World Snooker Tour
Encyclopedia
The World Snooker Tour is a circuit of snooker
tournaments organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
(WPBSA) for their members. To compete as a professional player, players must be WPBSA members. The circuit comprises a two-tier tour structure, with a primary tour and a secondary tour. The number of players on the primary tour is restricted, while the secondary tour is open to all professionals and amateurs.
for the 1991/1992 season, whereby anyone could apply for professional membership and enter the tournaments. Due to over-subscription, a two-tiered tour structure was adopted for the 1997/1998 season
: the primary tour—known as the Main Tour—with a limited membership, and a secondary professional tour was established for the rest of the professional membership.
, and the top players in the sport—often the top 16 ranked players—are usually seeded through to the venue stage and do not have to play a qualification match. Some tournaments have an amateur leg that makes it possible for non-members to enter WPBSA events.
following the adoption of a two-tier tour structure. Unlike the Main Tour which had restricted membership, the secondary tour was initially open to all professional members, even those competing on the Main Tour—although members of the Main Tour were prohibited from entering from the 1999/00 season
. It was rebranded the Challenge Tour from the 2000/2001 season
, and open to all players not on the Main Tour and amateurs. From the 2001/2002 season
, the Challenge Tour had a restricted membership and offered exclusive professional competition to a limited number of professionals that were not members of the Main Tour, and the Open Tour was established which was open to all players—including players on the Main and Challenge tours. The WPBSA operated the three level circuit until the 2002/2003 season
when it split with the English Association of Snooker and Billiards
(EASB). Since the Open Tour fell under the control of the EASB, which is an amateur governing body, the Open Tour took on amateur status and professional players were no longer eligible to enter. The Challenge Tour was axed upon completion of the 2004/2005 season
, leaving the restricted Main Tour as the only professional competition provided by the WPBSA. The 2010/2011 season
saw the introduction of the Players Tour Championship
(PTC), a series of minor-ranking tournaments open to the entire professional membership. The PTC events also include an amateur leg, effectively making the PTC an open tour. They also carry ranking points, but at a much lower tariff than the regular events, and only professionals are eligible to receive ranking points.
, the top ranked professionals qualified automatically for places while the rest of the membership had to qualify for places through a series of qualifying schools. The qualifying schools were only held the once, and thereafter the main qualification route was via the secondary tour—first through the UK Tour and then the Challenge Tour.
Following the scrapping of the professional Challenge Tour, the tour promotion places that were allocated to it were transferred to Pontins International Open Series (PIOS)—the rebranded amateur open tour—for the 2005/2006 season
. The amateur status of the event meant that players who had been relegated from the Main Tour and wished to compete on PIOS had to relinquish their professional membership. This had an unpopular side effect, since if players relinquished professional membership they would be unable to enter the World Snooker Championship
, which is open to all professional members including those who don't compete on the Main Tour. Another issue was that players couldn't compete on PIOS while competing on the Main Tour, meaning that they couldn't safeguard their membership on the Main Tour by immediately re-qualifying via PIOS, effectively keeping them out of professional competition for a whole season should they drop off the tour. Even though PIOS was a competition in its own right, it primarily served as a Main Tour qualification route, and anticipating the streamlining of tour qualification for the 2011/2012 season
this unpopular contest was discontinued after the 2009/2010 season
.
There are some important differences between the Q School and PIOS. Q School is purely a qualification process whereas PIOS was a tournament series in its own right. Q School is conducted in a limited time period of 2–3 weeks in May, during the interlude between seasons, while PIOS events where played over the course of the season. Another important distinction from PIOS is that it is open to everyone, and players who have just been relegated from the Main Tour are eligible to enter and if successful immediately regain their places on the tour.
receives two, which it awards to the amateur and junior world champions; the European Billiards and Snooker Association also receives two and the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports receives three. The national governing bodies in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland can each nominate a player for the tour.
retained their places on the Main Tour. Eight Main Tour players who finished outside of the top 64 also retained their places based on their positions in the PTC Order of Merit. In total, 24 players were relegated from the tour to make way for the new professional players. The 2011/2012 season
will also see some alterations to tour qualification; Main Tour qualification for the 2012/2013 season via the PTC will be extended to include players that aren't currently on the tour, and players who gain a tour card after Q School will hold it for a minimum of two years as opposed to just one, which anticipates increasing the field to 128 players for the 2013/2014 season.
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
tournaments organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, often abbreviated to the WPBSA, founded in 1968 and based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards...
(WPBSA) for their members. To compete as a professional player, players must be WPBSA members. The circuit comprises a two-tier tour structure, with a primary tour and a secondary tour. The number of players on the primary tour is restricted, while the secondary tour is open to all professionals and amateurs.
