This Thursday saw the announcement of new snooker event that will be staged this October at the O2 arena and if you thought that the new ranking system is complicated, just wait until you see the rules for Power Snooker…
The Basics
The brainchild of Rod Gunner and Ed Simons, the inaugural Power Snooker event will be staged at the O2 Arena on October 30th 2010. As well as having attracted the support of Barry Hearn’s governing body, the field of players is an impressive one which includes the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson.
The Rules
Rather than attempt to explain the rules in any detail myself I shall link you to the rules page over at the official website here.
In summary however matches will last for thirty minutes, there will be nine reds on the table, points will count and not frames, there will be a shot clock and there will be a ‘PowerZone’ area behind the baulk line from which more points will be able to be gained.
The best way to understand the rules however is probably to watch the promotional video at the top of this page and listen to the explanation of Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Players
The players involved have been confirmed as being:
- Ronnie O’Sullivan
- Neil Robertson
- Luca Brecel
- Shaun Murphy
- Ali Carter
- Ding Junhui
- Jimmy White
- Mark Selby
Broadcast
The eight-hour event will be broadcast on ITV4, marking their first involvement with snooker since the Champions Cup back in 2001. As Dave Hendon has stated in the comments below, the event will be broadcast live by way of two four hour programmes on ITV4, in a similar way to how they have become involved with professional darts during the past couple of seasons.
Tickets
Tickets for the event can be purchased either via Ticketmaster or via SeeTickets.
For more details visit the relevant page over at the official website by clicking here.
My Take
It is always good to see another new event announced and judging from the quality of the official tournament website and the response to the presentation over in London on Thursday, so far, so good would appear to be the early verdict.
I must admit however, I fear that the number of rules in place may be overly confusing for those following the event, in particular the spectators at the O2 Arena in October. Personally, as was the case with the ONEFORSEVEN event trialled by Global Snooker, it isn’t something that appeals to me particularly as a fan of the traditional form of the game, but that does not mean that it is a bad thing and I will nevertheless be watching to see how it works in practice.
If events like this can attract new fans to the game who may then be tempted to watch the traditional format events, as well as publicise the sport as a whole and inject more money into the game, I don’t think that any of us should be complaining.
The important thing is that events like this are not intended to, and are not going to replace the blue riband events such as the World Championship. So long as that is the case then I am all for trialling new ideas, even if I do not necessarily agree with them and as I have said above, will be watching to see how it works in practice.