Shaun Murphy believes the rise of Chinese 8-ball poses a threat to the long-term popularity of snooker in the Far East.
Last week’s International Championship was the fourth tournament in China this season following previous outings for the Shanghai Masters, the Xi’an Grand Prix, and the Wuhan Open.
Ding Junhui beat Chris Wakelin 10-7 to claim the title in front of a big crowd in Nanjing as the home hero returned to winning ways in a ranking event for the first time in five years.
Ding’s success followed Xiao Guodong’s triumph in Wuhan last month with Chinese representation at the business end of tournaments becoming increasingly commonplace in recent times.
Following last year’s match-fixing scandal that resulted in ten players receiving varying lengths of bans, many queried whether the probe would have a negative affect on the popularity of snooker in China.
While that doesn’t appear to have been the case – with crowd numbers in Chinese events improved compared to the pre-pandemic era – Murphy does think there is another potential threat to the sport.
“There is absolutely no evidence that I can see,” Shaun Murphy said on this week’s episode of the OneFourSeven Snooker Podcast.
“That the betting scandal led by the ten players who were banned for match-fixing offences and associated offences has had any impact of the popularity of the sport out there at all.”
“Every time we do an opening ceremony, a PR event, or a red-carpet event, it is packed with fans.
“They had to delay a couple of matches out in Nanjing because the crowd was so big and it took so long to get the crowd in the door.
“When you’re having to delay the start of matches because the crowd is too big to get through the door, I don’t think we need to worry about whether snooker is doing okay.
“I’ll tell you what I am concerned about a little bit. I am a little bit concerned about the popularity of Chinese 8-ball.
“A sport that gets called Heyball, it gets called Chinese 8-ball, or Chinese pool. There’s quite a few different titles for it.
“The reason I’m concerned about it is because there are a lot of snooker players who are – understandably – getting offered a lot of money to go and play in these events.
“And again, completely understandably, they are taking that money. I’ve got no problem with that at all.
“Except to say that they are potentially contributing to the rise [of Chinese 8-ball] and the subsequent demise of snooker out in the Far East.
“Because Chinese 8-ball is unquestionably on the rise and potentially may have already overtaken snooker in China in terms of participation, tables, and it’s moving out around the world.
“I know a lot of players who now have Chinese 8-ball tables in the UK, because they’re practicing it. It’s starting to become a thing.
“Now listen, I’m all for competition. I’m all for more eyes on getting more people playing cue sports – that’s what we want.
“If we’re trying to drive towards an Olympic bid at some stage, participation is key.
“However, I just worry that some of these players – perhaps naively – are almost sleepwalking themselves and the rest of us towards the demise of snooker.
“Or certainly snooker’s fall down the popularity rankings in that part of the world. I’m not trying to be super negative.
“And I’m not trying to be overcritical of players taking earning opportunities, because we’re all trying to earn money.
“I think we might need to just be careful that by trying to maximise all of our commercial opportunities, we don’t accidentally make something more popular or make snooker less popular, and by extension damage what we’ve got.”
Mark Williams, Stuart Bingham, and Gary Wilson are a few of the high-profile snooker players who have started to participate more regularly on the Heyball circuit.
Murphy, meanwhile, has revealed that rumours surrounding his involvement in unsanctioned 900 Series events later in the campaign are true.
Recent changes to the WPBSA players’ contract, which were required following the controversy surrounding the Macau exhibition events late last year, have relaxed the rules on the possibility of playing in tournaments outside the World Snooker Tour.
The 900 Series, created by Jason Francis, has already been a popular addition to the World Seniors Tour but four tournaments for established main tour players are set to take place in the new year.
“It is true. Iโm delighted to be asked, but I donโt know very much about it,” Shaun Murphy said.
“I know that Jason was planning to put on four two-day events. I had no idea until I saw the list onย social mediaย myself who else was asked to play in it.”
“I’m just happy to play and looking forward to these opportunities. As luck would have it, two of those dates do clash with potential events in the 2025/26 calendar, so I think only two of them so far have been granted permission.
“[I’m] excited about it, you know I think competition is good. I think players being allowed to play and ply their trade [is good].
“For what it’s worth, my own personal view is that as a professional snooker player, as a self-employed trades person, I should be allowed to play snooker whenever and wherever I want.
“That’s my own personal view, so I see this as a real positive step that these events are going to be put on.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan, Kyren Wilson, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, Luca Brecel, and Reanne Evans are reported to be signed up for the series of events as well.
