Gambling allegations.

mnorwood

mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
Just read the main page of world snooker and it looks like some players are being accused of taking money from bookies. Hope this isn't true.

American boxing and the NBA are regular targets of gambling allegations. I haven't been a snooker fan for that long. How widespread is this kind of thing in the history of snooker?
 
I'm not too sure about the recent case, we'll have to wait and see the result of the investigation.

I think the only time anyone has been found guilty of match-fixing was Peter Francisco, a South African player in the 1995 World Championships. There was an inordinate amount of money placed on a 10-2 scoreline to Jimmy White, which ended up being the case.

Francisco was banned for 5 years, I think, long enough that he wouldn't have any chance of coming back at that stage of his career.

Another instance that I'm sure you'll be aware of is the ban on Quinten Hann, though I think there's only evidence of him talking about it and no examples in matches.

In more recent years there have been a couple of allegations over the results of matches in the group stages of the Grand Prix and Malta Cup, and even an accusation of former World Champion Peter Ebdon, though nothing ever came of these.

Overall I think snooker is a pretty clean game, though badly run and lacking money for those in the lower ranks. For a few disillusioned players who aren't making a good living from the game then maybe the incentive is there, but for most the game is their career, they put in a lot of work at it and they would have to be in a very desperate situation to take such a big risk.
 
chamillionare said:
i know of around half a dozen players that have done it is very hard to prove. it goes on alot in snooker
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Names, Quinten! That last post wasn't controversial enough!

It could surely be done, but with the betting agencies in contact with World Snooker it would always be a risk.

In the match with Jimmy White, Peter Francisco missed a couple of easy shots by ridiculous margins.

Ideally you would want to mess up some safeties and leave your opponent in, or miss your position to leave yourself something difficult that wouldn't raise suspicions when you don't make it - like a better player trying to conceal their ability in a hustle.
 
chamillionare said:
i know of around half a dozen players that have done it is very hard to prove. it goes on alot in snooker
Click to expand...


I have spent a great deal of time around pro boxing in Vegas-same thing here. Where there is gambling there are fixes-AWALYS WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Nobody talks about it or names names-as it can be very bad for your health to do so.
 
I think fatboy is totally correct. Has no one ever watched the colour of money before? It may be part of the game at the lower level more because they fight over less prize money and my husband also informs me it is a buzz. It helps and is easier to do the less well known you are with a cue. The big boys dont need to do it as much but they could if they wanted. Boxing is another sport what is more easily fixed. Still good entertainment though fixed or not and who cares about the bookmakers they make enough money from everyone else!

You must be totally blinkered if you think that this does not go on in any sport because it does.

This is only a game not life. People judge people on honesty in society. Their are bigger crooks in life out there in the real world and they are often the ones you would expect better from. Hustling at pool or snooker in my mind is very minor thing.
 
Quinten Hann is a double threat - combines both billiards and boxing. During the 2009 the Masters one of the talking heads mentioned a bout - with Mark Selby IIRC.:grin: :grin:

Details were not provided:confused:
 
Hann is quite a good boxer. Did not go to his first fight against Mark King but I heard he was up and down like a bride's nighty but we did watch him fight an Irish bloke called Johnny Magee, who tried everything he could to win. He was really dirty, tough but not as skilled as Quinten who boxed the guy's head off for four rounds.
If he did fight Selby, his head would rock from side to side and Hann would win inside two rounds.
 
I like to think that the vast majority of matches are actually played fairly without any chance of match fixing hanging over them, and in all honesty I think this is the case.

The problem arises with the aforementioned Malta Cup and there were even suggestions about the Grand Prix (not the most recent).

Why?

Because both of these tournaments operated a round robin stage in the first round. This inevitably leads to 'dead-rubbers' where players have nothing to play for, it is then relatively easy to fix a match to make some money through the bookmakers.

There are 96 professional players competing on the tour in any one season, if a lower ranked player makes it to a televised event he may be more inclined to take bribes in order to fix a match. In the lower ranks money is very hard to come by, it is only the top 16-32 players that earn enough solely from prize money to be called a salary, so would there not be a tendency to try and earn in anyway you can?
 
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