Jason Francis, chairman of World Seniors Snooker and “inventor “of the Snooker Legends is passionate about snooker, caring about people, extremely dynamic, has a background in the world of theatre, panto, and shows … and a creative mind.
Since the lockdown, he has come up with a number of initiatives aiming at keeping people busy and positive whilst gathering money to support the NHS, and its equivalent organisations in other countries.
The first one was the blue ball challenge.
Players who have a table at home were invited to attempt to pot the blue – on its spot – playing from the D. There were given 10 attempts and were invited either to do it “live” on Facebook or to record their performance to be shown later on social media. Everyone interested in supporting them was invited to have a guess about how many they would get, just for fun, to watch and, if possible, to make a donation to support a health service, NHS, or a local hospital, a charity or the player’s national health service if they aren’t British.
Players from all abilities and backgrounds took the challenge: seniors, juniors, main tour, men and women, able-bodied and disabled. Players came from Britain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Bermuda, Thailand … and I’m sure I’m missing quite a few.
Gary Filtness, a Senior player, was the first to take the challenge and scored 10 out of 10!
On May 4, this was proudly published
Polo shirts are now available, featuring the players’ name and their score. They are available for £20, of which £10 goes to the cause.
Here is the “Dylan Smith” one … Dylan is only 12 years old and scored 8 out of 10!
The blue ball challenge was a great success but, as not every player has access to a table at home, the cause is currently running out of blue ball challengers…
So Jason is now coming up with a different challenge: the first poke.
Here is Jason explaining what it’s all about:
And that’s not all … the snooker family got together to produce this 🎤:
Here is what was shared by Jason on the World Seniors Snooker official Facebook page, regarding the song and rights attached to it:
The Snooker Family have come together to continue our fundraising for Health Workers. If you enjoy this please consider donating to our cause at
This recording is a cover performed with permission of the owner of the backing track. Karaoke. Co. Uk Original Song written by Sting (c) A&M records ltd. We do not own the copyright or any rights to the song
So, if you want to help and support your health services, there are plenty of ways you can do just that AND have fun at the same time! THANK YOU!
Yesterday was the day when the 2020 World Champion should have been crowned, instead, these things happened …
Stephen Hendry interviewed Steve Davis on Instagram
It’s really a great, very enjoyable, interview.
TopicsGoffs they discuss:
Funny memories from Hong Kong
What Steve Davis enjoyed most in snooker (the process)
How did it start for Steve (Christmas …)
When did he realise/accept that he wasn’t the best anymore (it was a long process)
How they are all competitive animals and it never goes away
The current standard, and who is the best Ronnie or Judd
Did Steve have something to say in the way the rackpack was filmed? no. Is it good? yes.
Why and how they, as former players, don’t judge players the way fans do
Natural ability and perception of it by the fans
How Steve came to become a DJ
Steve explaining synthesisers to Stephen (that’s funny … Stephen being completely lost, not even knowing what that thing is)
Steve’s rivals in the early days
Favourite DJ’s
Favourite Belgian beer (Steve likes the strong stuff!)
Something he still could learn in snooker … surprising answer by Steve: positional play (Ronnie pops in: he thinks he was still better than most today)
How do you spot “raw talent”. You can only judge it in matchplay.
Goffs, the great Irish crowd and Steve’s proudest moment, three misses and miscalculation
Plus Cuetracker “quiz”
And Steve is moderately looking forward to the possible World Championship end July… he’s busy on a second album.
Next Monday, Stephen could possibly get Mark Williams “on the grill”. It should be fun if it happens!
PDC chairman Barry Hearn hopeful darts and snooker will be one of the first sports to return
“There’s a big hope. We have one big advantage is that we can play, for example darts and snooker, we can play within social distancing rules”
Barry Hearn is hoping darts and snooker will return sooner than other sports
PDC and WST chairman Barry Hearn says there is a ‘big hope’ for darts and snooker to return so long as they adhere to social distancing rules.
