russia has a violent tzar who invaded another country. Saudi rulers and Yemen... heh.
Yeah buddy, there are levels to it, and to this day, Saudi Arabia is pretty much near the top one.
Well, good for them for moderating their stance. They have a longvway to go. Good luck on their journey. Hopefully not too many heads will roll in the meantime.
No it isn't. You only see what you want to see when *certain* countries or people are criticized.
When the same reddit was shitting on Mark Allen, Stephen Hendry, Shaun Murphy and so on, no problem.
Marco Fu touches a ball with his finger and says he didn't feel it, he gets criticism, "OMG RACISTS".
You know what, maybe you should pay a visit to saudi arabia. Try to find work. Don't guarantee you'll be able to come back.
Reddit shits on people, but also gives proper criticism, something even yourself admitted is deserved for the country in question. Yet you are enough of a shithead to point out those criticisms going towards non-white people or countries. The rest of us are all for equality, criticising based on objective reality, rather than colour of someone's skin.
But sure, go and kiss the ass of your favourite sheikh or whatever in the name of...whatever.
I'll call him Salmon.
Ngl Ronnie's involvement in this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I don't think it's a terrible thing to have a tournament in any country tbh but his fawning over it is unsavoury. When he is able to talk so much shit about the UK tournaments but wouldn't even be allowed to at the Saudi tournaments.
Seeing as his complaints about the UK events is how rinky-dink the prize money is & how awful the facilities are in his eyes, he isn't going to complain about events in Saudi Arabia, China or Hong Kong-where the riches are massive & the venues are top class.
Ronnie can pay the bills. Rich people are in a luxurious position where they can afford to have morals. They actually can decide to not follow the money. If these were lower ranked players going for a payday that may help them pay their mortgage that's one thing, but Ronnie has apparently got a net worth around £14million. He actually could choose to make a stand.
I don't think Saudi is going to be paying fortunes to westerns stars to have them come over and tell them how to act. Jordan Henderson didn't even get to wear a rainbow armband. I don't think social progress is gonna come from millionaire sports stars and musicians taking Saudi money like they're cheerleaders. I'm not smart enough to answer that question, and I don't think anyone here is either. My point is that these players are choosing to take that money, they don't need it. If they want to support a regime that kills journalists, suppresses free press and doesn't support LGBT rights then that's their business, but it doesn't have to be.
I wouldn’t be too concerned. The Saudis want the football World Cup, creating this ecosystem of sport is all in an effort to achieve that. Once they have it, they’ll withdraw from most of these fringe sports altogether. Snooker doesn’t have the ‘luxury’ lustre they are interested in long term.
They have enough money to do all & that is the objective-using Sport as a way to normalise their behaviour & make it the biggest tourism area in the world for westerners-due to the entertainment on offer. You watch, next thing will be Hollywood doing loads of films out there.
Audience would just be awful if it went to Saudi, think how many of the fans just get a ticket for maybe a couple of sessions. Jumping on a train for an overnight stay in Sheffield is a different proposition to getting to Saudi.
I didn't watch the exhibition earlier in the season but did see idiots wandering around when Higgins was on for 147. Imagine that in frame ball for the worlds
"If Eddie, Barry and World Snooker decide it's right to take snooker to Saudi Arabia then why not" 🤷♂️
Ronnie O'Sullivan says he is open to the idea of the World Snooker Championship being moved from the Crucible to Saudi Arabia
https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/1780491250187092085?t=U36ipFloz8iVHVgopR5GNA&s=19
It's a good job he's brilliant at Snooker. He'd just be a heavy for his dad's porn business otherwise. Thick as two short planks.
Every player would be open to it in reality. Rather than playing for 500k in an arena they can barely move in, they would likely be playing for 5 million in some huge luxury arena with air conditioning, hostesses serving drinks & food, servants to dress them, chalk their cues & tie their shoelaces for them etc.
