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January 2009
MaXimumbreak Newsletter January...
As we move closer to 8,000 global members, I thought this might be a useful time to put the word out to snooker players, snooker coaches, snooker writers, snooker club owners or just snooker fanatics that we've got a fantastic resource here that we gladly invite you to get involved with. Those who have supported us over the years will have seen the progress we have made but the potential is simply limitless. So, I encourage you to get in touch with us if you feel that you could benefit in the way that the following have:
- Snooker players: we pass the details of between 5-10 players per week to a snooker coach.
- Snooker coaches: developing their profile, being part of the MaXimumbreak Coaching Support Network and earning considerable incomes from snooker players we refer.
- Snooker writers: developing their talents and gaining exposure to snooker fans and snooker organisations from around the world.
- Snooker club owners: At the MaXimumbreak Snooker Store, we have a fantastic snooker trade network that enables club owners (and individuals) to earn income through us, with no cost to themselves.
- Snooker fanatics: Gain free access to the wealth of snooker coaching information available!
As always, we've a feature packed newsletter this month with news stories from around the globe. We'd really value your feedback on the newsletter so we would be most grateful for you to send us an email with your thoughts...how do you like the content? Are the articles too long or too short? What would you like to see? All feedback is welcomed as it would surely help us to improve this newsletter. Please use the site contact form to email us your comments. As an incentive, we'll pick two people from the list of responders and send a free accessory pack for your efforts!
And finally, another sincere thank you goes to our advertisers who support MaXimumbreak Snooker with the intent of providing their services to our members. You help us to make this newsletter and website completely free-of-charge and I know our members appreciate that! Readers, please support our advertisers by clicking on their adverts and browsing their websites. If your company could benefit from advertising with MaXimumbreak Snooker, please feel free to contact us - with no print costs and only a small distribution cost, we offer extremely competitive rates for advertising to global snooker enthusiasts.
Newsletter Contents:
1. Masters Review With Geraint Williams
2. Bjorn Haneveer -- the Belgian king in Austria
3. Stephen Tierney surfaces in Hampshire
4. Snooker Store Offers
5. Monthly Competition Winners
6. Calling All Snooker Coaches
1. Masters 2009 Review with Geraint Williams...
 MaXimumbreak and Eurosport Journalist Geraint Williams reviews coverage of the recent Masters from Wembley and discusses the current perception of snooker's status.
The recent Masters at Wembley was one of the most entertaining tournament’s snooker has seen in recent memory. The competition saw a record number of centuries and included five in a row for the first time in a best of 11-frame match between Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson.
But it isn't just for the successes on the table that the Wembley tournament of 2009 will be remembered.
During the week of the Masters BBC2's Newsnight featured a report on the state of snooker following Ronnie O'Sullivan's claims that the sport was 'dying'.
In a brief interview, Christopher Cook, a cultural historian, suggested that snooker's time 'had passed as far as television was concerned'. On the possibility of the sport being invigorated with a re-styled makeover as darts has seen, the commentator claimed that snooker took itself too seriously to go down such a gimmicky route.
The latter statement at least, certainly seems to be true. Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, John Parrott and Terry Griffiths have all publicly rejected the idea that snooker needs 'sexing up'.
I recently put the question of the game's current status to Jimmy White and his response was: "We’re not in as much trouble as people say because there's still six million people playing the game [in the UK] and millions upon millions more in China."
The 1986 World Champion and Eurosport commentator Joe Johnson had a similar view: "People seem to pick up so much more on all the bad things that are said about snooker. There's a lot of jumping on the bandwagon and people wanting to knock the game. All it needs is for people to start singing from the same hymn sheet and talking about the good things in snooker."
Indeed, O'Sullivan himself felt the need to clarify his initial comments made at the start of the Wembley tournament. Despite the intangible parallels drawn between snooker and darts, the sports biggest draw later spelt out the obvious that snooker cannot be played in a similar atmosphere to darts.
