What prompted this thread resurrection?
Ebdon played with such a high level of concentration that he was never a great spectacle. In order to keep everything together, he had to play at a really high level of focus and intensity. That's what the shouting was about at the end of a frame or match he won - it was a release.
A very good classical pianist and a very articulate individual away from the table.
So from a snooker players perspective, Ebdon was a lesson in hard work, focus and determination as opposed to raw talent.
Long post - sorry.
Anyhoo, top of the WPBSA for a long time and 51% ownership of 'Matchroom sport' is Barry Hearn.
Hearn is like a boxing promoter. I cannot stand him. Never did. He was Steve Davis' manager and has built up his position from Davis and a team of notable players of the time.
Hearn has been instrumental in promoting snooker, that there is no doubt and Hearn was instrumental in modernising the old system where if you wanted to be a pro, you had to win one of the major 'Open' events - the UK, the Irish, the Welsh or the WC.
But what replaced this system was chaos, a free for all and the treadmill that replaced it where gaining ranking points is difficult; there are tournaments all over Europe and the far East, means that if you are out of the top 16 and automatic qualification, you will be playing many qualifying rounds and travelling to Belgium or Holland or Germany or even China to generate ranking points. This makes it very difficult for young players in the UK (or anywhere bar China) to be a professional player. Plus, like cricket, there is less and less terrestrial coverage of the game in the world of competing broadcasters where promotion of any sport requires massive funding. The structure to support talent in the UK is severely lacking. There is no realistic structure or plan in situ. Where do you watch the masters or the UK championship? BBC? ITV?
Hearn said only recently (see Stephen Hendry's YT channel 'Cue tips') when Hendry said that he didn't see much potential new world class talent coming through in the UK "...oh there will always be some player that will come along...". The comment is telling: Leaving the future of snooker in the UK to chance is at best naïve and Hearn is not naïve; he's made his money and doesn't care.
I personally do not see any cessation of the demise of Snooker in the UK. They are even talking about holding the WC's in China 'one year'. I wonder when the momentum of TV coverage and money shifts the epicentre of snooker to the far East permanently in the same way China successfully monopolised table tennis in a very short period of time (after Jan Ove Waldner stopped dominating and Europe remained stuck in old systems pf promotion).
In fact, many many top Chinese TT players rarely play abroad unless the WC's are held outside of China (or the Olympics).
As you can tell, I am not optimistic. If you look at the rankings
https://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?template=31 you can see the Chinese players rising to the top but there would be more if many of those players travelled to Europe more regularly. Many players don't need to; there's enough competitions in China to keep the average pro earning:
The World Open
The Wuhan Open
The Shanghai Masters
Xi'an Grand Prix
World masters of snooker and
The international championship
All governed by the CBSA (Chinese Billiards & Snooker Association) who have their own 'CBSA tour' and their own ranking system both professional and amateur.