The uncertainty over the return of professional sport continues to play havoc on the calendar due to the coronavirus outbreak. Ongoing rescheduling means the Premier League has been pushed back to August, while there remains uncertainty over the Matchplay, which is due to be staged at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool from July 18-26.
World Snooker announced that this year’s World Championship has been rescheduled to begin on July 31 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
I would imagine that snooker and darts will be two of the earliest sports that can come back with some real sporting action. Barry Hearn
Speaking on Friday’s episode of The Boxing Show on Sky Sports News, Hearn feels darts and snooker may be at an advantage of coming back sooner than any other sports.
“Well there’s a big hope,” said Hearn. “We have one big advantage is that we can play, for example darts and snooker, we can play within social distancing rules.
“We don’t need to be within two metres. It’s quite straightforward, so if you’re looking for a sport to come out of this transitional period, as we ease the lockdown over a period of time, I would imagine that snooker and darts will be two of the earliest sports that can come back with some real sporting action.”
Hearn praised the ingenuity of the PDC in bringing the Home Tour into people’s houses, proving to be a major hit among players and fans.
“There’s lots of other rules that we’ll have to follow, but we started darts at home as a rather creative idea from the PDC, which is on the Sky Sportsapp, as you know. We had a player in Hong Kong playing a guy in Middlesbrough. That was fabulous to watch, the technical quality is not brilliant, but it’s very watchable and it’s something that brings a smile to our face, and a bit of light in our lives,” said the 71-year-old.
Hearn, who underwent surgery after suffering a minor heart attack in early April, added it was important to follow government guidelines before things return to normal.
“I think snooker and darts will be the first to come out and we’re preparing papers for government at the moment to say – this is plan A, but we then move to plan B, which is perhaps limited audiences, and then plan C, the land of milk and honey, back to normal,” said Hearn.
“But it’s going to take time and we have to do what’s right within government guidelines. We have to listen, we have to learn and we have to follow the rules that our leaders dictate, and we’re very happy to do that, but we will be creative, because our sports are self-employed people – the same with boxers – they need to be in action to earn their money.
How Barry Hearn can think that snooker can be played whilst abiding by social distancing rules, I don’t know. Players share a table and a set of balls. Matches at the World championship go on for hours. They constantly touch the table, and regularly handle the white ball as well. So unless they play in full surgical gloves – which surely isn’t an option – I can’t see how that works.
Matchroom Sport is delighted to announce that Matchroom Live, a platform giving sports fans worldwide access to its portfolio of events, will launch this Wednesday, May 6th.
The service allows fans to delve into the history books of all Matchroom’s offerings from Boxing to Darts to Snooker and many more for free. Fresh archive footage will be added continuously ensuring every sports fan has countless hours of sport to watch wherever they are in the world.
Snooker fans will be able to watch classic moments featuring all-time greats including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and many more. World Championship winning moments, dramatic matches, 147s – the platform will feature a wealth of classic content. Highlights videos from this season’s big tournaments, all episodes of our magazine show Baize Watch and a range of other fantastic snooker content will also be available.
Fans will also be able to live stream ongoing events through a subscription package and pay-per-view options in territories without current broadcast rights holders. This will give fans direct access to the action including the World Darts Championship and Premier League Darts, Pool’s Mosconi Cup and World Pool Championship, plus the World Snooker Championship and the remainder of Matchroom Sport’s catalogue of live events.
Matchroom Live is a video-first platform, with the ability to cast to virtually any device whether that be a console, Smart TV, or connected device. The services will also allow fans to watch up to four live events at once with ‘QuadPlay’.
The service is built and powered by sports streaming and video technology specialists StreamAMG. They have been a longstanding partner of Matchroom Sport operating PDCTV since 2016 and streaming Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz II for the Indian Subcontinent in December 2019.
Fans can sign up for the free archive of sports from Wednesday May 6th.