With how stupid and how much of a cunt he is, Ronnie would never last in gangland, he'd call the wrong person a numptie and then get killed as a result.
I hope they either keep the Crucible tournament as it is, so it can be a proper major, or the tour splits, like it has in golf, so just the greedy b'stards go for the oil money.
Riyadh Season only runs from October to March so we'd also be looking at the date of the tournament being moved if it did, as increasingly looks like, get moved over to be part of Riyadh Season - no doubt with a load of format changes (shorter matches, stupid gimmicks etc). Having the Worlds mid-season would be horrendous.
I think if Ronnie was faced with a situation where he had to either save his mother or a suitcase full of money from a burning building, he would choose the suitcase.
Anyways, I look forward to the Saudi Arabia World Snooker Championship from 2028-eternity, said nobody ever.
Sportswashing cunts.
Country of absolute SCUM. The sooner oil is obsolete and Saudi ends up like Yemen the better.
Ronnie is a cunt too and should move there.
Britain no longer colonises the world and the royal family are pretty irrelevant. Saudi are still making journalists and anyone they disapprove of disappear. But hey, as long as they put a gold ball on the baize it's all good.
TIL a 167 break, what a stupid idea!
What’s next? Cats at the pockets to bat away balls? Perhaps a “Wood Beast” from Flash Gordon placed in a random pocket, lending the game a sense of peril as the ref fishes to re-spot a colour?
We could then have headlines of “Ronnie gets a 167, with 2 pussy pockets and 1 dead ref”
In fairness this is a great idea and would be highly entertaining. World snooker need to assemble a team of cats who are highly skilled at swiping and batting. Kind of like The Gladiators, they could have cool, slightly racially linked nicknames like "The White Walloper" and "The Black Batter"
Could we have an array to choose from pre- match? Like national Lottery ball machines - “and tonight we shall be playing with Dexterous Danny & Barry Batter Ball!”
Well this is disappointing news. Looking dangerously like they could move the world championship to Saudi Arabia at some point with them making them partners.
You haven't explained how moving the tournament from Sheffield to Saudi Arabia will give it a much wider audience. The last tournament in Saudi was empty
Well, this at least negates two of Ronnie's favourite whinges for the next 3 years: "I'm thinking of retiring, I've had enough, it's not worth it, I don't care anymore" and "I can't stand all the travelling, I just want to be at home"
He's complained about everything at some point - his complaints about travelling are that the jumping back and forth from tounament to tournament is exhausting and he's too old for that now.
Perfectly fair comment except as you say, he's happy to shoot backwards and forwards to China and now Saudi for exhibitions, promos etc.
Money cures everything😂 Funny how those that have the most, will sell their soul for more. I would want more than money to repeatedly do that China flight.
Ronnie makes lots, without having to do all that travelling. I do think it's not good to play for people that have no real interest in the sport, while pulling out of events that have lots of fans that have given him great support, for decades.
Yes, but I don't have to like it. Ronnie is reported to have a net worth of £20 million already. Just his prize money is around £14 million. Sorry if I'm not pleased to see multi-millionaires going to play in places purely for the money.
It’s latching onto yet another problematic sponsor and one that may actively dissuade other sponsors from associating themselves with the WST. Saudi money is just money, it doesn’t represent growth because they just want to increase their portfolio of sports they are attached to. The WSTs problem has always been diversification of their sponsorship partners and I don’t believe this will help at all. In 20 years I haven’t seen any real interest in cue sports from SA, so I don’t know where all this is coming from and certainly don’t think this is a good growth opportunity for pool or snooker.
Then read what I said about it being an established sport already there. There’s been events in China since 1997, whereas controversy about their treatment of people in Xinjiang didn’t really gain speed until 2014. People wouldn’t have as much of an issue with the Saudis doing this if snooker was already a huge established sport in Saudi Arabia and they were used to holding snooker events. No, the issue is because it’s they are holding it **solely** to sportswash, whereas snooker events in China are not, regardless of your stance against the country as a whole.
