Following the UK Championship, which last week was held in Telford for the second successive year, WSA press officer Ivan Hirschowitz has given his thumbs up to the venue and dropped a fairly strong hint that the tournament will return there in the future…
Ivan told the Shropshire Star:
“It was quite an eventful week but snooker was the winner in the end,”
“It was a good final and really exciting.
“It went on quite a while but just about everyone stayed there right until the end.
“As Shaun said afterwards, there was a really good atmosphere at the semis and final.
“Overall, the week was well attended and pretty much on a par with last year, which was great.
“We never announce the calendar until the end of the season, but Telford continues to tick all our boxes and we’re all very happy with how things have gone.”
As he says, there is a long way to go but I guess if World Snooker are happy with the arrangement and the venue wants to continue hosting the event, there is no real reason to change it.
On the subject of the crowds I’m not so sure that they were that great, particularly in the first couple of rounds where on TV the attendances seemed to be particularly poor, but in the run up to the Christmas and with people being at work, it is not always easy to sell out. Perhaps the promotion of the event could be improved as I know a few people living in Telford who had no idea that the event was even on and would have gone otherwise.
Watch this space…