Neil Robertson wants to see changes to the World Snooker Championship (Picture: Getty Images)
Neil Robertson wants to see changes to the ‘dated and stale’ World Snooker Championship format, with shorter matches at the climax of the tournament and even a change of venue.
The 2010 world champion believes snooker needs to evolve and that few people want to watch the epic World Championship matches played over best of 33 frames in the semi-finals and best of 35 in the final.
The Australian says that he would never watch a match of that length in its entirety, so struggles to see how casual snooker fans, or potential fans of the sport could be enticed in by such lengthy contests.
The 39-year-old has only been to the Crucible semi-finals once since his incredible world title triumph in 2010 and he admits that his desire for a change in format is a personal choice, but it comes not just from a playing perspective, but also from an entertainment stance.
‘I’ve got a little bit of an issue with the World Championship, with the length of the format,’ Robertson told the Talking Balls podcast. ‘I feel that matches can drag on a bit and I’ve been sucker-punched into getting bogged down too much and getting involved in longer, scrappier frames. Which is my fault and it happened again this year, even though I said it wasn’t going to happen.
‘Personally I don’t really like the format, I think it’s pretty dated and it can be very stale.
‘I’ve never watched a best of 35 from start to finish, ever. You’ll never get the general public watching a best of 35 from start to finish, ever.
‘They’ll watch the final of the Masters or UK [Championship], they’ll dip in and out of the World Championship but they’ll never be engaged in the whole match.
‘From an entertainment point of view, the World Championship is a struggle for me to watch and I’m a top snooker player in the game.’
The Thunder from Down Under is not calling for a move to short format games at the World Championship, but believes the length of matches over the first three rounds are as long as any games should be.
‘I think best of 19 is great, best of 25 is really intriguing but you should just cut it off at that,’ he continued. ‘You don’t need to play best of 33 or 35.
‘I’ve never watched a best of 35 from start to finish, ever. You’ll never get the general public watching a best of 35 from start to finish, ever.
‘They’ll watch the final of the Masters or UK [Championship], they’ll dip in and out of the World Championship but they’ll never be engaged in the whole match.
‘From an entertainment point of view, the World Championship is a struggle for me to watch and I’m a top snooker player in the game.’
The Thunder from Down Under is not calling for a move to short format games at the World Championship, but believes the length of matches over the first three rounds are as long as any games should be.
‘I think best of 19 is great, best of 25 is really intriguing but you should just cut it off at that,’ he continued. ‘You don’t need to play best of 33 or 35.
Robertson has racked up 20 ranking titles over his amazing career (Picture: Getty Images)
‘For me personally as a sports fan I’d never tune in to watch it, I just wouldn’t, it’s like the equivalent of an eight-day Test match in cricket, it’s far too long.
‘I feel as though we’re going to lose a lot of potential fans of the sport unless we change it up.
‘I feel as though the UK Championship has benefitted a lot from going from best of 17 to best of 11. The players have adjusted, we’re not concerned about playing these long formats anymore, we just want to play the matches and for people to see good entertainment quickly.’
Robertson is not expecting the format to change any time soon and knows he must learn to deal with the longest matches in the sport if he is to add to his one world title.
However, if the World Championship was played over a shorter format, he believes he would already be a multiple world champion by now.
‘I don’t enjoy playing a best of 33 or 35,’ he said. ‘It’s me personally, and I’ve probably lost a bit of focus during some matches and that’s on me. I need to change that, while this event is as long as it is then I need to adjust to that.
Robertson has narrowly missed a return to the one-table set-up in recent years, losing in the last three quarter-finals at the Crucible Getty Images)
‘I’d love it to be a shorter format and I’d probably have won it a few more times since I did, but that’s up to me to change that.’
On the longest matches, Robertson added: ‘As a player it’s kind of boring, you’re not shaking the other guy’s hand and saying, “well played” or “bad luck” you’re saying, “we’re going to continue this four hours later and then the next day.”
‘Sometimes you play a best of 25 over three days and it doesn’t feel like you’re playing a match, it feels like you’re playing three best of 9s at that point.
‘Best of 19 up till the quarters and then best of 25 all the way through would make for a much more entertaining World Championship, that’s my opinion.’
Robertson lost out to Kyren Wilson in the quarter-final stages in Sheffield this year (Picture: Getty Images)
He says there have been shots he simply could not play as the venue is so tight, and would like to see a different venue used until the semi-finals when the event could return to the Crucible for the one-table set-up.
On how tight the venue is, Robertson said: ‘That’s where the Crucible is pretty terrible, really. It’s an amazing place to play when you’re in the semi-finals, one of the best venues you could ever play at.