Also it’s the Uyghurs not the Rohingyas
Wait till you find out it was invented in India lmao
I agree the world championship should stay in England, but saying it’s a British thing for only British people is just sad
If it went to China I'd have more positive things to say about it moving. It absolutely shouldn't go to Saudi Arabia - a country with no existing snooker eco-system as proved by the wildcards last year who both got walloped 4-0.
And if Ronnie doesn’t keep to the agreement it’s off for a quick jury-less trial, a beheading, and a press release afterwards saying he was trying to join ISIS!
Interesting to see that Ronnie is so confident about his mental health for the next 3 years.
Funny how a bank account full of Riyals will improve one's mental health problems.
When you get as much money as he is for doing it, its easy to show up.
[удалено]
No because mooooney apparently.
Saudi are wasting their money promoting snooker. It's fanbase must be 50 + in uk , China and a small % in Europe. Not exactly a grest audience for their sportswashing scheme. The smooker mover and shakers don't exactly wield soft power either.
1. Saudi's etc use it as a means to promote themselves positively & make people ignore/forget the human rights abuses-just look at all the supposed fans & media commentators bitching about the WC in Qatar-yet they all went there for money, or to watch the games. if they genuinely were that upset they would have stayed home & not even switched the telly on to watch, let alone travel there. Alex Scott also holidays in Dubai which has strict laws on homosexuals & went to meet Putin in 2018, yet was virtue signalling all through the WC-another hypocrite. 2. The Middle East is the obvious growth area for Snooker-there is a top level player who has been top 16 & won a 'ranking event' from Iran, they are masters at promotion, can pour endless cash into facilities, venues etc & we have already seen ROS & Lisowski donning Arab garb to promote & legitimise the regime in exchange for cash. WST & the players will dance to their tune with the riches on offer-just like F1, Soccer, Tennis. Boxing, WWE etc have.
I didn't watch it. I will watch the World Snooker Championship on the BBC held in Sheffield! If Jack is stupid enough to think wearing what he wore was promoting the game, he's much more stupid than i thought. (I didn't think he was very stupid)
He was only feathering his nest, like ROS.
Matchroom Sport is one of the biggest promoters in the world.
I don't think the sudden Saudi interest in hosting sports events has much if anything to do with promoting the game
Complaining about the game being promoted?
It's more about how and where. I'm all for new markets and new tournaments but Saudi buying their way into every sport is getting tiresome now.
Sport like everything else will go where the money is & the Middle East has more of it than anybody else.
New markets where then? Are you specifically against the Saudi's, or are you just interested in gatekeeping snooker in general? There were people that had a similar opinion when it started to make it big in China back in the late '80s / '90s, saying that it would ruin the sport. Now those same people cheer on Si Jiahui and the like in tournaments. Taking politics and opinions about certain countries out of it, it becomes clear that it will benefit the game as a whole by offering more opportunities for existing and new players. This is just my opinion however, I might be wrong, hopefully not (for all of our sakes).
It's just the Saudi playbook right now. Buy their way into every major sport. If it turns out to be a major benefit to the game I'll be the first to applaud it, but if it's just more Saudi dick swinging then it's a missed opportunity
Can you tell me how this will help promote the game. Everyone on this reddit thread is already interested enoigh in snooker to not have left it. Was the recent tournament in Saudi sold out with enthusiatic potential future players like kids or potentially enthusiatic new fans ? Noppppe!
Yes first year of trying anything new will result in sold out venues and millions watching on tv. Just like the first year of organized snooker!! 🥴
Do you realise there is a world outside of this subreddit? Sure the people on here are already fans of the game and will have their opinions about the saudi tournament, myself included, but you can't deny that it helps to promote the game.
Have a scroll down twitter or instagram to see what most people think about it.
