Team Snooker?

[kev]

hi i'm new to the forums and i have to say that its great to see some good snooker forum around!
what i was wondering was if anyone knows whether or not there is any plans to bring back some form of team competition? Like the world cup in Thailand some years ago or the more recent nations cup tournaments? i thought they use to be fun and it gave the competition an extra demention because of the doubles games and the more international aspect. i think they should bring some sort of competition back, i'd like to know what the rest of you think???

[snazzydevil]

I think that would excellent to see. But the television coverage is so poor in Australia that i'd be lucky to see it. I mainly get to see the bigger money toutnaments.

Does anyone know of any sites that webcast snooker matches?

[JanieWatkins]

hi i'm new to the forums and i have to say that its great to see some good snooker forum around!
what i was wondering was if anyone knows whether or not there is any plans to bring back some form of team competition? Like the world cup in Thailand some years ago or the more recent nations cup tournaments? i thought they use to be fun and it gave the competition an extra demention because of the doubles games and the more international aspect. i think they should bring some sort of competition back, i'd like to know what the rest of you think???

There are two proposals on the table at the moment...
The IBSF is planning a World Team Championship open to all IBSF member countries - this is scheduled to go ahead some time in 2005.

Meanwhile, Thailand have expressed a wish to host a repeat of the World Team Cup, last held in Thailand in 1996 and won by Scotland.

The earliest that could take place is probably 2006-7.

[kaybebaby]

I'd love to see a team competition! Adds a whole different exciting dimension to the game!! Would be cool if they did something like this again.

[kev]

I'd love to see a repeat of the world cup maybe played every 2/3 yrs or something. If it does go ahead they should try to include as wide a variety of different nations as possible- i've heard that snooker is quite big in brazil for example and there thinking of hosting a tournament there.
Global if the ibsf tournament goes ahead would that feature the top players or just amateur players? Also would that be likely to get tv coverage? like itv did for the nations cup.

[snazzydevil]

I haven't seen a team competition in snooker. How many players team consist of and what would the format be? Knock-out? Round robin?
It would definitely be entertaining to watch with the players hopefully playing with a laid-back attitude. Sometimes it seems like they do not enjoy what they're doing.

Surely England would be the team to beat in a teams event?

[Templeton Peck]

If I remember correctly Scotland are the current holders, and there are usually 3 players per team. Last time there were 8 teams split into two groups and played in league format (each team member plays one frame against each other team member in their group). The top two teams from the two groups then compete the final. The last time though Ronnie was injured and Stephen Lee was refusing to play alongside Ebdon so they ended up roping in John Parrott and Anthony Hamilton for England. I think we were knocked out by Northern Ireland.

[Q-Tip]

Stephen Lee was refusing to play alongside Ebdon

Why's that?

[JanieWatkins]

World Cup

TP - you were thinking of the Nations Cup which was a very scaled down version of the world cup

If ibsf hold their event it will be open to every member country - around 64 around the world

It would be three man teams and any player on the planet is eligible but only if selected by the national governing body.

In reality that would mean that Scotland for instance, could selected Hendry, Higgins, Maguire etc but that they wouldn't qualify because they don't play in the amateur governing body set up. So you'd be more likely to see a Scottish team from the leading amateur players

same would apply to many countries, but not all, so Thailand would probably include James Wattana, Belgium would have Bjorn Haneveer etc.

with 64 teams in an event I would guess they'd play their usual round robin format of 8 groups of 8 teams with the top 4 from each group going into a last 32 knockout...


There is one major team event at the moment and that's the European Team championship. first held in Latvia in 2004 and won by Malta. In 2005 Malta will host the event and there will be around 24 teams from across Europe.

[Sonny]

I'm old enough to remember the State Express World Team Classic - my father took me when I was a little kid to see England v N Ireland and it was Davis, White and Knowles v Higgins, Taylor and another

I think the team format makes for great tv and is a good way to see how different nations interpret the game of snooker. A format mixing doubles and singles and maybe even other cue sports would make for a very cool event.

Does anyone else remember Ken Doherty make that clearance from something like 70 behind to win a crucial frame for ROI a few years ago? One of the best clearances I've ever seen, the format of the team event adding to pressure. I remember at the time thinking "the way he's playing, he could take the world title from Hendry" and sure enough, the confidence the team event gave him led him to the Crucible victory soon after.

[snazzydevil]

I think the team format makes for great tv and is a good way to see how different nations interpret the game of snooker. A format mixing doubles and singles and maybe even other cue sports would make for a very cool event.

I think that is a bloody fantastice idea. Something along the lines of a medely event.
Round One = Either 8 or 9ball?? (or other?)
Round Two = Snooker?
Round Three = One (or three) cushion Billiards?

This is just a rough idea, but I think it would be mighty entertaining.

[JanieWatkins]

I think that is a bloody fantastice idea. Something along the lines of a medely event.
Round One = Either 8 or 9ball?? (or other?)
Round Two = Snooker?
Round Three = One (or three) cushion Billiards?

This is just a rough idea, but I think it would be mighty entertaining.

an event rather similar to that took place in AUSTRALIA a few years ago and was called the Lindrum Masters - quinten Hann won it two years on the trot

there was 9-ball, snooker and billiards if I remember rightly, with the leading players from each discipline.

I think Oliver Ortmann from 9-ball ws runner up first year - he turned out to be rather good at billiards,

but quinten was good at all disciplines.
It was televised in australia, cos someone taped it for me and sent me the videos - which I lent to someone and never got back - naturally!!

Wasn't that Doherty clearance actually a brilliant clearance by Michael Judge in the Nations Cup that kept them in a match - or was Ken's at another event?

the northern ireland player you couldn't remember was probably Tommy Murphy

[snazzydevil]

It was on TV??? Do you happen to remember what channel it was, because I don't remember it.
I've been getting Foxtel (pay-tv) for a couple of years, so it may have been on paytv while i didn't have it.

COVERAGE HERE SUCKS!
Here's an example of what kind of coverage i get. The next game on paytv is on the 28th of october at 4am, European League (year unknown). the next one after that is 11&12-11-04, European League 2004.And so on. Sometimes I can go months without seeing something played this year.

[Templeton Peck]

I think the World Cup/Nation's Cup was on ITV, usually in January.

I remember the famous Doherty break - he basically had to make a 'maximum' break out of what was left on the table (about 70 points or so) and some of the balls were in horrendous positions and he cleared them all. Everyone started talking about how it was the best break since the Higgins '82 clearance, but then every difficult break these days seems to be the best break since the Higgins '82 clearance. Anyway, it was rather good and probably is the best break since the Higgins '82 clearance.

Another highlight was when Alan Chamberlain censured Fergal O'Brien for taking too long on a shot and Doherty threatened to report him to the board (Chamberlain, not Fergal).

[JanieWatkins]

I think the World Cup/Nation's Cup was on ITV, usually in January.

I remember the famous Doherty break - he basically had to make a 'maximum' break out of what was left on the table (about 70 points or so) and some of the balls were in horrendous positions and he cleared them all. Everyone started talking about how it was the best break since the Higgins '82 clearance, but then every difficult break these days seems to be the best break since the Higgins '82 clearance. Anyway, it was rather good and probably is the best break since the Higgins '82 clearance.

Another highlight was when Alan Chamberlain censured Fergal O'Brien for taking too long on a shot and Doherty threatened to report him to the board (Chamberlain, not Fergal).

I remember that incident very clearly but my mind's gone blank on the Doherty break - and I WOZ THERE as well!!