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Metro
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Metro
Barry Pinches names career highlight, biggest regret and snooker's crying shame
Barry Pinches turned professional for the first time 36 years ago and he is back at Q School this week looking to do so again just shy of his 55th birthday. The Canary has spent the majority of the last three-and-a-half decades on the pro tour, playing most of the greatest players to ever pick up a cue. Not every player can have a legendary career, but they can have special moments, with Pinches remembering his Players Tour Championship victory in 2010 as his finest. 'I beat Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan in the same day, that was nice,' Pinches told Metro of his career highlight. 'That was probably the best, winning the PTC, even though there weren't any crowds.' The 2004 World Championship also stands out, battling against iconic names as he beat Jimmy White then lost in a decider to Stephen Hendry, but felt as good as he ever has on the table. 'I actually felt that year I was playing well enough…to win it would have been immensely difficult, but I was playing really well in practise I just wasn't missing.' With well over three decades of experience, Pinches is in as good a position as any to rate the greatest players in history and he plumps for a top three of O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Selby. 'Yeah it's Ronnie,' he said of the sport's GOAT. 'And then probably John Higgins or even Mark Selby.' On Hendry slipping down his list of greats, he said: 'I think with Hendry it's just an era thing. 'Look Hendry's obviously unbelievable, he changed the game he was a scoring machine. But I think if John Higgins or Mark Selby played Hendry at his peak I think they'd just edge him because their safety and their patience could be too much. 'I think Hendry was playing the way he played in his era because he wasn't getting punished enough, there weren't enough players around to punish him, but what a player.' Pinches was winning amateur titles in the very competitive era of the late 80s before turning professional, but he feels talent was getting him through and a lack of mechanical technique held him back over his career. 'I could have done a lot better,' he says of his career so far. 'When I look back, if I could give myself any advice as a 16-year-old, would be to get a coach. I never had a good technique. Even now, my technique's not brilliant. 'I won the English Amateur Championship at 17 and my technique was actually rubbish. 'A lot of players were self-taught back then. For all the natural talent that Ronnie's got, he's always had a pretty good technique even as a young kid. He was brought up around really good players. 'From my perspective, I was just brought up in Norwich. I was the best player in Norwich at 15 years old by quite a distance. I thought, well why do I need a coach? I'm winning everything. 'You won't see anyone playing snooker with a technique that I had when I was 18 years old. It was awful. It was just dreadful. 'When I did eventually see a coach who I was able to spend quite a lot of time with when I was about 27 I started to make a bit of progress and then I nearly broke into the top 16 when I was about 35 years old. 'That's blighted me really if I'm being honest, just messing about and never having a solid technique. I've messed about far too much because I didn't have a good base to start with.' The Canary last fell off the professional tour in 2023 but has remained very competitive on the amateur circuit and is still motivated to play at the highest level while he still feels like he can. 'I'm playing because I still enjoy it,' he said. 'You're a long time retired, aren't you? So when you think you've packed your cue up, that's going to be it. 'I'm still playing to a good level. It's hard to say there's any clear favourites at Q School, but I can still definitely qualify. 'But there's at least 30, 40 players at a minimum who could say that. You take the top 40 players off the Q Tour and you swap them with the bottom 40 pros, the pro tour isn't going to be much different. There's that much strength and depth now.' The standard on the amateur circuit was raised even further over the last year by Zhao Xintong playing on Q Tour, with Pinches' son Luke running into the now world champion twice and unsurprisingly coming up short. 'I said to Luke, he's playing ranking title stuff,' Barry recalls. 'I said it wouldn't surprise me if he goes close to winning the UK Championship. And as it happened, he went and won the Worlds! 'He was playing that bloody well. When you watched him, he was just making centuries every other time. He played the game like he was practising and he just makes it look so easy. 'And there was definitely a fear factor on the Q Tour, you could see it. He had that going for him as well, but he just played great.' Pinches has seen many ups and downs in snooker since he first picked up a cue and feels the sport is in good shape at the minute, but that's not to say that things cannot be improved. One standout area for the 54-year-old is the distribution of prize money, which he feels is far too heavily weighted towards winners and not evenly spread enough across the professional ranks. He feels that this is a big reason for overseas players struggling to make a living out of the game and ultimately giving up on a professional career, despite having the talent to succeed. 