By Elliott West
“All these players going to Macau are selling their souls for an extra few quid. I am disappointed in how selfish and small-minded they have been. I expect they will be referred for disciplinary action by WST. We’ll see whether they get fined, banned or thrown out”.
Barry Hearn
Introduction
This year’s Northern Ireland Open is facing a rocky start even before the first ball has been potted. Five of snooker’s top guns, Ali Carter, Luca Brecel, John Higgins, Mark Selby and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh have defied the red tape of the WST and refused to play in the event, preferring instead to take part in a lucrative tournament in Macau, China. Their decision to play in China has rattled snooker’s governing body, threatening the players with legal action if they take part. A decision that has been branded by Ronnie O’Sullivan with a colourful response. The named players say they are doing nothing wrong as the event takes place when there is a space in the snooker calendar but WST argues that they are breaching snooker guidelines by withdrawing from a calendar tournament and then taking part in another.
The Daily Mail exposed this story on Sunday 8 October about the now-dubbed ‘Macau Five’ after learning about it the previous day. Fair play to the snooker journalists Hector Nunns and Martin Robinson who broke this story. WST responded by saying the article was full of inaccuracies but when challenged to cite them, there was a wall of silence from the men in grey suits. This is frankly a situation that has been badly handled by the governing body and has caused a grey deal of anger privately amongst the players. To gag, silence and threaten players is the wrong course of action, especially as behind-the-scenes things were going so well in the aftermath of the match-fixing scandal.
A Bad Place
I am hearing that at this week’s Wuhan Open, all the usual Zoom press conferences have been ditched with the excuse of being unavailable. The Macau event looks likely to be cancelled or postponed with organisers extremely worried about what course of action WST will take if the named players take part in the event. This just goes to prove that this is a genuine story and not just a glitzy headline.
I agree that rules should be adhered to but surely there is a better way to deal with this matter. Don’t let this issue erupt and become a problem that you will find very difficult to diffuse. Snooker players have hard skins but don’t like being sent to the precipice and threatened by being pushed over the edge. If WST carried out their threat, they would probably lose when a lawyer tore into their evidence. The calibre of players that would punished would leave a bitter taste in the mouth of snooker and would outrage fans and players. Get a grip WST and and resolve the matter in a dignified way. There must be a compromise. It took until Tuesday evening for WST to finally state this issue and it certainly didn’t help matters.
“If these players decide to participate in the exhibition in Macau, the WST will have no alternative but to refer them to the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee for breach of their player contract, and this has been communicated to the players”.
WST statement
China
With China now Covid-free, the doors are wide open for players to get on a plane and play snooker in this Las Vegas of snooker. Aside from the calendar events, there are now a growing number of exhibitions and small-scale tournaments that are attractive to the eye of the top players. Let’s face it, money talks and the prize money in some of these events tops what you could earn in the UK. Snooker is the bread for these players and for many, the only job they have had. So this magnetic money force draws them in and gets them to sign on the dotted line of the contract. When you go to China, you are treated like snooker royalty and the red carpet is rolled out for you. Those Chinese fans that can afford a ticket, queue up to see players that they probably have only seen previously on a television screen.
The lucrative 2023 Macau Snooker Masters offers a top prize of £150,000 and a number of new sponsorship deals as well to the winner. A great incentive for this eight-player invitational event to be held over Christmas at the luxury five-star Wynn Palace in Macau. This takes the sting out of the tail for any player involved, in playing snooker on Christmas Day. No wonder this snooker tournament has been dubbed the ‘Las Vegas of the East’.
There is also an exhibition looming in Shanghai which takes place during the Northern Ireland qualifiers. This features Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Jack Lisowski and Ding Junhui. WST is also unhappy with this being played and believes it will overshadow the Northern Ireland Open qualifiers. The governing body also wants a media and social media blackout for those involved and sent out threatening letters to try and dissuade the players. When pressed on this matter, responded by saying they do discuss private conversations or share contractual information.
Cracks
There are already rumours that some players are so upset with these bullyboy tactics that are prepared to boycott the Masters next January and it makes Ronnie’s fanciful idea of a breakaway tour slightly more plausible. Very few snooker players are millionaires and they have to pay their bills like anyone else. This all boils down to a snooker players being able to earn what they can and choose how and when they play. China seems to value these players a lot more. This a bold statement but I am slowly beginning to believe it. We can’t wait forever for the Saudi Arabian Masters. A pipe dream that seemed to stall even before it got off the ground with no further announcements on a staging since!