I’m not too sure what to make of this. My worries are triggered by the part that I have put in bold. WST has currently ongoing contracts with the BBC and Eurosport, as well as with partners in China. However, every contract comes to an end eventually and needs to be re-negotiated. For those sports “owned” by Matchroom the temptation might be there to keep an exclusivity to show some events or specific matches on their platform, forcing fans to subscribe, or even to be forced into a pay-per-view system for the highest-profile ones. After all, they are out there to make money! I must say, I’d hate that.
There wasn’t really anything that particularly interested me from Eurosport or WST over the last two days. BBC Crucible Classic matches though were good ones: the 2011 and the 2013 finals. I was fortunate enough to be there both times.
The 2011 World Championship was the tournament where Judd Trump really announced himself on the big scene. Granted, he had won the 2011 China Open a few weeks before, but somehow that didn’t have the same impact. Judd came to the World Championship as a qualifier, and, on day one, sent the defending champion, Neil Robertson, back home. He had no fear, little expectations on his shoulder, played ultra attacking snooker, and toyed with the “naughty, fashionable playboy snooker player”. The press lapped it! He, and his friends, were taking on social media … triggering mixed reactions. The match turned on one shot, the blue along the rail he missed, in frame 22. he could have lead 13-9, instead, it went 12-10. He was still in the lead but, being there, I remember how the whole atmosphere of the match changed. Somehow, from there, it seemed inevitable to me that John Higgins would win. Speaking of atmosphere, the tension in the Crucible when the players were introduced for the last session was incredible. I’ve never felt anything like it, before or after, neither at the Crucible in other years nor anywhere else. The Tempodrom came close at times, but not quite the same.
The 2013 World Final was an excellent match. Ronnie was playing at the highest level, and yet, for the best of three sessions, Barry Hawkins stayed with him. Between them, they had 24 breaks over 50, including 8 centuries (6 by Ronnie, 2 by Barry). But it was not just about scoring: both played hard match snooker and the quality of the safety exchanges was extremely high. You can enjoy the pictures I took at the Crucible that year here. Barry Hawkins is a massively underrated player: at his best, he’s very efficient and dangerous. He has been inconsistent in recent years though. And, of course, at the start of the tournament, nobody was giving Ronnie a prayer. He had only played one competitive match all season, losing to Simon Bedford in the first round of a PTC… Defending the World title in those circumstances was quite an extraordinary feat and probably one of the greatest sporting achievements of all time.
With no action, the two main talking points yesterday were the second Instagram Ronnie-Hendry chat and the announcement that peter Ebdon retires from professional snooker
Here is the Instagram chat between Ronnie and Stephen Hendry
It’s a bit of “bits and pieces” chat as they were watching the Higgins v Trump 2011 final
So what did I take from it – things they both agreed on:
Trump had the time was hyper-aggressive, but his cue ball control was non-existent and he hit the ball far too hard.
Higgins, like Hendry, is a Crucible animal. Crucible can do bizarre things to you. It doesn’t suit everyone. Ronnie said he had to learn.
They have doubts about how the World Championship could work at the Crucible if empty., especially the two table setup. According to Hendry, for the time being, it’s on: the BBC asked him to keep his agenda free. But Hendry said that BBC would need to have a lot of people on site. He said that ITV has 80 people on-site for an event like the Tour Championship. Ronnie thinks it could be better if it was played elsewhere, in a venue that isn’t “meant” for spectators, a bit like the CLS.
They also discussed the fact that there is no way that commentary could be done from the commentary small boxes.
Regarding the Tour Championship, the venue is currently used as a hospital for coronavirus patients. So they have doubts about that one too.
Beating younger players is the most difficult. They are not sure the Judd Trump could get to seven. They expect some hungry younger players to stop him from doing it.
They discussed the younger Chinese players. Very talented but they need to learn “match play. Neither really rate Yan Bingtao, they can’t really understand what kind of player he is. About Ding, he’s doesn’t appear to have the hunger and Hendry doesn’t rate his temperament. Too much money too early seems to be Hendry’s opinion. (Mine is too many expectations on him from too young an age and for too long)
They chatted about exercise and cooking. Ronnie is back running. They might do an Instagram cooking session.
