It could be four days that change snooker forever.
It might just prove to be the tournament that transforms the whole complexion of the sport, from the brand it sells to would-be sponsors, to how the matches and their stories are shown to its fans, and in what type of venues those stories are told. It could change the platforms on which snooker’s most valuable assets – the players – are given the opportunity to perform.
Some might not like it, others have been championing the cause for some time, but the tide seems to be flowing in a different direction after last week’s Hong Kong Masters. Change is coming – better ride with the waves than drown trying to fight them.
Hong Kong put on one hell of a show – 9,000 fans packed into the jaw-dropping Hong Kong Coliseum to watch Ronnie O’Sullivan, always the hottest ticket in town, against home hero Marco Fu in a final that tournament organisers could only have dreamed of when the draw was made.
As so often is the case, O’Sullivan was too strong and picked up £100,000 for winning three matches in an event that lasted just four days, but Fu’s spirited comeback gave his faithful fans plenty to cheer about and ensured the final was highly entertaining, and of a very high standard.
It’s the sort of tournament of which O’Sullivan has long been an advocate. The best players in the world performing on one table in front of big crowds, for big money. In adding Fu, Hong Kong’s greatest ever player, and Ng On-yee, the current star of the women’s game, to the draw, the event added two more welcome dimensions to it, without bloating the competition to such an extent any prestige was lost.
O’Sullivan’s whitewash of On-yee aside – and she is a much better player than we saw on Friday – every match was a spectacle, with the snooker the best we have seen so far this season by some way. It was a showpiece event and a fine showcase for the sport.
From John Higgins’ nerveless final-frame defeat of Judd Trump, O’Sullivan’s dazzling comeback victory over Neil Robertson, and one of the best moments ever witnessed in snooker when Fu left behind three years of frustration to beat Higgins with a 147 maximum break in the deciding frame of their semi-final, all four days were a triumph.
Of course, the Hong Kong Masters won’t be the last brilliant snooker we witness this year, nor will Sunday's final be the last of the great matches. The prize money will still be very rewarding for the top players, and events such as the Masters and Tour Championship offer that one-table set-up the big boys crave so much.
But nothing will top last week. I’ll be at the Barbican in York next month for the UK Championship and I’ll bloody well enjoy it, but Peter Lines nearly put me to sleep last year and it was only when I made it to The Hop for beer and pizza afterwards that the atmosphere lifted a couple of notches.
The noise from the Hong Kong Coliseum was something else and how special it must have been to test one's skills as a professional sportsperson against contemporaries on a stage like that, in front of thousands of fans in an atmosphere widely described as electrifying.
No wonder the players want more of it.
Mark Allen, one of snooker’s leading players not to have made the cut last week, tweeted congratulations to Fu on his maximum and confirmed that he would one day love to experience the same in his own career.
Even in defeat, Judd Trump sounded a similar note on Instagram, while Higgins admitted after his semi-final loss to Fu that he would be returning to the venue the following day to watch and experience the final first-hand. That is something he hasn’t done before, added the four-time world champion.
It’s hardly surprising there is appetite among snooker’s elite for more of what we have enjoyed in Hong Kong, and on the assumption weeks like this are what sponsors wish to be associated with, there is certainly room in the snooker calendar.
Ranking-level snooker is sure to return to the Far East in due course, with the pandemic hopefully coming to heel now, and Hong Kong has made a strong case for hosting an event on its shores. What an opportunity that would present, not only for the top players, but also to those lower down the rankings desperate to enjoy a piece of the big-time.
The Masters moving to Alexandra Palace had already been a huge hit with the players. Higgins and Mark Williams appeared overcome by the wonderful reception they received when meeting at the tournament last year, with countless others suggesting playing in front of 2,200 fans in London made for some of the best experiences of their careers.
It’s little wonder that O’Sullivan described the Hong Kong Masters as ‘probably the best tournament I’ve ever played in’. One suspects the fire has been lit within him and others, including Trump who has always called for the game to climb out of the dark ages and into the modern one in which we live.
When we talk about snooker leaving the past behind to embrace the modern world, we simply must come back to the Crucible Theatre, and the debate around its suitability as home to the jewel in the sport’s crown, the most important event of the year, the World Championship.
Robertson is another who has questioned whether snooker is doing the tournament and the sport justice by stubbornly staying loyal to the Crucible when there is so much more to consider than just the venue’s rich history and the unique atmosphere it unquestionably delivers.
The Australian spoke eloquently on the subject when appearing on the Talking Snooker Podcast recently, and many of his points make sense. The venue has a capacity of 980 for the World Championship final when we know there is demand for so much more. Is it really feasible to continue with that as the modus operandi for the biggest match in snooker?
That’s not to say that it’s always like that. The English Open final isn’t going to sell 9,000 tickets, and the earlier rounds of many events often have plenty of empty seats. In these instances, smaller venues are clearly the best option for several reasons, and no doubt preferred by many paying their money to go and watch live snooker up close.
We must accept that sitting in a huge arena packed full of thousands of supporters will have its drawbacks. The beauty of the Crucible is its intimacy and the near perfect view you have of the action. They say you can feel every shot, and it’s true. The players feel it, too, and that only adds to the experience snooker in Sheffield provides.
You won’t get that if you find yourself parked up in row Z of some gigantic erection of steel that was built for purpose, not for theatre. You will most likely be watching the snooker on a big screen located somewhere in the sky above your seat, because the table itself will be a haze of green, so far away is its location from your seat.