‘But when it’s that small, compact environment, it’s not a great venue to play at from a player’s point of view. Even though you appreciate all the history that’s gone on there.
‘I wouldn’t mind seeing a change in venue and then bringing it back for the semi-finals and final at the Crucible. I can’t see that happening but that’s probably something I’d look to do.’
Both Ronnie and John Higgins have called for making the World final shorter and got absolutely crucified by the fans for it. Yet, both said that right after winning it and they were exhausted: all Crucible winners are absolutely shattered when they emerge from that marathon. Here comes Neil, fresh at the start of a new season and having won it just once more than eleven years ago…
So here is my take on shortening the format: NO, NO and NO!
The only change I’d like to see in the matches format is reverting to best of 31 for the semi-finals, as it was in the early 90th. I know that there is a higher risk of a short last session with the best of 31, but, on the other hand, the best of 33 often leads to a very late finish on the eve of the Final, putting one of the finalists at a serious disadvantage. Bear in mind that after the match, the players have to speak to the media, and the winner goes first to the BBC studio, and then to the media room. After that, the winner has filming to do with the BBC for the next day features. They also probably need to eat something – after they finish with the BBC – and, with adrenaline still running high, they are unlikely to find sleep easily.
The other change I’d like to see is the Final being played on a Sunday, so that viewers outside UK, who don’t get “bank holidays”, can watch it without needing to take a day off work, or being restricted to just watching the last session until ungodly hours after a full day at work. Why not start the whole thing on the Friday?
I 100% disagree with the current trend to shorten the matches. For me, I’d like to see the UK championship go back to the best of 17 from round one, yes from round one on, with tiered qualifiers. That would help the younger players too as, currently, if they manage to reach the latter stages of the World qualifiers they are faced with a multi session match, and its psychological challenges, often for the first time and they totally unprepared for it.
I know that there is pressure coming from the broadcasters in favour of one-session matches: “Viewers want to see a result” they claim. Possibly … but then the same viewers watch series with a zillion episodes. So?
For me, if fans can’t appreciate the “slow burn” of the longer matches, they are in the wrong sport, they should watch pool.
Neil’s criticisms of the Crucible as a venue on the other hand are justified. In the early rounds, the arena is really too small. The players have only just enough room to manoeuvre around the table and it’s very claustrophobic. I know of a few players who feel physically uneasy in that environment. When it’s packed, the ventilation is left wanting and, if the weather is a bit hot, it quickly becomes very uncomfortable inside. It’s an iconic place, and it’s fantastic when the one table setup is reached but, until that stage, it’s extremely cramped. What’s the solution? I’m not sure. Because moving the early rounds elsewhere would deprive the debutants of the magic of going down those steps for the first time and being welcomed by a packed Crucible audience. It’s not on. Would it be technically possible to remove the first couple of rows to make the arena a bit bigger? I suppose not, otherwise they would have tried that already I guess.
5 thoughts on “Neil Robertson wants shorter format for the World Championship”
Next up, Mark Selby wants all tournaments to be best of 55. Judd Trump wants all frames to require at least one exhibition shot. Maybe in Neil’s mind we should rename the Worlds the “Neil Robertson Invitational where we all play on his terms”
I like Neil, but it is a terrible idea and it is just made more terrible by his admission that it were shorter, he’d have more World by now. Maybe, but this is certainly not the goal and the significance of winning the Worlds, especially multiple times lies in the length and the fact that it gives less chance to chance. Yes, people hardly ever watch a best of 35 or 33 from start to finish, but Monique is right that we can watch later and there is something good in the fact that even if I can’t watch one particular time, I have not missed the whole match, there are still sessions to watch.
It is very sad that the trend is towards shorter and shorter matches and fewer frames. In the end Trump will be right that all tournaments are worth the same. 😦
The Monday-finish is indeed bizarre and if memory serves me well, in 2020 they were saved from the problems caused by sticking to the same schedule even though bank holiday was postponed to correspond with Victory Day thanks to the more or less round anniversary, because in the end COVID came…
The problem is that World Snooker (now WST) and the BBC have made the Crucible theatre into an ‘iconic’ venue, and now they are stuck with it. It’s just a building: bricks and mortar. The fact is, it’s an inadequate venue for a contemporary major sporting event and an inadequate venue for snooker (often unacceptable table conditions). If they did move to a really great venue, within two years people would be saying how wonderful that was too – it would still be the World Championship of Snooker. Perhaps there are more important things than people’s own personal ‘pilgrimages’. But the courage that led to the Crucible era in 1977, anticipating the TV age, is completely lacking now in the 2020’s.