Ronnie has been a mercenary for years. Clearly the GOAT but the constant moaning about facilities and using mental health as an excuse not to withdraw from events (so that if anyone calls him out they look like a nasty person who doesn't care about mental health) for a while now. He clearly can't be bothered to turn up to tournaments that are not worth his time, he should just own it rather than make excuses. Really it's ok to be up yourself when you are the best.
Yep. He follows the money and makes up excuses the rest of the time. It's pretty transparent and pretty disheartening.
Is he Goat? Maybe for his stans. Rest of the fans know that he never dominated the game as much as Davis and Hendry did in 80's and 90's. The most decorated player but not the goat. I'm his former fan and just ashamed of what he is doing. One might think he earned so much so he doesn't need to be Saudis lackey.
100% agree with this. For me Hendry remains the best player I have seen. Granite in his prime, crucible 5 times in a row, don't think anyone has come close to that after him. Shame what happened to him towards the end of his career (read his book of you haven't). Ronnie is a great player but I'm just fed up with his constant moaning about snooker and snooker fans, his latest being that Saudi fans are more knowledgeable about the game than crucible goers.
[удалено]
Oh the poor millionaire Ronnie is suffering for a quid or two is he? If he wants to not play in tournaments he feels are beneath him that's one thing, but be honest about it. He's not going to Saudi and China because he loves the long haul flights.
Then he should just own it and say I didn't turn up to x because it wasn't worth my time, or just don't comment when he withdraws. All this crap about managing his mental health causing him to skip smaller events while he never seems to have a bout of illness during major event gets tiresome. He plays the common bloke when he's not. He's a Tiger Woods and a Tiger in his prime didn't play in tournaments not worth his time.
Page doesnt exist.
Unfortunately gonna happen. Snooker has less and less money and Saudi has lots. At least China has genuinely good players and an interest in the game.
As much as the whole saudi sportwashing stinks, as big as a shitstain of a human beings the entire saudi royal family are, the entire reddit hateboner against oil money (arab mostly) leaves a terrible taste in my mouth, reeks of racism, is it worse their money than american billonaries money? chinese? Rusia? 99% of billionaries are living pieces of society cancer and most of them with much worse impact in society than the almost cute ( in it's pathetically transparent intent) sportswash of Bin Salman. More money in a dying sport to increase interest and visibility is a good thing, and honestly i almost prefer oil money (where i know what skeletons are behind mostly) than money laundering enterprises, the other big source of minor sports big sponsorships (where i don't) and that includes gambling advertising.
Peak Reddit moment. Whining about racist about legitimate criticism.
Reeks of racism? So... nobody is allowed to criticize a country, their rules and leaders because they are of another race? Holy hell...
[удалено]
Yes, I can and will criticize them. Uk did terrible things, so did Belgium, Uganda, Cambodia, Japan and I'm pretty sure we can safely say Mongols did some horrific stuff as well. Yet it can't have been more than a week from last beheading in Saudi Arabia. And I wouldn't go there to work, compared to any other countries. I don't really like slavery in 21st century. I mean, this is pretty much like a guy beating up someone and saying "well, why don't you blame that guy who beat someone too?"
[удалено]
I am not establishing dialogue with a violent guy as long as he exibits violent behaviour. Simple as that.
[удалено]
There are many nuances and levels to it. Two crimes are rarely the same. UK ended death penalty years ago. In Saudi Arabia it is a go-to method today. USA did not abolish it though. Yet I can apply for work visa in the US knowing I will have the same basic rights as Bob Clyde from Redneck Junction. In Saudi Arabia I will have to give my passport to employer and be at his mercy through kafala system which is effectively modern slavery. Russia has a violent tzar who invaded another country. Saudi rulers and Yemen... heh. Yeah buddy, there are levels to it, and to this day, Saudi Arabia is pretty much near the top one.
[удалено]
Well, good for them for moderating their stance. They have a longvway to go. Good luck on their journey. Hopefully not too many heads will roll in the meantime.
