TSB - Ronnie withdraws from International Championships just months after sabbatical

[LittleMissAlexa]

wont allow me to delete these posts

[arbitrage]

technically they arent as non ranking means doesnt earn you ranking points ie the masters, the world seniors, premier league and championship league

seriously?! do i have to explain this to you even after putting up an OFFICIAL WORLDSNOOKER.COM link showing which events they categorize as ranking (PTCs not included) and a BBC article explaining the tour mechanics & event categorization. FCS, learn how to surf websites and read english please.

[rimmer10]

was worth the trip mate. snooker was of very high standard and the beer in liverpool is cheap. on a more serious note, does anyone know what health problems ronnie's supposed to be suffering from?

[LittleMissAlexa]

................................

[arbitrage]

did the bbc in that article state ptc as non ranking?

http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/Tou.../RankingEvents
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17928559


technically, bbc is correct. the ptcs are considered to be separate events with ranking points carried but not ranking event status. they are sometimes listed as minor-ranking series which causes confusion

[sprogbasket]

Taxi for O;Sullivan....Taxi for O'Sullivan....goodbye, good riddance.

[wildJONESEYE]

Highlight of the night without a doubt was John Virgo. What a legend!

must be a pretty **** night then.

[rimmer10]

travelled all the way up from bournemouth to liverpool to watch ronnie play jimmy white on thursday in the legends tour. ronny played well but looked like he could'nt be bothered with it all. think he fell out of love with the game IMO. Highlight of the night without a doubt was John Virgo. What a legend!

[coomsey76]

did the bbc in that article state ptc as non ranking?

They did indeed.....

"He returned to non-ranking action in early September, losing in the first round of a Players Tour Championship event in Gloucester to world number 84 Simon Bedford."

Oops a slight mistake there from the bbc......

[LittleMissAlexa]

Quite interesting to read Jimmy White's comments having been playing exhibitions with Ronnie for a couple of months now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/20097208

I saw the snooker legends in Reading on Weds 10th, Jimmy was absolutely incredible, potted everything, didn't miss all night.

did the bbc in that article state ptc as non ranking?

[LittleMissAlexa]

Totally irrelevant to this thread..

not really someone brought up when the game lost higgins it survived (that was mainly due to ronnie coming through btw)

[JeeSe]

Quite interesting to read Jimmy White's comments having been playing exhibitions with Ronnie for a couple of months now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/20097208

I saw the snooker legends in Reading on Weds 10th, Jimmy was absolutely incredible, potted everything, didn't miss all night.

[GeordieDS]

I agree the game does need Ronnie. But people also said that of Alex Higgins and the game hardly struggled when he stopped playing though his supporters always seem to think he made the game but that is another argument.

Thing is only time will tell if Ronnie's absence affects the interest level from fans in arenas, TV viewing figures and sponsors, I largely suspect it will. At the moment we have new tournaments and a few new young exciting players keeping the viewers happy.
However if, as I suspect, that Ronnie does indeed quit then someone is going to have to take over the mantle of the box office player who the game is sold to.

All sports need a dominant team or figure in order to sell itself as a product to fans and sponsors and TV companies, as well as in general a figure head for the sport. In most sports you'd look to the number one player but history in snooker has shown that the number one has by and large been a dull type of player, Hendry, Davis, and now Selby. These people were never going to get sponsors on board or sell out venues, you need the flair players like Ronnie, Trump, White etc. They may never be dominant players that get to number one for years but they have a style of game which is vital to keep the game away from the norm of most players who play a very conservative style of game.

What Cueman says...

[FerruleFox]

He's getting older. One of these days he's going to retire anyways. His health might just speed up the decision.

[FerruleFox]

I'm not surprised he pulled out. Why choose this tournament to make his comeback? Everyone knows he doesn't like traveling.