They had a laugh about “the Nuggett” … they love him really (now, not “then” …)
What I took, regarding Ronnie:
He looked well and happy.
From what he said, his hunger and motivation for snooker are not very high.
He intends to play at the World Championship if it’s on, but his motivation isn’t that strong. He’d rather go out early than in the final. My view on that is that losing to Selby in 2014 really hurt badly and did long-lasting damage … unfortunately.
Speaking about his intention to play in everything in the coming two seasons he used the word “I might” not “I will”. So I’m not holding my breath about it.
The title, of course, needs to catch the attention of potential readers, but Phil almost immediately makes it clear that there was a bit – or a lot – of “tongue in cheek” stuff in that conversation.
Ronnie O’Sullivan: ‘I hope the World Championship doesn’t go ahead, I want a longer break.’
Ronnie O’Sullivan is not convinced by a World Championship with no fans (Picture:Getty Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan claims he’d rather the World Snooker Championship didn’t go ahead this year, while he also suggests it is not held at the Crucible if it is played behind closed doors.
As ever, the Rocket had his tongue somewhere near his cheek during an Instagram Live with Stephen Hendry on Thursday afternoon, but recommended playing the World Championship at Crondon Park in Essex rather than the famous Sheffield venue.
The World Championship has been rescheduled to start on 31 July, although it has not been confirmed whether it will be played behind closed doors, with a limited crowd or with a full audience in South Yorkshire – while the possibility remains that it could not go ahead at all.
The 44-year-old is not convinced about those options, but says he would rather see it played at the former home of the Championship League near Stock in Essex if there were no fans allowed in.
‘I hope it don’t go ahead, I want a longer break,’ said O’Sullivan.
‘It’ll be mental [with no fans]. To play in, it’s going to feel very bizarre. When they go to the one table set-up, you go down sometimes and see the table-fitters sometimes and it’s empty. It’s going to be like that, crazy.
‘Maybe they’d be better at playing somewhere like Crondon Park where the venue doesn’t lend itself to the crowd. What’s the point of having 900 empty seats? It’s going to look stupid. You might as well have a little intimate venue.
Have 10 people in, spread them about and charge them 20 grand a ticket. ‘It’s not going to be a punters thing, it’s just a viewing thing on TV, so I don’t get why they’re going to the Crucible. Why bother?
’ WST have booked the Crucible with the hope that an audience is allowed by 31 July, whether the full house or limited numbers, so there is a reason they are still heading to Sheffield.
A decision will be made closer to the time based on government guidelines
O’Sullivan has triumphed at the Crucible five times but not since 2013 and admits that the 17-day epic just does not suit his game, his attitude or personality.
‘I think Sheffield is one of them that once you get on a roll, getting results then one year runs into the next,’ said Ronnie.
‘I had that period of three or four years where it was alright but you get to the point where it’s a bit of a mind thing.
‘I’ve had six years where I don’t think I’ve been beyond the quarter-finals. I might have had one quarter-final in six years. It’s a strange place, it’s either the best or it’s the worst. ’17 days, I was never meant to sustain it for, I have to really work hard to do that.
‘With me, I’m such an emotional player and person, to try and hold it down for 17 days, I’m beaten before I go there sometimes, it’s just not a great tournament for me. It’s like asking Usain Bolt to run the marathon. It’s just not suited to his genes or personality.’
Hendry believes the Rocket has at least one more World Championship title in him, but Ronnie is not convinced.
‘You know what, I can’t be arsed,’ he said. ‘I’d rather get pumped in the first round than get beat in the final. That’s my mindset.
‘I got beat in 2014 [final] and thought I’d rather have got beat first round. I just can’t be bothered. It’s 17 days, it’s great if you win it, but if you don’t…
‘I’m just not that hungry for it anymore. I love playing, love competing, I enjoy the lifestyle, bit of fun. As for going to the well, nah.
’ However, there is always a tease with O’Sullivan and he still suggests he might knuckle down and give the Crucible another proper crack.
