by elliott west
“I have never felt such a desire to make a success of my snooker career. I now feel so driven by the dark times I have been through and I can’t wait to be back doing what I do best – playing professional snooker “
Jamie Jones
Last year I did a piece for the SnookerFans website on the player Jamie Jones and how one of my favourite players had been suspended from the sport for failing to report a match fixing report. This is a heartfelt story and had left the highly talented Welsh player out of the game for a year.
Jamie commented after the ordeal that this had been “The worst year of his life” and left him having to earn a living working as a grass cutter for his local council just to pay the bills.
Jones was feeling low and for a while was not able to leave the house, has had to get used to not using his cue to seek glory and has been somewhat forgotten for the massive inroads he made into snooker when he was a top professional player. That’s not to say I agree with any form of irregularities in sport and anyone who is proved to have broken the rules should be punished and the reason we don’t see the likes of Quinten Hann and Stephen Lee play anymore. Rightly so, if you cross the line you pay the consequences, highly talented or not!
Prior to this suspension Jones was riding on the crest of a wave, earning just short of £500,000 in prize money and had reached the semi-final stages of both the Paul Hunter Classic and the now defunct, Goldfields Australian Open. At the time I was touting Jamie for big things and had this upset not occurred, he could have easily have been a top sixteen player, having already climbed to 29 in the world rankings. This was the player who made a 147 break aged just 14 at competition level, a record only now beaten by Judd Trump and has had 98 centuries in his professional career, no mean feat!
Ironically this suspension ended in October 2019 but because Jones missed most of the 2018/19 season, he ended the season outside the top 64 and fell off the tour losing his tour card. The £9,000 fine along with this added blow understandably has been a bitter pill to swallow and it is only now with the dawn of a new year and decade that Jamie has been able to try this quest for glory again. This comes in the form of the World Snooker Federation in Malta which gives the winner an instant tour card place.
Jones is up for the challenge and I hope he achieves his goal as he is sadly missed on the main tour. I spent some time recently with Tony Drago and he was keen to promote this event as an opportunity for rising stars to progress and to showcase Malta as a hub of snooker. Who can forget the once legendary Malta Open that was once played on these shores. The tournament starts on January 10th and guarantees the winner two years on the tour. Viva the Welsh Warrior and here’s to great things for the player they call Jamie Jones!
