Neil Robertson was left fuming after this season’s British Open, hitting out at scheduling and practice facilities at the tournament.
The event at the Centaur in Cheltenham was a memorable one this season as Jak Jones pulled off a shock win by beating Mark Selby in the final.
It is a slightly chaotic event over the first few days, with the random draw making planning and scheduling more of a headache than at other tournaments.
There was one round of qualifiers in Leicester beforehand, but the top 16’s opening round games were held over to the venue, so those matches and the last 64 onwards were played in Cheltenham.
It’s a popular event in a good venue, but the first four days are a challenge and Robertson was not happy with how the tournament was run.
Some sessions have two matches on the same table and Robertson’s first match was scheduled to be second on the Monday evening [not before 8pm] after Chris Wakelin vs Luca Brecel at 7pm.
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Wakelin won that match 4-3 and Robertson did not start his match with Pang Junxu till after 10pm, waiting in the remarkably dark and warm players’ lounge as the Englishman won the last three frames to edge the Belgian Bullet.
The uncertainty and the eventual late start irked the Aussie, as did the practice table situation in Cheltenham.
‘I let rip in the tournament office. I went berserk,’ Robertson told Metro. ‘It’s something that’s got to change in that event because that’s why I called it a chook raffle. A chook raffle in Australia is just a completely random event, it’s just chaos going on. Nobody knows what’s going on.
‘One minute you think you’re going to be playing in 10 minutes and then the next thing it’s two hours later.’
Robertson did indeed label the British Open a ‘chook raffle’ on Instagram after losing his game with Pang 4-1, which finished at around 11.45pm.
It wasn’t even the latest match to finish in that session, with Mark Selby edging David Lilley 4-3 just before 12.40am.
The Thunder wasn’t just annoyed about what time he started, but his preparation for his match.
‘There’s a couple of big points that I had from that,’ he explained. ‘One is that I couldn’t get on a practice table because there was still the booking system where players who are playing the next day or whenever have priority because they’ve booked it. They [tables] are not blocked out for the players that are on.
‘I think half an hour is blocked out for players who are going on at 7pm and then once that has elapsed, then it’s just free game for a player who has booked. I went in there and you can’t practice, so I went a few hours without even hitting a ball.’
World Snooker Tour have stated on this issue: ‘In terms of practice facilities, there is always one spare table available for players in the evening sessions to practise on, in addition to the opportunity players have to book slots on other tables in advance.’
There were a few examples of very late starts and extremely late finishes, with Liam Highfield beating Kyren Wilson and then Zhao Xintong downing Mark Joyce at close to 1am on consecutive nights.
‘Scheduling is just awful in Cheltenham because that “not before 8pm” slot, so many times that leads to somebody starting late. It was about 10.10pm I started my match,’ said the world number four.
‘I went ballistic in the tournament office. The players would rather play at 10am. There was no 10am session that day. Why? Why are you making all these players go out late?
‘You’re seeing it in tennis as well. There’s a lot of big problems with tennis matches starting too late. We’re not running around a tennis court or a football pitch, but when you’re playing that late and you’re doing some media duties. Selby won 4-3, he would have finished around 12.30-1am, he’s getting back and he’s probably not sleeping till 2.30am. It’s just not right.
‘It’s a shame because it’s a good event. I like the FA Cup style draw, but the first few rounds are just absolutely horrific for the players and it’s something that I think they’ve got to get right.’
In response to Robertson’s points, World Snooker Tour said: ‘We discussed these issues with Neil after his match and explained the reasons for the scheduling. We always take the views of players on board and make changes where it is practical, for example we have added a morning session to the opening day of this event next season. ‘
The Aussie has long been calling for a shot clock to be brought into the game and feels this would help with scheduling by speeding up games.
‘We probably need to start looking at some sort of shot clock format for snooker. I think the game really needs it, but they’re very hesitant on that idea,’ said the former world champion.
‘I think nobody really enjoys the event for the first couple of rounds and then once more space frees up, scheduling becomes a lot more predictable and it becomes a really good event.
‘It’s a great venue, conditions always play really good. It’s a shame really.’