'There's been a lot of good players who have packed up playing,' he said. 'The German number one packed up, I believe, Lucas Kleckers. I think that's awful. I just think it's terrible. 'You look at Igor [Figuieredo of Brazil]. It's difficult for him to get on anyway, and there's just not enough money for him to come over. He's like the best player in South America by a country mile. 'I've made my feelings clear to people that are running the game. I think that's a crying shame when that happens, when you get people like that packing up. He probably wouldn't be playing anymore at all if it weren't for the Seniors. 'The game is just too top-heavy. They could stick more down the bottom and encourage these players to make it feasible for them to carry on. I've studied other sports and how they distribute their prize money, and snooker distributes it very top-heavy. 'You've got two good French players at the moment. [Brian] Ochoiski is really good and Nicolas Mortreux. They've both got potential, but I don't see them getting a tour card. Do I see them getting a tour card in the next five years? Do you know what? It's hard to say anyone would be guaranteed to get a tour card in the next five years. 'When I see people packing the game up and they're not only the best player in their country, but the best player in their country ever! You think, oh my God, that's not good.' More Trending It's not doom and gloom from the Canary, who feels there has been a lot of good work in growing the game, but feels more is still to be done. 'I had quite a lot to do with getting Barry Hearn back in,' he said. 'I tried to secure him votes because I thought he'd do really well from the commercial side. The game was on its knees and he's done brilliantly. 'The money's just gone up and up, but I don't think it's being distributed correctly. Prize money distribution is a huge thing. It's massive.' Pinches, who has come through Q School twice before, gets his campaign underway on Thursday against the aforementioned Frenchman Mortreux. MORE: Alfie Burden talks World Seniors redemption, online abuse and Q School bloodbath MORE: The 10 greatest graduates from snooker's Q School as latest hopefuls attend class MORE: Snooker prospect Ronnie Sullivan doesn't love obvious comparison: 'It does my head in'
BBC News
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Keeping up with the Woollastons - snooker's family affair
Ben Woollaston shot into the snooker spotlight with his surprising first-round win against Mark Selby at the World was a match between friends and practice partners from Leicester, and one that Selby said before the draw he hoped to Selby coughed up what he described as a "pathetic" performance to lose 10-8, Woollaston celebrated arguably the best result of his career in what became a post-midnight finish.A first win at the famous Crucible theatre has been a long time coming for Woollaston, who is now has suffered with chronic fatigue in recent years and said he was so sickly he was "green" before the final session against if the surname rings a bell, then that might not be entirely down to Ben's snooker achievements Tatiana is one of the sport's leading is not allowed to take charge of Ben's matches to avoid any possible accusations of a conflict of interest, but has officiated on many of the sport's big occasions and first appeared at the World Championship in 2020. 'I'd never heard of him' Ben Woollaston turned professional at the age of 17, and, as might be expected, found it tough initially to get the wins to stay on flitted between professional and amateur ranks, but since 2009 has been a fixture on the main was while in Germany for the Paul Hunter Classic in 2010 that Tatiana, making her way in the game as a European Billiards and Snooker Association referee, first encountered married in later told BBC Sport: "I had never heard of him. When we met he was 70 or 80 in the world."I think it improved him a lot and has given him motivation. Maybe it inspired him."Woollaston is 44th for now with 2024-25 season earnings of £139,900... and counting. He has been as high as 25th. Crucible success a long time in coming Ben Woollaston won a first minor ranking title in a Players Tour Championship event in Sheffield in 2011, and was one of a number of players with serious promise to emerge at about that time, others including Judd Trump, Jack Lisowski and Anthony qualified for the World Championship in 2013, and despite losing in round one to Ali Carter might well have expected to become a Crucible also reached the 2015 Welsh Open final, where he was beaten by John in qualifying for the Worlds became a frustrating and difficult habit to break, and returning to the sport's most famous stage this year could be considered Woollastons have two sons, and their eldest, 12-year-old Edward, joined Tatiana in the Crucible crowd to see Ben crawl over the line at the end of two gruelling sessions against Selby."It's amazing for Edward. I don't know how he did it - to watch five hours one night and five hours the