THE 2024 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BLOG

May 10, 2024

THE 2024 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BLOG

For the second time in my life, I took the 13-hour trip to Sheffield from Brazil to watch the World Snooker Championship.

As opposed to 2022 when I attended the event's first week, this time I was there for the final week and, once again, with the media accreditation that gives me full access to the Crucible backstages and the press. And now, (as I did in 2022 turning out to be the most viewed post in the blog's history), here's my full blog about the visit:

Sheffield

I'll never get enough of the "Steel City". It's incredible to see the whole city embracing snooker and it really is something we could not have anywhere else.

Sheffield grew around snooker when it found itself as home of the UK's most popular sporting event in the 80's, and has now been the home of the game for nearly 50 years. And that's why it's become the "snooker capital of the world". Being in Sheffield is a huge part of the experience in attending the World Championship for a snooker fan.

If it moves away from Sheffield, it could indeed be in a bigger city like London, Beijing, Berlin or in a luxury place somewhere in Saudi Arabia. But what other sports have what Snooker has in Sheffield? An entire city entangled with a sporting event for 17 days. Should snooker give that up?

Anyway, it was fantastic to once again meet old and new friends in there. The theatre is amazing, but the atmosphere outside in the Tudor Square is superb - the love for snooker can really be felt in Sheffield like nowhere else.

The Crucible

Well, it's the home of snooker, isn't it? I only had one ticket this time (session three of Bingham vs O'Sullivan), but it was once again fantastic to wander around backstages and make part of the press conferences, where this time I had the chance to interview Jak Jones, Judd Trump, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Kyren Wilson.

But being in the crowd for the trophy presentation was maybe the highlight of my English trip. Like the players, I was very emotional at that moment too. It was literally this blog that brought me there, and I've been writing in here for over 11 years - never for profit, and never affiliated with WST, WPBSA or anyone else, it's been just for the love of the game.

And I've also never wrote here anything that went against my own and most honest views, by the way I've been very critical of WST and Matchroom this season, so to still be able to get the media accreditation and be part of all that was really pleasing.

The Championship

And who could've guessed how the tournament came out? Three qualifiers in the semifinals (David Gilbert, Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones) with Kyren Wilson eventually winning it all after a quiet season for his own standards.

People will look at the century breaks made count and say it was a lower standard championship than usual, which I partially agree - we expected a lot from a few players, especially Ronnie and Judd, and they didn't really perform. The championship kind of went "up for grabs".

But yet I can't take nothing away from the four semifinalists and how well they played. Bingham beat O'Sullivan in a fantastic performance in the quarterfinals, unfortunately he couldn't play well in the semis but it's good to see him back in form; Gilbert is another one who's hit form again, he played a fantastic tournament but paid the price for one bad session in the semifinals; Jak Jones is a new star in snooker, he debuted last year and beat Neil Robertson on his way to the quarterfinals, and even though he didn't follow that up with a good season, he qualified to the World Championship and proved to be a "Crucible Specialist" as he was rock solid on his way to the final; As for Kyren Wilson, he was simply "ruthless" - didn't have one bad session and punished his opponents every time he had the chance. If you play like that for 17 days the result can be no other, a very deserving winner.

Threats of leaving after 2027, and alternatives to stay

It can't go without saying that the rumours of the World Championship leaving the Crucible after the contract runs to an end in 2027 (the 50th anniversary of the tournament being staged there) did overshadow the event a bit this year.

For the first few days there was a bit of sadness around the snooker community as it sounded like either China or Saudi Arabia had offers that could not be matched, in regards to staging the event from 2028. But then, towards the end of the event a hope surged that it could possibly stay in Sheffield.

Like I said, I don't think the event should ever leave Sheffield. By the way, in 2022 I wrote a full piece about that (read here) and I wouldn't change a word, snooker can't give up what it has in Sheffield and I think if it did, it would pay the price over the long term. People who want to go talk a lot about money and how it could be better for the players to have a more lucrative event, but if you look at the rest of the season nothing comes close to the World Championship. The opportunities are there to make it more lucrative, without having to touch the Crucible - in fact, in my view no other snooker event is half in size as what the World Championship is in Sheffield, all things considered.

As I've been telling here in the last few months, Matchroom owns the World Snooker Tour and now that it's run by Eddie the sport is no longer amongst the company's main priorities. Based on their recent decisions concerning snooker, I think the sport is now mainly a big source of profit for them.

But is there a chance for it to stay in Sheffield, even with that much money on the table? There's plan for making the Crucible bigger, which I first read of on June 2022's issue of the Snooker Scene.

If it was my decision, I'd just keep everything as it is without messing up with something that's not broken. But the most important thing for me is for it to stay in Sheffield, and if it comes down to making a new and bigger Crucible so be it. The Crucible is often referred to as "snooker's Wembley", but even Wembley itself went through a rebuild and it's still Wembley. I know you shouldn't fix what's not broken, but having a bigger Crucible could be good for both snooker and Sheffield. There would be more people coming to the city, and loads more to do inside the building for the fans attending the event, while it would still be the famous Crucible Theatre.

Is it possible, then? If all parts involved are committed to keep the event there, then it could be. There needs to be a huge financial backing, though. WST could do it, but like I said Matchroom seems to be interested in short-term profit and that's very opposed to long-term investment.

Government support could do it in partnership with the Sheffield Council, but I don't know British politics deep enough to know how it could work.

Or it could come from sponsorship. Like Barry Hearn said himself, it could come from Saudi Arabia themselves, in partnership with the event. In that case, I know there are moral matters that would certainly be discussed a lot, and I wonder how much in charge of the event the Saudis will be. But the main thing is to keep it in Sheffield and if ultimately that's the only alternative (although I don't think it should be), I'd take it.