When will the US and the Philippines embrace snooker?

[midnightpulp]

We have our own boring niche sports too, none of which are played much outside the british isles.

Basketball is the 2nd most popular sport on the planet.

Baseball is the 5th.

http://biggestglobalsports.com/

 

[Ron Swanson]

Basketball is the 2nd most popular sport on the planet.

Baseball is the 5th.

http://biggestglobalsports.com/

Bullshit article.

The following list of the world's biggest sports is based on data collected on amount of coverage from major online sports news websites on a daily basis across some of the world's biggest countries, with amount of coverage weighted by country size to evaulate a true list of the world's biggest sports.

Try harder, Pulps.

 

[david(tx)]

If Canada or the U.S. had bookie shops on every corner like U.K. maybe the money would dictate what happens. Look at the difference in payouts comparing snooker to pool here, it becomes a joke. There are entirely too many obvious differences to count. One of which is how serious countries other than U.S. and Canada approach training. How many Canadians or U.S. citizens use professional training? Compare that to golf or tennis pro schooling worldwide and you'll begin to fathom the huge gap.

Compare that to golf or tennis pro schooling worldwide and you'll begin to fathom the huge gap.

The end has to justify the means . Who is going to spend money on pool instruction when there isn't enough money in pool for a middle range pro to make a living . In golf and tennis you can make money even if your not in the top 20 %.

Remember pros in those sports have a coach tweeking their game all the time , pool pros couldn't afford that . Most pool pros that fall by the wayside do so because they can't make ends meet .

 

[midnightpulp]

Bullshit article.

The following list of the world's biggest sports is based on data collected on amount of coverage from major online sports news websites on a daily basis across some of the world's biggest countries, with amount of coverage weighted by country size to evaulate a true list of the world's biggest sports.

Try harder, Pulps.

A grand total of 162 million viewers tuned in to watch Stephon Marbury and the Beijing Ducks defeat the Xinjiang Flying Tigers to win their second CBA championship in three years.

An estimated 300 million Chinese people play basketball -- roughly equivalent to the entire population of the United States, according to the Chinese Basketball Association.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...hy-basketball-is-chinas-biggest-sport/253427/

The Spaniards' Round of 16 win over Poland on Saturday was watched by 1.82 million, for a market share of 17.4 percent - the highest in Spain so far and the highest rating for a sport programme in Spain on the day]

http://www.fiba.com/pr52-eurobasket-2015-sets-new-attendance-and-viewership-records

Spanish channel La Sexta's live coverage of Spain's win over France in Sunday's Final was watched by an average audience of 4.73 million viewers.

To put it in context: at the time of the game, almost a third of all people watching TV in Spain were tuned in to the Final, with the audience peaking at 5.96 million at 21:23.

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_aAixU4GCHj-s0O27doJdt2.articleMode_on.html

Japan's defeat of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on March 10th was the most viewed sporting event in Japan in the last 12 months. The game registered a 22.1 rating and a 43 share out-rating all 2012 Olympics coverage and World Cup Qualifying matches.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/42644...sic-sets-ratings-records--in-taiwan-and-japan

And Japan's professional baseball league is the 2nd most attended sports league in the world.

Also, you're basically the only European country that doesn't play basketball.

Stay in your bubble.

 

[caff3in3]

It may be different because i live in canada but having a pool hall with 9 footers is less and less common these days let alone snooker. We used to have a few places with snooker tables and they are all gone but for one in the city.

Keeping expenses down is the name of the game these days. A snooker table takes up the space of more than one 7 footer and costs considerably more.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[midnightpulp]

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/snooker/383524/

Probably one good reason for this is because he thinks that, and I quote:

“The American psyche is all about results and crash, bang, wallop. Do they have the ability to appreciate something that takes time and is cultured?”

“An American audience would never understand why a [World championship] semi-final takes three days”

And this is the kind of elitist mentality that turns off Americans from "embracing [insert foreign thing here]."

If Barry wasn't so far up his own ass, he'd see that Americans tune in by the millions to watch Golf every weekend, with Major tournaments drawing 10 million plus. What game is more "slow and cultured" than golf?

And as for Americans not understanding that a semi-final takes 3 days, uh, the conference finals of the NBA, NHL, and MLB playoffs are decided over a best of 7 format, which can sometimes take two weeks to complete. Golf tournaments take 4 days.

The reason snooker or pool or ping pong or darts will never take off as a big professional sport in the US is because we don't like watching indoor sports on television anymore. As I've said in similar threads, bowling used to get huge television ratings, now it can't draw flies.

 

[BeiberLvr]

Just like threads that mention CTE are moved, so too should any thread that compares pool and snooker.

 

[336Robin]

Snooker was here.

Im afraid I cant offer an educated opinion on Snooker but I do know that at one time we had pool halls here with the occasional Snooker table in them.

The answer to your question for the States I would think would revolve around much more than the question or assertion that people in the US not appreciating things that are cultured. We certainly have gone through Capitalism over here as if it were on fire. If there is profit in it we have eliminated it by sending our jobs overseas thus eliminating the fat or profit that was to be had.

So yes we are about boom, bang get the profit and then on down the road because our society has changed.

The other thing is that our pool league system has not really done much in the way of taking care of the pool room owners. We aren't together on much in the way of ensuring our future. We have to stand alone here for the most part. So having a table that is huge in comparison to the size of a regular pool table is something we have to weigh heavily.

