John Higgins the snooker player!!! Bye bye son. Your careers dead

[Crankarm]

Looks like Higgins is screwed .

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Didn't Lance do something very similar on top of the Alpe, or was it Ventoux, with Pantani? Poeple would have bet on the stage outcome, and Lance gifted it. The whole 'match' (race) result didn't change, just that particular 'frame' (stage).

If someone is going to 'gift' a stage to a team-mate or rival to say thanks or pocket £300k, no difference.

I think the bookmakers who were going to be defrauded out of a few million quid by an organised crime syndicate might have something to say about that.

"Gifting" a stage is a different thing, there is no criminal intent and no financial gain for those involved.

 

[figbat]

Thread dredging - Higgins’ career dead…? Just got into the Masters final aged 50. Great comeback too, after a shocking start.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Wow! From 2010 to 2026 thread resurrection 😎

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Higgins is still a top class player, but the fact that he, Williams and O'Sullivan are still competing at the top is largely down to the lack of talent coming through. In complete contrast to the boom years of the eighties there is hardly anywhere for younger people to play. Back then I lived in east London and I had seven snooker halls within east reach, and probably another half dozen I could have got to with little trouble. High property prices and rents have put paid to that, the income from the tables in even the largest clubs with a couple of dozen tables is relatively peanuts compared to other uses.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Higgins is still a top class player, but the fact that he, Williams and O'Sullivan are still competing at the top is largely down to the lack of talent coming through.

Snooker balls! 🤡

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Higgins is still a top class player, but the fact that he, Williams and O'Sullivan are still competing at the top is largely down to the lack of talent coming through. In complete contrast to the boom years of the eighties there is hardly anywhere for younger people to play. Back then I lived in east London and I had seven snooker halls within east reach, and probably another half dozen I could have got to with little trouble. High property prices and rents have put paid to that, the income from the tables in even the largest clubs with a couple of dozen tables is relatively peanuts compared to other uses.

There is. China!

 

[mikeIow]

There is. China!

Indeed….over 300,000 clubs in China (according to AI), with some cities having over 1,000.
Crazy.
So around one club for every 5-10k people.
The UK has around 650-700 clubs, so perhaps around one club for every 100k people 👀

40 years ago Leicester had half a dozen “large” clubs & a bunch of smaller ones.
I played in one which had 22 tables (Osbornes). Later became a lifetime member of Willie Thorne’s club. Turned out it wasn’t my lifetime they were talking about 🫣

Give it 5 years and the tournaments will be chock-full of Chinese players 🤷‍♂️

 

[figbat]

Give it 5 years and the tournaments will be chock-full of Chinese players 🤷‍♂️

At the Masters this year there were 10 British, 5 Chinese and one Australian. Not a very diverse group but this shows who is winning throughout the season and qualifying for the Masters. The young ones were the Chinese (Wu Yize was particularly impressive).

Apparently snooker is included in the Chinese school sports curriculum.

 

[Beebo]

At the Masters this year there were 10 British, 5 Chinese and one Australian. Not a very diverse group but this shows who is winning throughout the season and qualifying for the Masters. The young ones were the Chinese (Wu Yize was particularly impressive).

Apparently snooker is included in the Chinese school sports curriculum.

And what is the age demographic?
I bet the average age of the Chinese is much younger.

 

[stephec]

Higgins is still a top class player, but the fact that he, Williams and O'Sullivan are still competing at the top is largely down to the lack of talent coming through. In complete contrast to the boom years of the eighties there is hardly anywhere for younger people to play. Back then I lived in east London and I had seven snooker halls within east reach, and probably another half dozen I could have got to with little trouble. High property prices and rents have put paid to that, the income from the tables in even the largest clubs with a couple of dozen tables is relatively peanuts compared to other uses.

Similar to me, I had three clubs within a three mile radius of my house and I was a member of all of them, four of us used to go every Friday night to one of them.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

We had one snooker hall out the back of the town centre video arcade in the 80s. Plus a mate’s dad drove a bus, and their social club had a few snooker tables.

 

[Dan Lotus]

Considering his dead career, allegedly he has earned since that point in 2010, £8.9 million.

I've always been a snooker fan, both watching and playing (badly) but never warmed to Higgins at all.

Would definitely watch a match he was playing, but almost always would be supporting the opposition.

O'Sullivan, Trump, Selby, Robertson, Allen, Junhui and Murphy are probably my favourites from this century.

Interestingly, another player who I liked even less, Stephen Lee, was given a 12 year ban in 2013 - I don't know the intricacies, and I can't be bothered to look, but I'm not sure why the outcomes were so far apart - presumably there must be a sizable difference in the crime committed.

 

[figbat]

Considering his dead career, allegedly he has earned since that point in 2010, £8.9 million.

I've always been a snooker fan, both watching and playing (badly) but never warmed to Higgins at all.

Would definitely watch a match he was playing, but almost always would be supporting the opposition.

O'Sullivan, Trump, Selby, Robertson, Allen, Junhui and Murphy are probably my favourites from this century.

Interestingly, another player who I liked even less, Stephen Lee, was given a 12 year ban in 2013 - I don't know the intricacies, and I can't be bothered to look, but I'm not sure why the outcomes were so far apart - presumably there must be a sizable difference in the crime committed.

My basic understanding of Higgins’ case is that he was caught in a match-fixing sting but never went through with it. The issue is that he didn’t report the approach, for which he was given a short ban. Lee was found guilty of fixing several games, with subsequent appeals dismissed.

 

[Animo]

My basic understanding of Higgins’ case is that he was caught in a match-fixing sting but never went through with it. The issue is that he didn’t report the approach, for which he was given a short ban. Lee was found guilty of fixing several games, with subsequent appeals dismissed.

He was caught by the fake sheikh agreeing to match fix. His defence was that he was just playing along with it through fear. The authorities basically accepted that and the punishment was, as you say, for failing to report the approach.