Featured photo credit: WST
The Jason Francis event is scheduled 12-13 April, which clashes with the World Championship qualifiers in Sheffield Institute of Sport. I will be at the latter – the most compelling event on the snooker calendar, albeit for hard-core fans only.
Having said that, I do support a freelancer model, where players aren’t compelled to enter all approved tournaments.
Heyball is indeed a threat to snooker. In the last few years they have overtaken snooker in revenue, prizemoney, popularity and live audience. These were things that snooker people often claimed to be ‘too difficult’ to achieve, which yet again raises questions. We may see several players defect, particularly overseas players who are at a disadvantage on snooker’s UK-based tour; several Chinese players have already done precisely that and others have been approached. Despite Ding’s success in Nanjing, he is not young, and can’t be expected to carry a whole nation indefinitely. Something needs to be done to secure China’s future in snooker – without them it’s a lost cause. That is why I support the World Championship relocating to China in 2028. Incidentally, that would lead to an almost unstoppable argument to extend the UK Championship to best-of-17 matches once more.
In recent years I’ve been a bit wary about Matchroom’s real intentions, and potential conflicts of interest in WST. This is a test for them. Will they address these issues? Or will they just try to muddle through without any motivation to adapt or modernise?
I haven’t seen much Heyball, but it does strike me as a game that could really take off globally. It’ll be interesting to see how many more established players from other cue sports make a move across to it in the next few years.
My view of Heyball is that it’s a vastly inferior game, but then I am certainly biased! It’s strength is accessiblity – it’s much easier to play and the ‘frames’ are shorter to watch.
My concern is that any young Chinese academy player, with a chance to play either snooker or Heyball, would probably be mad to choose snooker. To be a snooker player takes years of hard work and luck to even qualify for the WST tour, then to relocate to England – 10000 miles away from home for 10 months of the year, probable relegation with huge debts. It’s tough enough for young British players, but being an ‘outsider’ on a UK-based tour poses considerable extra challenges. With Heyball there is a lucrative career on their doorstep, with (optional) international events when the time is right.
I do know of a few Chinese players who have been approached by ambitious promoters. The good news is that there has been some recent success by Chinese players, which can offer encouragement. But at some point, all players go through a bad spell. It’s particularly tempting for players in their late 20’s or 30’s with a family.
Anyway David, thanks for your article. You raise important issues for snooker’s future direction.
Snooker is not a lost cause without China especially now Saudi Arabia is investing in the sport. The World Championship needs to remain at the Crucible for many reasons and one is to ensure the UK market doesn’t go into reverse if the blue riband event was relocated outside the UK.
Snooker is by far the most compelling cuesport. The variety it possesses and capacity for human drama is unparalleled by any other cuesport.
The game seems healthier on China than ever before. All the current Chinese events are experiencing big crowds, surpassing the numbers pre-Covid.
Cao Yupeng has defected but very few others have done so.
I’m a hard-core fan and the qualifiers remain a hidden gem to many snooker watchers bit nothing beats the actual Crucible ‘marathon of the mind’ that provides the ultimate test for any snooker player.
Jay Brannon said it all: “Snooker is by far the most compelling cuesport. The variety it possesses and capacity for human drama is unparalleled by any other cuesport.” I’ve watched cue sports for over 60 years and agree with Mr. Brannon. Here is the USA, pool had a resurgence after The Hustler movie came out in the 1960’s, but still was never considered to be a viable way for a sportsman to make a living. The Chinese 8 ball is easier to understand and follow for the once-in-a-while fan,but for overall audience participation snooker can’t be beat. I’d guesstimate that if Matchroom partnered with a visionary in the US, the game of snooker could become ultra-successful in the states, but like soccer, it could take a couple of decades to grab hold. Remember,those of us in the states never, ever considered soccer would become as popular as it is, and it took 30 odd years to take hold. Last, supporting anything that is related to a communistic society doesn’t bode well with those who prefer democracy. The snooker (and pool) players give precious little attention to democracy vs communism as they’re looking for nothing more than a paycheck and have no real interest in human rights. All they know is there is X dollars up for grabs and will travel to any country offering healthy bounties. I don’t see a concerted effort on snooker’s part to make it a part of the Olympics, while Flag Football surges ahead. Why anyone would want to support communism is beyond this writer’s imagination and in the end that’s exactly what snooker and Chinese 8 ball are doing.