In terms of the length of matches, perhaps it’s no coincidence that this is raised just after the success of a new tournament with mostly best-of-5 matches. I am almost convinced that the World Championship will ultimately be a best-of-11 tournament, with longer matches only from the Q-final stage onwards. This will also be a cowardly response to ‘criticisms’, caving in to those with short-attentions. The best response would be to modernise media coverage. Note that Neil Robertson was talking about people watching long matches on TV. It’s a TV issue, not a snooker issue.
Neil is right about a couple of things. Who watches a best of 35 from start to finish? Mostly the commentators and pundits. I certainly do not, I have a job and small children. Does that mean you should shorten the format? Probably best to leave that issue alone for the time being. But having the final session on a Sunday? Yes, please.
His thoughts about the Crucible is also legit. I have never been there, and I know it is an iconic place. But I can’t help to think that more people should be able to enjoy the World Championship. I do not like the absolutist thought that the World Championship must be held at the Crucible in Sheffield for eternity. I would start to look for a suitable venue now. A grand place that could offer good seating for around 2500 spectators, and the room for players to move around. Finding the perfect place to replace the iconic Crucible might take several years, but that’s okay. No rush.
(They shouldn’t bother looking for that venue in Saudi Arabia or Dubai, obviously)
I rarely watch those long matches from start to finish as they happen indeed, but I almost always watch or rewatch them afterwards and sometimes more than once. It’s a bit like when you read a book again. The first time you get caught in the action. The next time you notice more details, analyse more and enjoy it differently.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Next up, Mark Selby wants all tournaments to be best of 55. Judd Trump wants all frames to require at least one exhibition shot. Maybe in Neil’s mind we should rename the Worlds the “Neil Robertson Invitational where we all play on his terms”
I like Neil, but it is a terrible idea and it is just made more terrible by his admission that it were shorter, he’d have more World by now. Maybe, but this is certainly not the goal and the significance of winning the Worlds, especially multiple times lies in the length and the fact that it gives less chance to chance. Yes, people hardly ever watch a best of 35 or 33 from start to finish, but Monique is right that we can watch later and there is something good in the fact that even if I can’t watch one particular time, I have not missed the whole match, there are still sessions to watch.
It is very sad that the trend is towards shorter and shorter matches and fewer frames. In the end Trump will be right that all tournaments are worth the same. 😦
The Monday-finish is indeed bizarre and if memory serves me well, in 2020 they were saved from the problems caused by sticking to the same schedule even though bank holiday was postponed to correspond with Victory Day thanks to the more or less round anniversary, because in the end COVID came…
The problem is that World Snooker (now WST) and the BBC have made the Crucible theatre into an ‘iconic’ venue, and now they are stuck with it. It’s just a building: bricks and mortar. The fact is, it’s an inadequate venue for a contemporary major sporting event and an inadequate venue for snooker (often unacceptable table conditions). If they did move to a really great venue, within two years people would be saying how wonderful that was too – it would still be the World Championship of Snooker. Perhaps there are more important things than people’s own personal ‘pilgrimages’. But the courage that led to the Crucible era in 1977, anticipating the TV age, is completely lacking now in the 2020’s.
In terms of the length of matches, perhaps it’s no coincidence that this is raised just after the success of a new tournament with mostly best-of-5 matches. I am almost convinced that the World Championship will ultimately be a best-of-11 tournament, with longer matches only from the Q-final stage onwards. This will also be a cowardly response to ‘criticisms’, caving in to those with short-attentions. The best response would be to modernise media coverage. Note that Neil Robertson was talking about people watching long matches on TV. It’s a TV issue, not a snooker issue.
Neil is right about a couple of things. Who watches a best of 35 from start to finish? Mostly the commentators and pundits. I certainly do not, I have a job and small children. Does that mean you should shorten the format? Probably best to leave that issue alone for the time being. But having the final session on a Sunday? Yes, please.
His thoughts about the Crucible is also legit. I have never been there, and I know it is an iconic place. But I can’t help to think that more people should be able to enjoy the World Championship. I do not like the absolutist thought that the World Championship must be held at the Crucible in Sheffield for eternity. I would start to look for a suitable venue now. A grand place that could offer good seating for around 2500 spectators, and the room for players to move around. Finding the perfect place to replace the iconic Crucible might take several years, but that’s okay. No rush.
(They shouldn’t bother looking for that venue in Saudi Arabia or Dubai, obviously)
I rarely watch those long matches from start to finish as they happen indeed, but I almost always watch or rewatch them afterwards and sometimes more than once. It’s a bit like when you read a book again. The first time you get caught in the action. The next time you notice more details, analyse more and enjoy it differently.