Background
Historically a player just needed to become a professional member of the governing body to participate in events, which was attained by formal invitation by an existing current member, and this system was eventually replaced by the "Pro-Ticket" series. The game went openOpen (sport)
An Open in sports terminology refers to a sporting event or game tournament that is open to all people, regardless of their age, ability, gender, or other categorization. Opens are usually found in golf, tennis, quizbowl, snooker, darts, volleyball, ultimate, squash and chess....
for the 1991/1992 season, whereby anyone could apply for professional membership and enter the tournaments. Due to over-subscription, a two-tiered tour structure was adopted for the 1997/1998 season
Snooker season 1997/1998
The snooker season 1997/1998 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1997 and 1998. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
: the primary tour—known as the Main Tour—with a limited membership, and a secondary professional tour was established for the rest of the professional membership.
Main Tour
The Main Tour consists of ranking tournaments where players receive ranking points based on their performance as well as prize money, and invitational events that do not carry ranking points. The allocation of ranking points that an event carries depends on its relative importance to other ranking events. All players on the tour can enter a ranking event, whereas the entry criteria for an invitational event is often set by the sponsor or broadcaster, and usually excludes many players on the tour. Ranking tournaments are often played in two stages—a qualification stage and the "main draw", usually at different locations. The main draw is most likely to be held at a prestigious venue where audiences can purchase a ticket and watch the players compete. Typically only the main draw is televised, and therefore often carries considerably higher prize money than the qualifiers. Players usually come into ranking events in different rounds based on their world rankingSnooker world rankings
The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. They are maintained by the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association...
, and the top players in the sport—often the top 16 ranked players—are usually seeded through to the venue stage and do not have to play a qualification match. Some tournaments have an amateur leg that makes it possible for non-members to enter WPBSA events.
Secondary professional tour
A secondary professional tour, originally known as the UK Tour, was established in the 1997/98 seasonSnooker season 1997/1998
The snooker season 1997/1998 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1997 and 1998. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
following the adoption of a two-tier tour structure. Unlike the Main Tour which had restricted membership, the secondary tour was initially open to all professional members, even those competing on the Main Tour—although members of the Main Tour were prohibited from entering from the 1999/00 season
Snooker season 1999/2000
The snooker season 1999/2000 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1999 and 2000. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
. It was rebranded the Challenge Tour from the 2000/2001 season
Snooker season 2000/2001
The snooker season 2000/2001 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 2000 and 2001. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:- Official rankings :...
, and open to all players not on the Main Tour and amateurs. From the 2001/2002 season
Snooker season 2001/2002
The snooker season 2001/2002 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 2001 and 2002. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:- Official rankings :...
, the Challenge Tour had a restricted membership and offered exclusive professional competition to a limited number of professionals that were not members of the Main Tour, and the Open Tour was established which was open to all players—including players on the Main and Challenge tours. The WPBSA operated the three level circuit until the 2002/2003 season
Snooker season 2002/2003
The snooker season 2002/2003 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 2002 and 2003. This was the final season to have tobacco sponsored events to a legal ban apart from Embassy which would continue to sponsor the World Championship for another two years...
when it split with the English Association of Snooker and Billiards
English Association of Snooker and Billiards
The English Association of Snooker and Billiards, often abbreviated to EASB, based in Surrey, England, United Kingdom, is the governing body for the game of snooker in England. It actively promotes snooker, arranging snooker competitions and fostering talent through coaching and development...
(EASB). Since the Open Tour fell under the control of the EASB, which is an amateur governing body, the Open Tour took on amateur status and professional players were no longer eligible to enter. The Challenge Tour was axed upon completion of the 2004/2005 season
Snooker season 2004/2005
The snooker season 2004/2005 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 2004 and 2005. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:- Official rankings :...
, leaving the restricted Main Tour as the only professional competition provided by the WPBSA. The 2010/2011 season
Snooker season 2010/2011
The 2010/11 snooker season is a series of snooker tournaments played during 2010 and 2011. The following table outlines the results and dates for all the ranking and major invitational events.- Calendar :-New professional players:...
saw the introduction of the Players Tour Championship
Players Tour Championship
The Players Tour Championship is a snooker series comprising 12 regular events and a Grand Final. Each event lasts for at least three days, with a qualifying event for amateurs should the event be oversubscribed...
(PTC), a series of minor-ranking tournaments open to the entire professional membership. The PTC events also include an amateur leg, effectively making the PTC an open tour. They also carry ranking points, but at a much lower tariff than the regular events, and only professionals are eligible to receive ranking points.