next night," said Ben Woollaston."He didn't miss one shot [and] stayed in there during the interval. It's amazing that he did it."Ben's win might have cost Edward some bonus pocket money, however, as he had drawn Selby in a World Championship sweepstake at their snooker club with a £100 prize up for grabs."He thought he had a good chance," Woollaston also works at the head office of clothes retailer Next, with snooker a part-time occupation, but is one of the most respected refs refereed the UK Championship final between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins at the York Barbican in December. That was her first final of a Triple Crown event, a possible step towards a Crucible title match for the 38-year-old, who hails from Belarus. How much do snooker referees earn? World Snooker Tour says this is confidential and would not offer any some, though, it is a full-time role and involves extensive world well as matches on the regular tour, officials might top up their earnings by running the rule over exhibition has been a lucrative sideline since the sport's boom years in the 1980s, when the likes of Len Ganley were almost as popular as the top Mike Ganley - World Snooker Tour tournament director and Len's son - has said: "Len made good money from the exhibitions because for whatever reason he did have a profile, and an ego and a personality that went with it."That helps. It is understood that a referee's basic pay is generally rather modest, certainly compared to the top can confidently say that Ben Woollaston's World Championship earnings this year will top any referee's income from the 17 the second round means he is assured of at least £30,000. The champion collects £500, plan for Friday was to sleep as much as possible so that he feels fresh to go again when he plays China's Si Jiahui in round two, in a match that begins on was seen with Tatiana and Edward heading back to their hotel at about 01:00 BST, and while Ben and Edward possibly had a lie-in, there was no such comfort for was straight back to work, refereeing the second session of the round two match between Mark Allen and Chris began at 10:00 BST, and it contained what might go down as another career highlight - picking the black ball out of the pocket as Allen became the 11th man to make a 147 maximum break at the World far, Sheffield is treating the Woollastons well.
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Four-time snooker world champion blasts his 'pathetic' performance in shock first round defeat to rank outsider
Snooker star Mark Selby hit out as his 'pathetic' performance after he was upset by Ben Woollaston in the opening round of the World Snooker Championships. Four time world champion Selby, 41, was one of the favourites going into the tournament but was stunned by fellow Leicester native Woollaston in a contest which went on past midnight. Woollaston, 37, whose only professional title came at the minor-ranking third Players Tour Championship in 2011, stunned the fourth seed 10-8. Selby had held a slim 5-4 lead ahead of last night's deciding session in Sheffield but Woollaston won all but three frames to reach the second round, in what is only his second appearance at the main tournament. The world No. 44 is competing at the crucible for the first time since 2013 and will face former semi-finalist Si Jiahu. Following his shock defeat, Selby said: 'I didn't deserve to win. 'Ben played some great stuff, his safety was unbelievable at times but I still had my chances. It was pathetic really from me, to play like that is disappointing. 'It's the same old story, I try too hard and stop myself from playing. I love Ben to bits, I've known him for years. I grew up with him and have seen him progressing. 'To finish off the season like that has put a dampener on the season. My goal going forward is to win more Triple Crown events.' Meanwhile, Woollaston hailed the victory as the biggest of his career. 'I got to the final of the Welsh Open and my biggest win was beating [Mark] Williams in Wales and it was packed, but this is bigger. 'I know I'm pretty good tactically, but Mark [Selby] is the best at that. I stayed pretty tough in the safety battles and that's what won me the match.' He added: 'I'm in shock really. 'I never thought this day would come, winning a match at the Crucible, and against Mark, who except for Ronnie O'Sullivan is probably the king of the Crucible in recent times. It's an amazing win for me.' Earlier on Thursday, former champion Luca Brecel beat Ryan Day 10-7, coming back from 5-1 down, to reach the last 16. After the loss, Day, 45, admitted his best days were past him. 'Even with a 5-1 lead I was looking over my shoulder and not looking forward. I'm just not over-confident and I'm definitely not the player I once was,' he said. 'I turn up and play and try. I've been doing it a long time so it's obviously a lot closer to the end than the beginning. I would've beaten myself up the way I played if that had been a couple of years ago, but I've come to terms with it. 'I still like competing, I just haven't got the game that I had. As long as I'm on the tour I will still play and make a living out of it. I need to try to do something different [in matches] but I can't see my game really improving much.'
