HOW SNOOKER SUCCESSFULLY LED SPORT RESUMPTION

Snooker is in full flow now and we fans are happy to have something to watch other than all the bad news 2020 has brought. And even though we expected the lack of crowd to be an atmosphere killer, we all kind of got used to that since every sport is having to play behind close doors.

But snooker was the first major sport in the occident to resume play after lockdown started. Even though some people thought it was too early to return (some still may do and I don't argue with that), we can't deny that snooker has achieved a successful return which also led other sports to the same path. The World Championship achieved record viewing figures and even though the crowd was not there (but for days 1, 16 and 17) the atmosphere was still great and the tension was still there - as seen in day 15  when both semifinals went to the wire.

It was also very clever from World Snooker Tour to not resume play immediately with the World Championship. Having some tournaments prior to that as well as playing the qualifiers helped players and fans to create a proper hype to the World Championship. 

They have been very accurate with their actions regarding the safety of players and everyone involved too. The Milton Keynes bubble has been effective and the on-site accomodations have helped to deny any possibilities of a Covid-19 outbreak spoling an ongoing tournament. That's the reason for example, that we're having a second Championship League since lockdown begun, third in 2020. Its short matches and the fact that you manage to get the groups played in separate set of days help to not get too many players in the bubble at the same time. I find the early stages very uninteresting now that we get all 128 players in, although I understand that at this time it's an ideal scenario to give everyone on tour - mainly the low ranked - an opportunity to play a ranking tournament.

It's not been easy though. Every sport is finding their own difficulties when it comes to resume play - Tennis for example had most of its big names, which included Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, deciding not to play in the US Open before world number one Novak Djokovic got disqualified.

Snooker pays a price for wanting to lead the way of playing ressumption. Some thought it was too early to come back when Snooker did in June, and then some thought it was too early to have a crowd in when Snooker announced 30% would be allowed at the Crucible. Anthony Hamilton even withdrew after qualifying for the first time in 12 years citing health concerns, just for the government to regret their decision and say that actually they wouldn't allow crowds in anymore during day one of the World Championship. I personally liked that because it took out of the way the possibility of an early outbreak cancelling the event. Then when the 30% crowd was allowed in again, for the two-days final, it was a welcome addition to the atmosphere of the biggest match of the year.

The latest controversy was when two players tested positive for Covid-19, resulting in another three players having to withdraw for having had contact with them. I think the buzz around this wouldn't be big if two of the players affected (by receiving byes to the next round, not infected) weren't Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby. But does this mean somehow that World Snooker Tour is not doing this right? Definitely not. Players get tested, quarantined and stay on a bubble during the tournaments, the protocols have worked fine and every tournament so far has successfully been played to an end without any troubles. But once you're outside the bubble they can't control what you're doing - in fact even the ones who take care the most could get infected.

What those withdraws really tells us is that WST is commited to safety and will keep working on creating the best possible enviroment to play. 

And if the environment is the best possible, we look ahead. And well, after what we saw at the European Masters there's only one thing I can say: watch out for Mark Selby. We've seen what he can do when he's at his best - he's spent forever as world number one and won 6 ranking titles including two World Championships and the UK Championship in 13 months between 2016 and 2017. 

Although he's had a couple below pair seasons by his own standards, he seems to be back at his best. He would've been World Champion now if it wasn't by his narrow defeat against Ronnie in that semifinal, and he overturned that with a ranking title straight away. Having a reduced schedule this season and with the majority of tournaments being played in the UK (so far no abroad event has been announced), I feel we may be about to get reminded of what domination is like.

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