Main Tour qualification
To compete on the Main Tour as a professional player, a player must qualify for it. At the end of each season, a pre-determined number of players are relegated from the tour based on their performance in ranking tournaments and the PTC, making way for new professionals to join the tour. There are several qualification routes for the tour: there are various events organised by the WPBSA itself or affiliate organisations that enable a player to qualify for the tour, and a limited number of wildcards are usually made available to players at the discretion of the governing body.History
Following the creation of the Main Tour in the 1997/1998 seasonSnooker season 1997/1998
The snooker season 1997/1998 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1997 and 1998. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
, the top ranked professionals qualified automatically for places while the rest of the membership had to qualify for places through a series of qualifying schools. The qualifying schools were only held the once, and thereafter the main qualification route was via the secondary tour—first through the UK Tour and then the Challenge Tour.
Following the scrapping of the professional Challenge Tour, the tour promotion places that were allocated to it were transferred to Pontins International Open Series (PIOS)—the rebranded amateur open tour—for the 2005/2006 season
Snooker season 2005/2006
The snooker season 2005/06 was a series of snooker tournaments played during 2005 and 2006. The following table outlines the results and dates for the ranking and major invitational events that took place.-Calendar:- Official rankings :...
. The amateur status of the event meant that players who had been relegated from the Main Tour and wished to compete on PIOS had to relinquish their professional membership. This had an unpopular side effect, since if players relinquished professional membership they would be unable to enter the World Snooker Championship
World Snooker Championship
The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...
, which is open to all professional members including those who don't compete on the Main Tour. Another issue was that players couldn't compete on PIOS while competing on the Main Tour, meaning that they couldn't safeguard their membership on the Main Tour by immediately re-qualifying via PIOS, effectively keeping them out of professional competition for a whole season should they drop off the tour. Even though PIOS was a competition in its own right, it primarily served as a Main Tour qualification route, and anticipating the streamlining of tour qualification for the 2011/2012 season
Snooker season 2011/2012
The 2011/12 snooker season is a series of snooker tournaments played during 2011 and 2012. The following table outlines the results and dates for all the ranking and major invitational events.- Calendar :-New professional players:...
this unpopular contest was discontinued after the 2009/2010 season
Snooker season 2009/2010
The snooker season 2009/10 was a series of snooker tournaments played during 2009 and 2010. The following table outlines the results and dates for all the ranking and major invitational events.- Calendar :- Official rankings :...
.
Q School
The Q School was established in an attempt to streamline the qualification process for the Main Tour, and is more or less a replacement for PIOS. A series of play-offs at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England, are run through to the quarter-final stages only. Players pay a fixed entry fee to enter all the play-off events, and there is no prize money. Each player who wins a quarter final game qualifies for a place on the Main Tour for the subsequent season. All the players that have entered the event compete in the first play-off, and those that are not successful are automatically entered into the next play-off.There are some important differences between the Q School and PIOS. Q School is purely a qualification process whereas PIOS was a tournament series in its own right. Q School is conducted in a limited time period of 2–3 weeks in May, during the interlude between seasons, while PIOS events where played over the course of the season. Another important distinction from PIOS is that it is open to everyone, and players who have just been relegated from the Main Tour are eligible to enter and if successful immediately regain their places on the tour.
Other qualification routes
The WPBSA usually makes a limited number of discretionary wildcards available to players too. The rest of the available places are allocated to various affiliate associations. Currently the International Billiards and Snooker FederationInternational Billiards and Snooker Federation
The International Billiards & Snooker Federation is the organisation that governs non-professional snooker and English billiards around the world . The organization is presently headquartered in Reims, France.-History:...
receives two, which it awards to the amateur and junior world champions; the European Billiards and Snooker Association also receives two and the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports receives three. The national governing bodies in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland can each nominate a player for the tour.
2011/2012
The players who finished in the top 64 of the snooker world rankings during the 2010/2011 seasonSnooker world ranking points 2010/2011
Snooker world ranking points 2010/2011: The official world ranking points for the 97 professional snooker players in the 2010/2011 season are listed below. The total points from the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 seasons were used to determine the rankings at the start of 2010/2011 season...
retained their places on the Main Tour. Eight Main Tour players who finished outside of the top 64 also retained their places based on their positions in the PTC Order of Merit. In total, 24 players were relegated from the tour to make way for the new professional players. The 2011/2012 season
Snooker season 2011/2012
The 2011/12 snooker season is a series of snooker tournaments played during 2011 and 2012. The following table outlines the results and dates for all the ranking and major invitational events.- Calendar :-New professional players:...
will also see some alterations to tour qualification; Main Tour qualification for the 2012/2013 season via the PTC will be extended to include players that aren't currently on the tour, and players who gain a tour card after Q School will hold it for a minimum of two years as opposed to just one, which anticipates increasing the field to 128 players for the 2013/2014 season.