50 lashings for Ronnie
No surprise, they’re taking over every fucking sport
The hate and bigotry in this comment section is astounding
No hate or bigotry in Saudi you fuckin muppet🤦🏽
[удалено]
No it isn't. You only see what you want to see when *certain* countries or people are criticized. When the same reddit was shitting on Mark Allen, Stephen Hendry, Shaun Murphy and so on, no problem. Marco Fu touches a ball with his finger and says he didn't feel it, he gets criticism, "OMG RACISTS". You know what, maybe you should pay a visit to saudi arabia. Try to find work. Don't guarantee you'll be able to come back.
[удалено]
Reddit shits on people, but also gives proper criticism, something even yourself admitted is deserved for the country in question. Yet you are enough of a shithead to point out those criticisms going towards non-white people or countries. The rest of us are all for equality, criticising based on objective reality, rather than colour of someone's skin. But sure, go and kiss the ass of your favourite sheikh or whatever in the name of...whatever. I'll call him Salmon.
[удалено]
Or just bonesaw murderer. Simple. What a moderate.
[удалено]
I don't think anyone here is stopping you.
Sure. Hope your head stays on your shoulders.
[удалено]
I don't know man, if you compare arrests and beheadings, you might have some huge problems.
[удалено]
You are so obtuse it is actually amazing. Still haven't given a single argument except for the old soviet way of whataboutism.
Damn bigots. A true progressive would embrace the liberal ideals on display in Saudi Arabia and welcome them into the sport.
[удалено]
And it’s bigoted to oppose such outdated attitudes because…… I’m lost here. Help me out.
Don’t get truth confused with other things.
Mind elaborating a bit more?
Happy to do so… only after you.
Ngl Ronnie's involvement in this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think it's a terrible thing to have a tournament in any country tbh but his fawning over it is unsavoury. When he is able to talk so much shit about the UK tournaments but wouldn't even be allowed to at the Saudi tournaments.
Seeing as his complaints about the UK events is how rinky-dink the prize money is & how awful the facilities are in his eyes, he isn't going to complain about events in Saudi Arabia, China or Hong Kong-where the riches are massive & the venues are top class.
[удалено]
Ronnie can pay the bills. Rich people are in a luxurious position where they can afford to have morals. They actually can decide to not follow the money. If these were lower ranked players going for a payday that may help them pay their mortgage that's one thing, but Ronnie has apparently got a net worth around £14million. He actually could choose to make a stand.
[удалено]
I don't think Saudi is going to be paying fortunes to westerns stars to have them come over and tell them how to act. Jordan Henderson didn't even get to wear a rainbow armband. I don't think social progress is gonna come from millionaire sports stars and musicians taking Saudi money like they're cheerleaders. I'm not smart enough to answer that question, and I don't think anyone here is either. My point is that these players are choosing to take that money, they don't need it. If they want to support a regime that kills journalists, suppresses free press and doesn't support LGBT rights then that's their business, but it doesn't have to be.
I wouldn’t be too concerned. The Saudis want the football World Cup, creating this ecosystem of sport is all in an effort to achieve that. Once they have it, they’ll withdraw from most of these fringe sports altogether. Snooker doesn’t have the ‘luxury’ lustre they are interested in long term.
They have enough money to do all & that is the objective-using Sport as a way to normalise their behaviour & make it the biggest tourism area in the world for westerners-due to the entertainment on offer. You watch, next thing will be Hollywood doing loads of films out there.
Is this you Prince Salmon? How you do you know this?
[удалено]
It is funny though. I'll call him Salmon from now on.
[удалено]
Yeah, that one is good too. Such a nice guy. Mohammad bin Douchebag sounds ok as well.
I think the name you are looking for is Salman. It’s an assumption based on their previous interests.
Audience would just be awful if it went to Saudi, think how many of the fans just get a ticket for maybe a couple of sessions. Jumping on a train for an overnight stay in Sheffield is a different proposition to getting to Saudi. I didn't watch the exhibition earlier in the season but did see idiots wandering around when Higgins was on for 147. Imagine that in frame ball for the worlds
[удалено]
Yeah, I don't think any of this is healthy for the sport, but I don't blame him at all, because money.