O'Sullivan's headline grabbing press conference made sure of more than average coverage in the newspapers back pages. For some, his damning indictment of the sport's current state and news of him smashing up his cue in a fit of temper was perhaps just what the tournament start needed.
Bad publicity is better than no publicity in some cases. It's conceivable however, that O'Sullivan's comments were more borne out of frustration at the prospect of playing poorly attended ranking events in the Middle East for nominal prize money rather than the lack of interest in the game.
Perhaps a reality check is needed given the gloomy picture being painted of the sport?
Peak viewing figures of the final from Wembley reached 3.1 million, comfortably beating Match of the Day 2 on BBC1 and Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother by close to a million.
To give that figure a wider context the much-hyped recent return of Jonathan Ross's Friday night light entertainment chat show with broad appeal received 5.1 million. Of course, snooker can no longer command TV audiences of 18.5 million, as did the 1985 World Championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis.
But that is attributed to a rapid decline in television audience figures in general caused chiefly by the internet rather than snooker's lack of appeal.
It's an almost forgotten programme now but the BBC's Big Break showed that snooker can and has mixed it with the best of light entertainment in the past. The hugely popular TV quiz show spanned 11 years with 14 series between 1991 and 2002.
It is the opinion of Cook that snooker perhaps needs to discover a sense of irony with an ability to mock itself to re-engage with a wider television audience.
For a sport that once spawned a prime-time programme hosted by Jim Davidson and John Virgo – that is irony!
Read Geraint's first article in full here
2. Bjorn Haneveer -- the Belgian king in Austria...
Belgium's Bjorn Haneveer earned the crown at the traditional 3 Kings Snooker Open tournament in Rankweil, Austria. Haneveer upset Dominic Dale in the semis before edging Richard McHugh in a tense final on Monday, Jan 5, 2009.
The 3 Kings Snooker Open, a real classic on the Austrian snooker calender, attracts players from all over the country _ and far beyond. This year's edition saw players from, for instance, Holland and Belgium travel all the way to Rankweil to enter one of the few price money tournaments in the Alpine republic. The semifinal lineup included four different nations _ with Belgium's Bjorn Haneveer taking on Welshman Dominic Dale and Irishman Richard McHugh up against Richard Kempter, the last Austrian left in the tournament. To be fair: Dale and McHugh live in Austria, but still, the 3 Kings has established its name well beyond the Austrian borders. The organization keeps up with the event's status and provides players and public with a professional service. One of the highlights this year: a high-quality internet livestreaming of play on three tables simultaneously. Just imagine that World Snooker is still struggling to get any livestream at all going from the Main Tour qualifiers in Prestatyn...
In the opening round, 48 players met in a round-robin format. The favorites made no mistakes here so all players to be expected in the KO stages managed to come through and battled their way into the quarterfinals. Bjorn Haneveer, who gained experience on the professional tour over the years, dropped a frame for the first time against Nasanbat Namsrai but easily marched on, 4:1. Dominic Dale also lost his first frame of the event as he dropped one behind against Sebastian Hainzl, but then won four in a row for the same result. Richard McHugh also recorded a 4:1 win as he saw off reigning Austrian champion Chau Zi Kim. And finally, Martin Kempter had his finest hour against Dutchman Joery Reisig. Kempter, playing in his home club in Rankweil, had upset Dutchman Maurice Le Duc 3:2 in the previous round and now outplayed Reisig, who is No. 2 on the national DBSA rankings in the Netherlands. Kempter led 3:0 when he finished off his victory with a fabulous 127 clearance _ his personal best and by far the highest break of the tournament.
