The question has to be asked as to why the defending champion and No.l seed, Peter Gilchrist, and the three times Amateur Champion, David Causier, should have met in the second round of the World Professional Championship. This second round was, to all intents and purposes, the real first round as there was only one game in the, "first," round and this would have been better described as a preliminary round. With 33 players entered there had to be one preliminary match. This was between Brian Dix and David Causier. It is not clear why the match was contested between these two. Somebody, of course, had to play a preliminary match, but this particular match was about as much of a match as would be a contest between Mike Tyson and St. Francis of Assisi. But what is even less clear is why the winner of this, "match," should have been pitted against the No.l seed, though again, somebody had to play the No.l.seed.' Though Gilchrist was expected to beat Causier there were those, including the BQR Editor, who were of the opinion that Causier was by no means out of it and was capable of causing an upset. Events were to prove them right and the Indian stages of the championship were nearly deprived of the 1994 Champion. The sponsors would have been delighted! In previous years, a number of players have been exempted from the qualifying rounds, and the rest of the entrants have played off for a certain number of places to join with the exempted players to make a total of 16 players for the final stages.
BQR queried this year's draw and was told by a member of the Billiards Committee that the draw was made in the way that it was made because of, "the number of entries" and that it was only last year that there had been any exemptions. But this is not so.
In 1991 there were 27 entries. The top five players in the ranking list were exempted and the remaining 22 played for 11 places.
In 1992 there were 26 entrants, 6 were exempted leaving 10 places to play for.
In 1993,24 entered and 8 were exempted. In 1994, from 26 entries - 6 were exempt.
It should not have been beyond the wit of the members of the Billiards Committee to have worked out a draw whereby the top eight could have been exempted to the Indian stages. For example; from the 33 entries, the top eight in the ranking, let's call them the, "Premier League" could have been seeded through to the final stages. The next eight, "First Division" could have been exempted to the second round (At Leeds) and the remaining seventeen players (with one preliminary round) could have played a first round for eight places. These eight would then have played a second round with the, "First Division," exemptions, the winners of those matches joining the, "Premier League," top eight for the trip to India. This would have meant that seventeen matches would have been played at Leeds for eight places -exactly the same number that were actually played at Leeds for sixteen places. This would have eliminated the possibility of any of the top players not getting to the final stages, it would, incidentally, almost certainly have ensured that David Causier would have been in Bombay - and it is rather unfortunate that such a good and exciting player was not there. There is little doubt that the Indian public would have taken him to their hearts. A by-product of such a system would be that the ranking places outside the top eight would take on considerably more importance than they have at present. Those games which, in fact, have little bearing on the eventual destination of the championship trophy, would become much more important for those involved. If being ranked from nine to sixteen carried an exemption to the second round then there really would be something for the lesser lights to play for. Such a system could quite easily be adapted to accommodate almost any number of entries.
The word on the streets is that the draw this year was made at the WPBSA offices in Bristol and that it was made taking account of the ranking but with no exemptions. The preliminary round was put at the top of the draw sheet which meant that the winner had to play No.l seed Peter Gilchrist. It is also said that the Billiards Committee was not represented. If this is so then the WPBSA can hardly be blamed for simply taking a list of names and making a draw.
"Forward the Light Brigade, Charge for the guns he said, Not thought the soldier knew someone had blundered."
Or as Alfie Lord Tennyson would have said were he alive today:-
"A Cock-Up".
Since amusing myself by writing the above piece, I have read that there may be a new system of qualifying starting next season. It is proposed that there should be 32 players in all the ranking tournaments. These would comprise the top 24 in the ranking plus four from a British qualifying school, and four from an Indian qualifying school. The qualifying schools would be played on a round-robin basis. This would to some extent counteract the luck of the draw and could also be used to establish a more precise ranking order. Sounds reasonable enough. 32 players is fine for India, not quite so good for England where players would outnumber spectators in something like a ratio of two to one. Nevertheless it is a move in the right direction. I'm not quite sure how much it costs to be a professional but, together with tournament entry fees, I suppose it will be in the region of a couple of hundred quid, so, if an aspiring last 32 man has to play, let's say four games in a round robin, then with a half-dozen tournaments per season, it's reasonably cheap billiards, though we have to remember expenses. If expenses means staying at the Bellingham Hotel, Wigan, then it's well worth it. I'm thinking of turning pro. Another point in favour of such a system is that the lambs would not be immediately led to the slaughter - that would come just a little later. From what I read, it could be that an earlier visit to the abattoir could work out cheaper than actually qualifying to go to India.
Watch this space. On second thoughts, don't bother watching this space.