Section 6
Every piece on the site, listed in full.
29 pieces · All pieces
What a full-size tournament table actually is: twelve feet by six, a slate bed arriving in three pieces, levelled to within a fingernail's width across its whole length.
The two cloth manufacturers whose names appear in every tournament specification, and what the difference between them is in practice.
Saluc's Aramith balls have held the tournament contract for decades; this piece explains what phenolic resin does that polyester does not, what the tolerance spec is for a set used in a world final,…
A comparison of the three manufacturers whose tables appear at WST ranking events, mapping which brand appears at which tournament and what the supply arrangements mean for table consistency across…
The argument between ash-spliced and maple-shafted cues, covered as a documented preference among tour players rather than a verdict — who uses what, when the shift from ash began, and what tip…
How a Finnish chalk formulation reached the professional tour, why its reduced scatter on the cloth mattered to tournament referees, and which players adopted it first.
The full arc from the 2023 WPBSA tribunal finding through the ban, the loss of ranking and tour card, the return through amateur qualifying, and the 18–12 final against Mark Williams in 2025.
O'Sullivan's world championship record alongside his documented public statements about the ranking-event schedule — the withdrawals, the on-record quotes, and what the tension between his record and…
Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan entered the professional tour in the same year and all three still hold ranking-event wins.
Trump's ranking trajectory, his 2019 world title, the period at the top of the list, and how Zhao's 2025 win reframed the question of who the sport's next era belongs to.
Reanne Evans's record on the World Women's Snooker Tour, set against what the prize money for those titles actually was at the time — and what it is now.
How Nutcharut became the first Thai player to hold a professional tour card, what the qualifying pathway looked like, and what her presence on the WST tour represents for the sport's expansion into…
Robertson has compiled more competitive centuries than any player except O'Sullivan; this piece examines what the century count means as a career statistic, why it rewards a particular style of play,…
Ding's arrival on the professional tour in 2003, his UK Championship title at nineteen, and how he became the figure who made a Chinese snooker audience legible to the WST.
The Crucible Theatre's contract with the WST, what Sheffield City Council and the WST have each said on the record about 2027 and beyond, and why the venue's size — the smallest hosting a world final…
How the World Championship came to Sheffield, what it left behind at Wembley, and why the Crucible's intimacy — two tables, a divided auditorium, the proximity of the crowd — became the thing the…
The Saudi Masters as a non-ranking invitation event, what the golden ball format is and where it sits in the rules, and what the appearance fees paid there mean for players ranked outside the top…
What Sheffield City Council and Crucible management have actually said on the record about keeping the championship beyond 2027 — the public statements, the economic case, and why the city's argument…
What Matchroom's arrangement with the WPBSA changed: the prize fund, the ranking-event count, and what the expansion meant for players ranked below sixty-fourth who now had more events to enter and…
How the two-year tour card works, what it costs to hold one if you are ranked below the top sixty-four in prize money, and the structural gap between the players who enter ranking events with a…
A walk through the published prize-money structure for a WST ranking event, from winner's cheque to first-round loser, showing what the distribution actually looks like for the hundred players who…
What the WPBSA disciplinary panel found, who was banned and for how long, and what the tribunal's published documents say about how the investigation was conducted.
How Q School works: the entry, the format, how many cards are awarded, and what the venue — multiple tables running simultaneously in a sports hall with almost no spectators — looks like compared to…
The history of the World Women's Snooker Tour from its founding through to the prize-money increases of the 2020s, how a player crosses from the women's tour onto the main WST tour, and what Rebecca…
Cliff Thorburn's 147 at the 1983 World Championship — the first maximum at the Crucible, the session it was played in, the opponent, and the result of the match.
An explainer of the three rules that most affect professional match play: the foul and a miss as a defensive tool, the free ball after a snooker on a foul, and how the combination of these rules…
An argument that the tactical long game — snookering, hiding the cue ball, forcing errors — is the dominant skill in professional snooker and the one television coverage compresses or cuts.
How a programme designed to show off colour broadcasting created the audience that eventually filled the Crucible — the commission, the format, the players involved, and what the viewing figures said…
The 1985 World Championship final, the last-frame decider, the television audience, and what that night established about snooker's place in British broadcasting.