Amateurs Hail the New Snooker Legends 900 Tournament…

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YESTERDAY saw the beginning of a new era for amateur snooker as the new Snooker Legends 900 amateur tournament kicked off in Reading – and broadcast LIVE on TV and online via Sporty Stuff.

A mixture of talent took to the baize for the first time in this new and fast and furious snooker event set up by Jason Francis of Snooker Legends, with a highly professional team of sports pundits and ex pros such as Lee the Shirt Richardson and presented by Rachel Casey and former World no 3 Neal Foulds.

The first matches on Freeview TV and streamed on Sporty Stuff TV online were extremely watchable with the format being similar to the format of the professional event the Snooker Shootout – despite there being some criticism of the format and set up of the Shootout being a ranking event.

In all, the 900 Snooker Legends will see 25 sessions of snooker broadcast Monday to Wednesday every night at 10pm with £6,000 per week in prize money – the eight weekly winners will then contest the Grand Final on 16 November in a one-off special.

Marcos Dayao, a Cuestars winner, whom SnookerZone has met personally at Woking Snooker Centre in Surrey and watched a short glimpse of him practicing the T-Line routine when he practiced there one weekend, took to social media to commend the work of Snooker Legends team as one of the 96 who was invited to compete in this innovative new event for the amateur scene.

It was great to see a mixture in the event with the Legend Dennis Taylor playing some very good snooker in patches.

Dayao, 22, tweeted:

It wasn’t to be in this year’s new format The 900 Snooker legends. I’m throughly proud on making my TV debut and enjoyed every single moment of it. Many thanks to @Snookerlegends for giving me the opportunity and hopefully this will bring amateur snooker to its next level 😁

— Marcos Dayao (@MxrcosDayao147) September 21, 2022

An additional four cueists enter the fray for a second mini event on a Tuesday alongside the Monday’s four losers, with the semi-finalists again progressing to Wednesday night.

On a Wednesday, a weekly winner will be crowned, with these eight weekly winners eventually battling for the overall title in November.

Snooker Legends tweeted after the first day:

Great effort today, total production crew of 5 and me delivered 6 hours of live tv today. To give you an idea a main broadcaster would have between 25-30 on site. Back tomorrow at ten pm #daretodream pic.twitter.com/i353UZKe14

— Snooker Legends (@Snookerlegends) September 21, 2022

Week 2 Next Week…

As the event gets well underway, talented Emma Parker is in the line=up for week two of the event and has recently been making waves in the Exhibition circuit with news SnookerZone learns of making a 92 break and whitewashing nine challengers in an exhibition in Faversham at the weekend.

Emma Parker is in a tough but challenging group with the likes of the Cuestars founder John Hunter, ranking event winner Rory McCleod and Tony Knowles as well as young talents Jamie Wilson and Sean Maddocks.

Her Manager Steve Smith commented on Facebook:

“Emma Parker 9 The challengers 0.

What an unbelievable snooker night with Emma Parker who not only beat all of her challengers, but did an amazing 92 break in the 8th frame.

So proud of what she is beginning to achieve in the game and very proud that I was the one who gave her a chance when others didn’t, and been able to give her all the help and support she needs to progress her career.”

Well done to Emma on the Exhibition.

Format for the 900 event…

Each match is one frame lasting 900 seconds (15 minutes)
There is a 20-second shot clock
Players must hit a cushion or pot a ball with each shot
The ball-in-hand rule is in operation for fouls
A dozen players will compete in each weekly event
The eight weekly winners face off in a final event to determine the champion…