‘Listen, I might, if I get my head down and play a lot of tournaments, then there’s enough base training and enough matches…’
Former World Champion Peter Ebdon has announced his retirement from professional snooker due to a chronic neck injury.
Ebdon, age 49, has suffered from pain in his neck, back, shoulders and arms in recent months and has decided to bring an end to his playing days rather than undergo risky spinal surgery.
The London-born cueman turned pro in 1991 and has since had an unbroken sequence of 29 years on the circuit. He won the world title in 2002, beating Stephen Hendry 18-17 in one of the all-time great finals. He appeared at the Crucible 22 consecutive times from 1992 to 2013, also reaching the final in 1996 and 2006.
Known for his dedication to practice, determination and sturdiness under pressure, Ebdon had a reputation throughout his prime years as one of the toughest competitors on the tour.
Aside from his world title, he won eight other ranking events including the 2006 UK Championship and, most recently, the 2012 China Open. Only ten players in snooker history have won more. His last ranking final was the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic when he lost to Kyren Wilson.
The player nicknamed The Force achieved a career high ranking of number three in the world in 1996/97 and 2002/03 and is currently 55th. He has made 377 century breaks including two official 147s.
His last match was at the German Masters qualifiers on December 20th when he lost 5-4 to Matthew Stevens. Ebdon subsequently pulled out of several ranking events due to injury, and has now decided not to return.
Ebdon told World Championship sponsor Betfred: “I had an MRI scan about seven weeks ago which picked up significant wear and tear in my neck. There is serious deterioration in some of the vertebrae and I have been in pain since Christmas. Two of the vertebrae need to be replaced, which is not an operation I want to have because if it went wrong I could be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.
“It’s far too risky. The professor explained to me that it wouldn’t be a cure. It could work, but it could make things worse and I would probably need to have it again in ten years.
“The one thing I can’t do if I don’t have the operation is play snooker again, because of the compression in my neck. So, as sad as it is for me, that’s the end. Having weighed everything up that is the decision I have come to.
“At the moment I can walk and talk and the pain has got better. I have received a lot of help from the healers at the College of Healing so a big thank you to them.”
Ebdon has plenty of strings to his bow away from the baize and intends to put more time into other avenues. “I’d like to continue with my commentary for the BBC if possible,” he added. “I have trained to become a professional healer myself, and I’ve also got a professional pedigree consultancy business. It was difficult to put time into those things while I was playing snooker so I can do that now. I’ll have the opportunity to put something back through healing, as well as spending more time with (wife) Nora.”
WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: “I grew up with Peter on the amateur circuit. We were rivals but also became friends. You’ll never find a player who put more effort and discipline into the sport or had as much mental strength. A lot of players could learn from the characteristics that he showed.
“He has also been a great ambassador for snooker over many years and I’m sure that will continue. He has a lot of interests away from snooker and is the type of person to put 100% into whatever he tries. I hope his health improves now that he has stopped playing and perhaps one day we’ll see him on the World Seniors tour.”
I’m wishing Peter Ebdon the best, especially health-wise. Being in pain every day is extremely hard and dispiriting. I hope he finds happiness and satisfactory activities in retirement.
When a player of Peter Ebdon status retires, everyone seems to find words of praise.
I’m going to be honest: I’ve always had ambivalent feelings towards Peter, and his retirement doesn’t change that.
As a player, he almost always battled extremely hard, showed a lot of dedication, and had a very unusual, but very interesting understanding of the table leading to original and creative shot selections. I enjoyed watching him … except when he turned to slowing down tactics that bordered gamesmanship, something he famously did against Ronnie at the Crucible in 2005, but that wasn’t a one-off.
As a person, he has very extreme views on some subjects, notably diet (vegan) and politics (right-wing, Brexit), and I’m very wary of people with “extreme” views and positions., especially when they appear to be inconsistent. How Peter can be both a militant vegan, battling for animals well-being and rights, and a professional pedigree consultant, indirectly serving one of the cruelest, money-driven industries in horse racing is beyond my understanding.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 