By Elliott West
Introduction
In a time when snooker is once again thriving on the professional circuit after the veil of Coronavirus restrictions has been lifted, there still remains a massive gulf between this body of players and those on the amateur circuit. Bereft of tournaments and pro-ams, long gone are the days when you jump in a car and find an amateur tournament taking place somewhere in the UK. The doors of Pontins and other venues are a distant memory and those aspiring for greater heights, frankly have reached an obstructing brick wall.
Despite this picture of doom and gloom, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Jason Ferguson who runs World Seniors and the Legends tour has invited a large field of amateur players to take part in an exciting concept where juniors, seniors, able-bodied and disabled players take part in quick-fire snooker, complete with a shot clock.
The Concept
Played over 25 nights and televised on Sky Channel 434, Freeview 264 and streamed online for free at sportystuff.tv. This event is currently been played at Jason Francis’ Crucible Club in Reading. It runs from 19/09/2022 until 16/11/2022. That’s eight weeks of snooker with each week producing a winner. These eight players will then go forward to slug it for the title in the Grand Final. This is late-night snooker at its best with each televised session being broadcast between 10 pm and 1 am.
This is hybrid snooker, a combination of traditional snooker and shootout snooker. A frame is 900 seconds long and a 20-second shot-clock is in operation. There are no time-outs and a ball must touch a cushion on any shot unless it’s a pot. Any foul gives the opponent ball in hand and that includes time-out fouls.
This is a tournament where every player has the opportunity to win something. Starting each Monday, 8 players take part in a mini tournament. The winner gets £500 and the runner-up £250 with the finalists and the losing semi-finalists going forward to the final on Wednesday. This is a rolling event with the losing quarter-finalists on Monday, being joined by four new players on Tuesday. They then take part in another mini-tournament.
The winners of the Monday and Tuesday matches, 8 players in total, then progress to the final on Wednesday. This weekly final earns the winner £1,500 and a ticket to the Grand Final. The runner-up will get £500 and the losing semi-finalists get £150 each. That’s £6000 of prize money per week. In the Grand Final, the overall winner earns £5,000 with the runner-up winning £1,500 and the two losing semi-finalists getting £500.
A True Gem
Snooker Legends has assembled a great presentation and commentary team together made up of Rachel Casey, Neal Foulds, Lee Richardson, Dave Clarke and Reanne Evans. A whole host of players with names familiar and not so familiar will take part. This includes Nigel Bond, Les Dodd, Patsy Fagan, Gary Filtness, Tony Knowles Joe Johnson, Emma Parker, and Dennis Taylor. I have also spotted several of my other friends in the line-up such as Lenny Baker, Levi Meiller and Chucky Preston. A great concept and hopefully there will be more amateur competitions in the near future.