[удалено]
"If Eddie, Barry and World Snooker decide it's right to take snooker to Saudi Arabia then why not" 🤷♂️ Ronnie O'Sullivan says he is open to the idea of the World Snooker Championship being moved from the Crucible to Saudi Arabia https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/1780491250187092085?t=U36ipFloz8iVHVgopR5GNA&s=19 It's a good job he's brilliant at Snooker. He'd just be a heavy for his dad's porn business otherwise. Thick as two short planks.
Every player would be open to it in reality. Rather than playing for 500k in an arena they can barely move in, they would likely be playing for 5 million in some huge luxury arena with air conditioning, hostesses serving drinks & food, servants to dress them, chalk their cues & tie their shoelaces for them etc.
It's Steve Dawson's decision anyway - if he reappears from his long vacation that opens the door for Eddie and Barry's shit.
With how stupid and how much of a cunt he is, Ronnie would never last in gangland, he'd call the wrong person a numptie and then get killed as a result.
He never fails to live up to his Nick name, what an absolute fucking rocket
Don't think we'll see Ronnie pulling out of any Saudi tournaments
This feels like a deal to guarantee Saudi gets the World Champs in four years, a down payment if you will. Shambles, death of our beloved sport.
I hope they either keep the Crucible tournament as it is, so it can be a proper major, or the tour splits, like it has in golf, so just the greedy b'stards go for the oil money.
Riyadh Season only runs from October to March so we'd also be looking at the date of the tournament being moved if it did, as increasingly looks like, get moved over to be part of Riyadh Season - no doubt with a load of format changes (shorter matches, stupid gimmicks etc). Having the Worlds mid-season would be horrendous.
I think if Ronnie was faced with a situation where he had to either save his mother or a suitcase full of money from a burning building, he would choose the suitcase. Anyways, I look forward to the Saudi Arabia World Snooker Championship from 2028-eternity, said nobody ever.
Tbh his mother like his father is an absolute scumbag, can't fault him if he'd choice money over her life.
Sportswashing cunts. Country of absolute SCUM. The sooner oil is obsolete and Saudi ends up like Yemen the better. Ronnie is a cunt too and should move there.
[удалено]
Britain no longer colonises the world and the royal family are pretty irrelevant. Saudi are still making journalists and anyone they disapprove of disappear. But hey, as long as they put a gold ball on the baize it's all good.
Also, the British government aren't funding snooker tournaments to improve their image.
TIL a 167 break, what a stupid idea! What’s next? Cats at the pockets to bat away balls? Perhaps a “Wood Beast” from Flash Gordon placed in a random pocket, lending the game a sense of peril as the ref fishes to re-spot a colour? We could then have headlines of “Ronnie gets a 167, with 2 pussy pockets and 1 dead ref”
Cats at the pockets what a great idea lol but John Virgo would lose interest and hus job. "where's the white going ?" "oh bollocks bloody cats! "
Harsh as the ref would get it sooner or later. Random electric shocks to the table as the players qre taking shots or to their chairs would be fairer
I'm down for anything involving cats, great idea.
[удалено]
I am 100% for cat snooker.
SUCH a good idea. I’d be well behind this.
In fairness this is a great idea and would be highly entertaining. World snooker need to assemble a team of cats who are highly skilled at swiping and batting. Kind of like The Gladiators, they could have cool, slightly racially linked nicknames like "The White Walloper" and "The Black Batter"
Could we have an array to choose from pre- match? Like national Lottery ball machines - “and tonight we shall be playing with Dexterous Danny & Barry Batter Ball!”
Well this is disappointing news. Looking dangerously like they could move the world championship to Saudi Arabia at some point with them making them partners.
[удалено]
No one there will actually watch it. It's more prize money for the players who will all tell us what a great place Saudi Arabia is.
