World Snooker have today announced that the last remaining spot at the 2010 Wembley Masters will go to 1984 winner Jimmy White and not Liang Wenbo as many had been predicting…
As revealed by David Hendon on Snooker Scene Blog earlier in the day, the decision to hand the wildcard to Jimmy White means that he will play his first match at Wembley since 2007 against the man who defeated him in last season’s Shanghai Masters, Mark King. The contest will take place on Sunday 10th January at 7pm.
But is the decision to give White the wildcard the correct one? I would stress that this is nothing against Jimmy personally but from a results point of view I would submit that it is not.
Despite winning the Sangsom Six-Red event in the summer as well as the latest leg of the World Series in Prague, Jimmy has won just one match on the ranking event circuit so far in 2009/10. Furthermore he also withdrew from the second most prestigious tournament of the season, the UK Championship, in order to participate in a television show and I find it hard to accept that he should be handed this opportunity over someone like Liang Wenbo.
Like Jimmy, Liang has enjoyed success in the non-invitational events this year, winning the Beijing International Challenge in the summer as well as reaching the final of the General Cup International in Hong Kong. In addition however he then went on to defeat the likes of Peter Ebdon, Ali Carter, Ricky Walden and Shaun Murphy to reach his first ranking event final out in Shanghai back in September before also reaching the UK Championship quarter-finals earlier this month.
When considering Liang, as well as the likes of Ken Doherty, Peter Lines, Ricky Walden, Robert Milkins and Matt Selt who have all impressed this season in one way or another, it is unfortunate that at least one of them has not been rewarded with this opportunity.
There are of course other considerations when the WPBSA decide who to give the wildcard to than who ‘deserves’ it. Indeed there is nothing to say that this even has to be considered.
What will inevitably have swung it for Jimmy is the commercial angle, the wishes of the sponsors (not that the Masters has a title sponsor yet…), the broadcasters and ultimately who will bring the paying spectators through the doors. The reality is that someone like White, or Steve Davis perhaps will bring in far more fans than any of the other players that I have mentioned above, despite their superior form this season.
I understand that this is the way the business works but I do feel that in a way, one of snooker’s biggest problems is its over-reliance on the legends, like for example Jimmy White, Alex Higgins and the others who made the game what it was in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I am not for one moment suggesting that they should be forgotten, indeed they are an important part of snooker’s history and the fact is that the public do still want to see them.
I do believe however that it is unfortunate that the current breed of young players who are the future of the game are not placed in the spotlight in the same way and given opportunities like this in which to shine. The current players are talented, they do have character and this would have been a good opportunity to demonstrate that by giving the wildcard to someone whose career is on an upward curve like Liang Wenbo.
Perhaps that is an idealistic view, in fact it certainly is. I appreciate that given the popularity of White amongst snooker fans it will be a controversial opinion but I do feel that he is very fortunate to have been handed the wildcard this year.
To view the official confirmation, please click here.