STEVE DAVIS FEARS FOR SNOOKER
Match-fixing allegations will destroy sport, warns legend
SNOOKER legend Steve Davis fears for the sport's future in the wake of the latest match-fixing allegations.
This week's Maplin UK Championship in Telford has been overshadowed by a huge betting scandal.
The sport's governing body, the WPBSA, has launched an investigation into the Stephen Maguire-Jamie Burnett first-round match after bookies halted wagers on a 9-3 win for Maguire - the eventual score.
But with next month's Wembley Masters and April's world championship still without sponsors and prize money at an all-time low, six-times world champ Davis, 51, warned: "What happened this week has not been good for the sport.
"I'm worried about the game's future. We are struggling for sponsors as it is. We don't want snooker tarnished by match-fixing.
"When something like this happens it shocks you, especially in a tournament as big as the UK Championship. The governing body is doing the right thing by launching an investigation - we have to get to the bottom of this."
Glaswegian Maguire yesterday crashed 9-4 to Shaun Murphy in the semi-finals, meeting out on a place in today's final against Marco Fu.
Maguire said: "I've never thrown a match in my life and never would. This has upset me.
"I knew there was money bet on the match, but I had nothing to do with it.
"I just went out to win. I'm happy for an investigation and I'll help any way I can."
Maguire's close pal and 2006 world champ Graeme Dott said: "Anyone caught match-fixing should be banned for life."
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This article has 3 comments
From a 70 year old player who's watched it all unfold.
Snooker has become much easier with very light balls and loose pockets. Before these changes started to take effect to pot with deep screw and/or with lots of side on the cue required incredible cuemanship. Potting balls with speed into the center pocket was nearly impossible.
So now we have 15 year olds making shots that Joe Davis took a lifetime to master. The game has simply become too easy and has lost it's appeal.
By Barrie Sawbridge.. Posted January 3 2009 at 5:52 PM.
i have been a snooker player all my life and the bottom line is that Snooker has become relatively boring because the players have actually become too good at the game! (curiously this happened with Billiards in the 1930's) Except for Ronnie the players are much of a muchness, very metronomic and reliable potting machines, in years gone by players were more prone to mistakes.
In the 70's and 80's Snooker was easy tv time for both bbc and itv and so sponsors money poured in, but in those days there were far more 'characters in the game and players were actuallly more inconsistent, that numbers of players earn good money from being professionals is quite a recent phenomenon,
the 'professionalisation' of the game has led to many very good players coming along who practiced and practiced. But the loss of the characters and curiously the higher standard of play has led to snooker being a much more boring, predictable event. Tv viewing figures have dropped and sponsors have become hard to find.
Players outside the top 32 earn poor money, some of them may be pray to the lure of match fixing.
snooker is a declining sport, our local league used to have 7 divisions but now only 4 and many of the teams are from snooker clubs in contrast to the old style working mens clubs and various sporting clubs that many towns and cities used to have.
Young folks are simply doing different things, snooker seems boring to them.
Snooker in the Uk needs some new vision to create interest.
By Ian Stockham.. Posted December 22 2008 at 12:23 AM.
LIE DETECTOR TIME!
By Stu.. Posted December 21 2008 at 1:44 AM.