In the semifinals, Kempter fell 3:0 behind against McHugh before clinching a tight fourth, but the experienced Irishman booked his final spot in the next frame, 4:1. On the other table, Haneveer was on fire when he raced into a 3:0 lead before Dale could finally hit back. The Welshman, however, couldn't pot a ball in the fifth as Haneveer completed his surprise win over the world's No. 32. So, it was Belgium vs. Ireland in what would turn out to be a high-class final. After McHugh had taken the first, Haneveer looked in control when he won the next two and led in the fourth. But McHugh snatched it and got his nose in front again after winning a scrappy fifth as well: 3:2. Both players shared the next two which left McHugh one short of winning the tournament. Haneveer digged deep and although the next two frames could have gone either way, the Belgian won them both to claim the top price, 5:4. Haneveer pocketed €1400, while McHugh earned €800; Dale and Kempter each got €500. No price money is at stake, but ranking points can be earned when the ASL Grand Prix kicks off again after the Christmas break on January 17-18 in Wels, the city that staged the IBSF world amateur championships in November. So, watch out this space for some more great snooker from Austria coming soon!
By Eric Willemsen - Austria
Read the full article here
3. Stephen Tierney surfaces in Hampshire...
A FORMER practice partner of seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry had “not exactly the best start” to his career in the Southampton & District Social Clubs League.
Stephen Tierney in action at Chandler's Ford Snooker Club
Stephen Tierney, ranked No 324 in the world in the late 1990s, went in off the break on his debut.
“I was a bit rusty,” admitted the 34-year-old Glaswegian. “But it was good fun.”
Tierney, who was a top junior in Scotland, is good friends with two-time world champion John Higgins and world number two Stephen Maguire. He practised with Hendry in Stirling.
“Sometimes it was painful,” he recalled. “You’d break off and leave him an inch off the cushion. He’d stroke in a red, pot the black, split them, 100 break. It did me a wealth of good.
“The most naturally gifted is Ronnie (O’Sullivan) but Hendry is probably the best player that’s lived. Spending all those days with him and seeing what he can do when he’s really playing well, it’s just ridiculous.”
O’Sullivan’s dad, now serving life for murder, offered 13-year-old Tierney the chance to practise with ‘Rocket’ Ronnie.
“Ronnie’s dad said ‘just send him down, it’s OK, I’ll look after him’. My dad, being the protective father, wouldn’t send me. Maybe my game could’ve been completely different. I had a great safety game when I was younger…but I don’t know if that hindered me slightly.”
Tierney moved to Warsash, on the south coast, three years ago as wife Katherine, originally from the area, could not settle in Scotland. They have a six-month-old daughter, Jessica.
“The weather is a lot nicer,” said Tierney. “I love it down here.”
Read The Article In Full Here
4. This Months Snooker Store Offers...
Black Prince Cue And Case Offer
See the latest offers in the MaXimumbreak Snooker Store including cues and cases from the world's leading manufacturers.
5. Xmas 2008 Prize Draw Winners...
The lucky winners of the November prize draw accessory packs are as follows.
Mr Peter Clance - Mastercraft Snooker Cue & Case - SA.
Mrs Kim Xiang - Aluminium Cue Case - CN.
Mr Simon Trickett - 2 Piece Cue & Case Package - UK.
Well done to those above your accessories are on their way to you and thank you to all who entered.
February Prize Draw
For the month of February we are giving away some great prizes for the first three names drawn out of the hat.
February Prizes.
1st Prize: Aluminium Cue Case
2nd and 3rd Prize: Accessories pack
Enter here for your chance to win! Do it now before you forget
6. Calling All Snooker Coaches...
Are you a snooker coach?
Due to a high influx of coaching requests MaXimumbreak now receives, we are looking to introduce our members to a suitable list of coaches not just here in the UK, but from all around the world. If you know of any coaches in your location please pass on their details to us we, can then contact them on behalf of our members.
If you would be interested in becoming involved with MaXimumbreak please use the link below to email us.
Contact Us Here
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MasterCraft Cues
MANUFACTURERS OF HANDMADE ENGLISH SNOOKER AND POOL CUES.
Tailor made cues, any length, size, weight and design made to your own specifications.
www.mastercraftcues.com
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8A RODENHURST BUSINESS PARK, RODINGTON, SHREWSBURY, SHROPSHIRE, SY4 4QU. Tel: 01952 70800
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