Why I Don’t Believe in Handicaps in Sport…

I’ve never been a big believer in handicaps in sport, and it’s not because I think they’re pointless — it’s because I don’t think they reflect a fair part of reality.

Sport performance is played on the day. Not on averages. Not on spreadsheets. Not on what someone did three months ago.

A handicap assumes a predictable version of a player, but anyone who competes regularly knows that form fluctuates. Confidence, focus, nerves, conditions — they all matter. Two players can turn up with the same handicap and perform worlds apart.

Check this; On the day, a player with a giant handicap only needs to make a 30 break and that frame is won.

That’s not fair. Say a player has a giant start. The other player hasn’t had a chance because of the giant gap in the points. It’s not the way sport should be played. I believe you learn more from playing off scratch.

If you’re going to have a handicap system make it on highest breaks – that’s whay happens down in Oxshott. But, in general, I just don’t believe in the system because players perform on the day – and sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Another issue is that handicaps are often wrong from the start. Some players improve quickly, some plateau, some only turn it on in matches, others struggle under pressure. A number next to someone’s name can lag behind their true ability — sometimes by a long way. When that happens, the handicap doesn’t “level” the contest; it distorts it.

There’s also a psychological side. Knowing you’re giving or receiving points can subtly change how people play. Instead of competing freely, players start calculating, protecting leads, or chasing numbers rather than playing the game as it should be played.

For me, the fairest test in sport is simple: two players, same conditions, same rules, and let performance decide it there and then. You win or lose based on how you actually play — not how an algorithm thinks you should play one week in one week out.

That’s sport in its purest form. And personally, that’s the version I respect most.