The Current State of US Snooker
| 4
|
by user Alex Holowczak
"Oh, the USA don't play snooker!" Well, my underinformed friends, think again.
In 1991 a British snooker player formed SnookerUSA, a governing body of the game in the United States. It has held a national championship every year, the results of which can be seen here. The 2007 edition was held just last weekend, in San Jose, California, with Jack Kung winning surprisingly in the Final. The full results of that can be seen here. I added the US flags unnecessarily for the sake of it.
Furthermore, both George Lai, the runner up, and Fung get to go to the IBSF World Championship later in the year. The IBSF runs amateur snooker, while the WPBSA manages the professional game. The winner of the IBSF World Championship has the opportunity to turn professional, and join the Main Tour the following season. (That would be 2007/2008). The IBSF World Championship has players from all over the world. Not only from the professional hotbeds of snooker such as England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales, but formerly great snooker nations that still have amateur events, like South Africa, Australia, Malta, New Zealand, Canada etc. But even new countries from Asia like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. The Middle East sends players, from countries like UAE, Israel, Oman, Jordan... Other European nations like Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Netherlands, Russia, even Iceland! It's a fully global affair. This winter, Lai and Fung will join them.
In 2006, no American got into the Knockout stage. Rarely has an American made it that far, to the top 32 in the World in the amateur game. In the USA, snooker is still not only a game in its infancy, but also still incredibly amateur. The US National Championship was crammed into a weekend over match lengths of just 5 frames. In the pros, matches that long are only ever in a group. The shortest you get is best of 9.
The legend it seems though, of all US Snooker, is Tom Kollins.
The championship however, is open entry! If you go to the SnookerUSA website (yes, there really is one - albeit very bad and undermaintained...), then you will at the right time be able to enter the championship yourself! It only costs $100, which is about as much as it would cost to go to an NFL game, or something like that. Admittedly you will need to undergo the pilgrimage to San Jose however. The website can be found here, for your reference. It would be foolish to enter if you were no good though.
That said, there is a lot of scope for the US to improve. There is a huge gulf between the standard of play in the US, and even the standard of play in the rest of the amateur world. Then there is another huge gulf between that and even the pros.
The biggest problem snooker has in the States is obviously the lack of media coverage (unless of course, you read here!). 9-ball pool is the played thing, and you can live at home and earn a living, rather than live in Britain. The great Canadians of a generation previous said the same. Canadian World Champion Cliff Thorburn prefered pool, despite being arguably Number 2 or 3 in reputation terms to Steve Davis for much of the 1980s.
Also, what better way could there be to be rich anonymously? The World Champion in 2008 will win £250,000, or $500,000. Plus you get all sorts of other money, in things like sponsorship, exhibitions, and the other seven or eight events on the snooker calendar. All that but remain out of the limelight. Even in Britain, a top professional can walk down the street without need of a bodyguard. What Tom Brady wouldn't give for that once in a while. You could fall off your bike without wearing a helmet and nobody will glance twice. You don't really need to preserve your body with huge attention. All this and you can be a millionaire, at least in $ terms.
As for the state of US Snooker in the future? It's hard to know. I can find no information at all on the age of any of the competitors, other than they look fairly youthful, perhaps Kollins excepting. There's certainly plenty of room for another US player though, they're hardly flooding the scene.
Snooker is more established than any of you think in the USA. Any talent there could be would rather stay in the States and play pool. Which is a shame, because pool is worse than boxing in having about 20 World Champions simultaneously. Snooker only has 1, which is undisputed.
Have a go if you get the chance at this alien sport, and you'll be blown away at how easy the pros make it look in the Hendry-White match I'm posting over upcoming months. Just don't make a fool of yourself in San Jose until you can make a 50 break...