I wish things were different and hope that things can change. The US would be a great place for Snooker were it supported and I believe that people would really enjoy it but the business environment would be the determining factor. We very much appreciate cultured things we just cant always afford them.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/snooker/383524/

With the continuing rise in popularity of snooker worldwide, isn't it about time that the US and the Philippines, two countries in which pool is the dominant cue sport, start to embrace snooker? If I was Barry Hearn, I'd definitely see America as a potential huge market for snooker. Sadly I think he sees it otherwise, as he is leaving out the US as potential locations to set up Q schools in a long-term effort to expand snooker worldwide. Probably one good reason for this is because he thinks that, and I quote:

“The American psyche is all about results and crash, bang, wallop. Do they have the ability to appreciate something that takes time and is cultured?”

“An American audience would never understand why a [World championship] semi-final takes three days”

Cue sports in the Philippines is a big thing. And with the tremendous amount of talent that they have there, it would be a damn shame if snooker as a sport didn't utilize the sheer amount of potential world caliber players. As a Filipino snooker player currently residing in Singapore, I can see that Southeast Asia too can be a huge market.

Pool was not an uncommon fixture in the Philippines before the 90s, but when Efren won the world title back in '99, pool enjoyed a modern golden era in the country--pool tables suddenly sprung up like mushrooms all over the archipelago. Snooker is the primary cue sport in Thailand, and one can argue that this is because of a number of Thai players who managed to make it into the business end of the snooker world rankings, ie James Wattana in the 80s and currently, Dechawat Poomjaeng and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Would there have been a snooker boom in the Philippines if Efren was a snooker player and beat Mark Williams instead of Chang Hao-Ping? Not outside the realm of possibility.

So personally I think all it takes is one or a handful of pioneering Filipino snooker players winning a regional/international snooker title, and it would open the floodgates for snooker in the Philippines. And I'm not talking about seasoned pool players trying their hand in snooker; we need players learning from the get-go proper cueing fundamentals, ie. doing away with the closed bridge, no loosey-goosy strokes, no one-piece cue actions, aiming through proper body and head alignment etc. The recent SEA Games was held here in Singapore, and it was good to see the Philippines sending its own representatives to play competitive snooker. So maybe that's a good start!

So when do you think these two countries will embrace snooker? And under what circumstances will this scenario happen?

 

[book collector]

I'm pretty sure that there were a lot of English Billiards players in the Phillipines around 1900. {The game was played on a snooker table}
I'm not sure when they phased them out.
I read an article written by a former world champion at the game named H W Stevenson , and he warned travellers not to go there to play because they were too good at the game!
Stevenson had decided to do a world tour in 1903 to show off his great talents and although most accounts from the press in England tell of him having a very successful venture [monetarily I suppose} but according to his own accounts ,he had the unfortunate luck of running into several players in the Phillipines he could not beat and then went to Australia and got beaten by Walter Lindrum who was 12 years old at the time.
He was world champion several times after that 1909 10 11 12 and second place in 1919. Which was pretty much the end of his illustrious career.
Many historians consider him one of the best ever at the game of English Billiards.

 

[O'SulliReyes]

I'm pretty sure that there were a lot of English Billiards players in the Phillipines around 1900. {The game was played on a snooker table}
I'm not sure when they phased them out.
I read an article written by a former world champion at the game named H W Stevenson , and he warned travellers not to go there to play because they were too good at the game!
Stevenson had decided to do a world tour in 1903 to show off his great talents and although most accounts from the press in England tell of him having a very successful venture [monetarily I suppose} but according to his own accounts ,he had the unfortunate luck of running into several players in the Phillipines he could not beat and then went to Australia and got beaten by Walter Lindrum who was 12 years old at the time.
He was world champion several times after that 1909 10 11 12 and second place in 1919. Which was pretty much the end of his illustrious career.
Many historians consider him one of the best ever at the game of English Billiards.

Wow, didn't know English billiards was played in the Philippines, in 1900 no less! Great info :thumbup:

 

[Maxx]

Not going to happen in the US, bumper pool is more likely to have a revival than snooker.

 

[Ralph Kramden]

You'd make a 147 before you'd run a 10 in 3 cushion.

Snewka is an accuracy competition, archery on a 12 foot table, while 3 cushion is the most imaginative and creative cue sport on the planet. Pool isn't far behind with its innovation of jump shots, bank shots, combinations (illegal in snewka), caroms, billiards, masses, etc, etc.

For all your love of modernity, snewka is a relic from your Imperialist past. I ain't hating. It's part of your culture. Embrace it. But I couldn't care less if the game lives or dies.

I believe combinations are legal in snooker... But only when playing the red balls.

.

 

[IbeAnEngineer]

If football - the world game by a country mile - cannot get a foothold in the US, snooker has no chance.

Ron,

Football/Soccer has in fact gotten a foothold in the US. When I was growing up there were no youth leagues for the sport. Now there are youth leagues all over the place. Unfortunately, it is not as popular as American Football, Baseball, Basketball or Hockey but it's popularity is growing.

We are learning, The USA did well in the last world cup. Our Women's team Are the Current FIFA World Cup Champions. Our Men's team made it to the knockout round.

Soccer/Football will continue to grow in the USA. I am pretty sure that Snooker will never become commonplace/popular in the US.

 

[alstl]

The game is too difficult for average people to play and there is no money in it like in England.

It's like asking when the U S and Philippines will embrace cricket.