Without Ronnie and without Stephen Maguire
Stephen Maguire has withdrawn from this week’s World Grand Prix for medical reasons.
Maguire was due to face Shaun Murphy in the opening round on Tuesday. Instead he will be replaced by the next player in line, Ben Woollaston, who will now take on Murphy.
The tournament features the leading 32 players of the season so far and will run from March 4th to 9th, staged in Hong Kong for the first time.
This has lead to some discussion on twitter, started by Mark Allen
It’s definitely better for the fans and the promoters to have replacements. That said Mark Allen certainly has a point, and replacements don’t happen in the World Championship, even if it were to lead to an empty session. There is no consistency here. Snooker Hub also brings a valid point, but a redraw may bring a complete overhaul of the draw and schedule, leaving many spectators unhappy if they booked tickets to see specific players or matches. There is no straightforward answer to the issue.
Meanwhile … those who are in Hong Kong seem to have had a great time on a boat trip. Here are some pictures shared by various sources on social media…
And the arena looks great as well
I agree on your first point.
Price money is for those qualified and also showing up and putting in the work. A replacement player (according to the rules) IS qualified. There are no two sides there.
As to ranking points, there should be none whatsoever for any invitational tournament. It’s simply unfair, at least as long as that silly money system is in place, since it’s favoring some while excluding others.
This event, and the others in the series, are not invitational though. Every player has – in theory – the possibility to qualify for them, as they are based solely on the season results.
It’s also based on the money system, while direct qualification for a proper ranking tournament is not.
That’s true. But it’s still,
in theory
, possible for anyone to qualify for it with “equal chances” as it’s not influenced by the ranking at the start of the season.
There are three different issues with player ‘replacement’: the tournament, the prize-money, the ‘ranking points’. The priority is the first one: the tournament. It’s the organisers (and sponsors, etc.) who are financing the prize-money, and they need the event to run as smoothly as possible – no empty tables or cancelled sessions, no spectators having to be reimbursed. The tournament is for the best 32 players available (from the 1-year list) and so there is a natural and fair system to replace players who drop out. Fortunately Hossein Vafaei and Ben Woollaston seem to be able to make at very short notice.
With the prize-money issue, there is an argument both sides. It depends whether you think the £10k is awarded to first-round losers, or whether you believe that it’s a reward for the top-32. Personally I never like the idea of ‘bonuses’ or ‘entitlements’ as it can lead to perverse incentives, but it’s entirely a matter of opinion.
The ‘ranking points’ issue is unfortunately tied up the whole ‘system’ debate. I’ve long argued against such a dumb system, which completely undermines the stated objective of growing the game.
There is some precedent/rule: in 2021 at one of the one-year list tournaments (Players or Tour) Ronnie said his usual line how he did not want to play, but give his place to the next in line), but he was told he would not get the money if he did not play his match. So he played.