Snooker column: Nick Metcalfe on ways to revamp UK Championship
UK Championship still has real gravitas but longer semi-finals would make a big difference
What was your defining UK Championship moment growing up?
Perhaps it was John Virgo being docked those frames for a late arrival but still steeling himself to beat Terry Griffiths for the title. Or maybe Alex Higgins coming from a mile behind to beat Steve Davis in the final. That painful Willie Thorne missed blue. Ronnie O'Sullivan winning his first ranking event at the age of 17. Shaun Murphy's fluke to help him over the line against Marco Fu. John Higgins producing a storming finish to deny Mark Williams.
I could have easily selected a dozen more moments here, but we've all got busy lives. You get the point. If you love snooker, the UK Championship will be a key part of your own personal story following this sport.
It's really that rich history that gives this tournament its gravitas. As simple as that. Born in 1977, when Patsy Fagan beat Doug Mountjoy to claim the trophy at Blackpool's Tower Circus. Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister. Jimmy Carter was in the White House. We're not talking the week before last here.
It remains a clear the decks moment when the UK hovers into view for snooker people. Speaking to fellow lovers of this sport in recent weeks, it's November 25th that they've had circled in their diaries for some time. As for the wider public, there will be countless people tuning in to watch snooker for the first time since they saw Luca Brecel memorably claim the world title in Sheffield in May.
When you look at today's snooker calendar, we're blessed with a host of marvellous tournaments. But there are few with the depth of history as the UK and that still counts for a lot.
A long life doesn't mean everything though. Old things need love and care too, and the UK has been rather short of that at times in recent decades. While the World Championship has gone from strength to strength at its iconic Crucible home, with an unchanged format and unmatched drama, and the Masters has arguably reached new peaks since the switch from Wembley to Alexandra Palace – the raucous London crowds remaining a defining factor – the UK has been left to stagnate.
The nomadic nature of the tournament following the comfort blanket years of Preston's Guild Hall didn't help. We dashed around all over the place. With respect to the good people of Telford, you need to work pretty hard to find romance in that place. That lack of stability has thankfully receded into memory in recent times, with the beautiful city of York charming everyone who visits for the tournament.
A bigger problem for many fans has been the shortening of matches over time. It's 30 years now since the final was cut to a two-session affair. And soon after Barry Hearn took over the reins as World Snooker chairman, matches in earlier rounds were reduced too. Truth be told, it's television that controls the agenda and you can understand their case. They want a start, middle and end in one sitting if possible. Perfectly packaged and presented for the viewer.
It was the semi-finals that were the last to go, reduced to best-of-11 matches from best-of-17 in 2014. It felt like the tournament was being stripped of one of its core selling points. And my instant prescription to restore some of its lost grandeur would be to extend the semi-finals to their old length.
I'm guessing that television people would be wary of the dangers of two-session semi-finals ending early, thereby selling prime time audiences short on a Friday and Saturday night. As it happens, I personally think it would be worth that risk. The difference would be so big in the whole feel of the tournament. We saw it only recently at the International Championship in China, with their best-of-17 semi-finals lending the event real weight.
If it really was a no-no from television however, what about trying something totally new, with the semi-finals played concurrently. Full disclosure here – I did once suggest this on the Talking Snooker podcast, but only heard the sound of tumbleweed in return. That suggested support for the idea isn't exactly overwhelming. But God loves a trier, and I'm having another go. It's not as if most of us don't have multiple screens these days after all. Imagine what kind of Super Saturday that could be. Two genuinely special matches offering up a long day of drama.
I fully accept that particular idea may not to be people's taste. But I am confident that the principle of longer semi-finals will be. It's something that would be relatively easy to implement, and yet provide such a meaningful way to strengthen the brand of the event.
In fairness to World Snooker Tour, they've obviously recognised lately that the UK needs some new life breathed into it. Hence their decision last year for the top 16 players to head straight to the Barbican for the main stages, with 16 more players joining them through qualifying. And it definitely felt more special at the 2022 tournament than for some time.
To be candid, it's probably high time now that we stopped talking the event down. It has suffered setbacks over the years, as I've outlined here. But I'm not sure the decline has been as dramatic as many make out. It's still the UK Championship and we feel a strong connection to it.
There's no doubt that the tournament will beguile us all over the coming nine days. It's a wonderful time of year to be a snooker fan and the joys of York await.
Class is permanent for Champion of Champions winner Allen
It's a tough business tipping the winner of snooker tournaments nowadays. Mark Allen was the player of last season but hasn't been at the races in this 2023/24 campaign until his brilliant Champion of Champions triumph.
His record before last week's event was: first round, second round, first round, second round, quarter-final, first round, second round. But class is permanent, and Allen certainly showed plenty of that in Bolton, losing only eight frames all week.
To beat Judd Trump by a margin of 10-3 in the final, so soon after the Englishman enjoyed a memorable treble of successive tournament wins, really takes some doing.
Allen is one of those players that can easily go on a roll once he has a trophy in his cabinet. He's the defending UK champion going to York. One to avoid for all the others.
Zhang reminds us that snooker life can begin in thirties
One of the many eternal fascinations of this sport is how a player can have a relatively prosaic snooker career and then burst into life in their thirties.
Zhang Anda is the latest example of that. He'd had a few half decent tournament runs over the years, but absolutely nothing hinting at what the 31-year-old would do this season.
Zhang followed up his run to the English Open final in Brentwood last month – he lost to Judd Trump despite being well clear – with a superb victory at the International Championship.
How does it suddenly click after all those years? We were asking similar questions when the likes of Barry Hawkins and Stuart Bingham got off the mark. There's no reason to think this is just flash in the pan stuff either. Zhang has looked the real deal this autumn. This could be just the start for him.
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