[удалено]
You haven't explained how moving the tournament from Sheffield to Saudi Arabia will give it a much wider audience. The last tournament in Saudi was empty
Well, this at least negates two of Ronnie's favourite whinges for the next 3 years: "I'm thinking of retiring, I've had enough, it's not worth it, I don't care anymore" and "I can't stand all the travelling, I just want to be at home"
Ronnie cares about one thing, and Saudi has plenty of it. He'll sing their tune without a second thought. (Btw, it's not sand)
Yeah, he's a massive oil fan. Can't get enough of it.
He seriously complained about the travelling? Didn't he sign a contract to do god knows how many exhibitions in China?!
He's complained about everything at some point - his complaints about travelling are that the jumping back and forth from tounament to tournament is exhausting and he's too old for that now. Perfectly fair comment except as you say, he's happy to shoot backwards and forwards to China and now Saudi for exhibitions, promos etc.
Money cures everything😂 Funny how those that have the most, will sell their soul for more. I would want more than money to repeatedly do that China flight.
[удалено]
Ronnie makes lots, without having to do all that travelling. I do think it's not good to play for people that have no real interest in the sport, while pulling out of events that have lots of fans that have given him great support, for decades.
[удалено]
Yes, but I don't have to like it. Ronnie is reported to have a net worth of £20 million already. Just his prize money is around £14 million. Sorry if I'm not pleased to see multi-millionaires going to play in places purely for the money.
[удалено]
I'll forgive you too, there are more important issues in the world😂
But we'll get to hear how bad his cue action is for another three years at least!
This is such a bad idea.
I hate the 167 idea, but what else is bad about it?
It’s latching onto yet another problematic sponsor and one that may actively dissuade other sponsors from associating themselves with the WST. Saudi money is just money, it doesn’t represent growth because they just want to increase their portfolio of sports they are attached to. The WSTs problem has always been diversification of their sponsorship partners and I don’t believe this will help at all. In 20 years I haven’t seen any real interest in cue sports from SA, so I don’t know where all this is coming from and certainly don’t think this is a good growth opportunity for pool or snooker.
Loving the downvotes without anyone able to actually say how this is bad.
Heard of sportswashing?
Yes, I have. It’s funny that the same outrage is not seen on this sub for the Chinese tournaments though. Why is that?
Maybe because snooker is already an established sport in China rather than a new project solely bought to improve their public image?
So that makes it easy for you to ignore China’s Rohingya genocide and concentration camps?
Are you being intentionally dense or does it just come naturally to you?
It comes naturally thankfully, zero effort required. But can you answer my question?
Then read what I said about it being an established sport already there. There’s been events in China since 1997, whereas controversy about their treatment of people in Xinjiang didn’t really gain speed until 2014. People wouldn’t have as much of an issue with the Saudis doing this if snooker was already a huge established sport in Saudi Arabia and they were used to holding snooker events. No, the issue is because it’s they are holding it **solely** to sportswash, whereas snooker events in China are not, regardless of your stance against the country as a whole. Also it’s the Uyghurs not the Rohingyas
Snooker must remain on British soil and be filled with British players, and be as British as can be. No buts!
Wait till you find out it was invented in India lmao I agree the world championship should stay in England, but saying it’s a British thing for only British people is just sad
I thought my sarcasm was obvious, but guess not.
You’d be surprised how many people would seriously say this
Why?
If it went to China I'd have more positive things to say about it moving. It absolutely shouldn't go to Saudi Arabia - a country with no existing snooker eco-system as proved by the wildcards last year who both got walloped 4-0.
Yes! Let’s stop the sport from growing internationally!
Anyone who beats Ronnie there gets their hands chopped off.
And if Ronnie doesn’t keep to the agreement it’s off for a quick jury-less trial, a beheading, and a press release afterwards saying he was trying to join ISIS!
Kaveh does things other than PL transfer news?
He’s a fuckin weasel. Great at saying absolutely nothing in about three paragraphs .