James Kilmartin, armchair snooker fan: “Zero tolerance. It's the only way or it
will spread like a virus. Examples made?! No consistency at all. Snowy (Paul
Davison) is a friend of mine, and he's practicing his nuts off to try and get
into top 64. It makes me mad that there's players slightly higher ranked than
him who might be throwing games.
Gary, runs On Cue snooker blog: “Unfortunately match fixing is part and parcel
of a sport so reliant on the gambling industry.”
Johnny May:, snooker fan “If you have agreed to do throw the match, from
outside involvement away from snooker - you should be thrown out of the game.
Every sport should be played with a 110% sportsmanship from everyone involved.
Imagine if there's a betting scandal one day, and the next day, the crowd see a
low-quality game - what will they all think?”
Ash147Promoter, snooker betting expert: “It would be very difficult to name a sport
where there hasn’t been fixing issues, think about it and name a few.”
Chris Vear, fan: “Players who match fix don't deserve to be in
the game. I think this is a huge issue which WS need to prioritise above other
instances. Very important for the game if it is resolved. People might taint
everyone with the same brush. Out-of-form players might be accused even if
they've done nothing wrong.”
Ron Florax, runs snooker stats site Cue Tracker.net: “What I don't like about the whole
thing is soon a player can't have a bad day without being questioned or accused
of match fixing.”
E Jones, snooker fan: “I have no sympathy on this subject in my opinion
Players should be suspended immediately pending an enquiry. I wouldn't try to
lose playing cards with a child I’d want to beat them so for players to try and
lose snooker match is sick, but obviously there could be gambling cartel
putting pressure on players. Above everything you need consistency when dealing
with this.”
Shaun Murphy, World No.4 player: “Couldn't believe it when that (being accused
of match fixing) happened. Being accused was and still is the worst day of my
snooker life.”
Vikki, Bulgarian snooker fan: “If they fix their matches they lie to only
themselves. It doesn’t make them better player or something only hazard their
chances to be on the top. No one needs it, it only makes the sport to look bad
and this way the idea of snooker is lost. Match fixing in snooker is like
doping in athletics or swimming. Doesn’t make you a better player, or a big
winner.”
Stuart Bingham, World No.8: snooker player “They should be chucked out completely. The
ones that have been convicted of match fixing, but it’s a hard one to
completely convict someone. I got asked about 6 or 7 years ago in Thailand by
an old friend to throw a few matches! Singapore underground betting! Someone who isn't (a friend) anymore.”
Igor, Brazilian snooker fan: “The world snooker isn`t severe about this. Betting is
one of the principal causes for this. World Snooker needs to be fast and
right. Players that make this, have to
be checked out. Snooker is a sport, no a website about bets.
Mark King, World No.25 player: “After evidence, a big wave and go find another
job, not fair to the sport.”
Fin, snooker coach: “The problem is these day’s there is so much snooker
being played that it’s hard to watch & police any wrongdoing. Now if a top
player misses a straight black, the question is, is he bent?
My opinion is that World Snooker should be as quick as they possibly can in sorting these cases of suspected match fixing. This is so that players who are guilty are out of the game as quickly as possible with life bans. Meanwhile, those that are innocent can go back to playing as soon as possible. Collecting evidence is a lengthy process but World Snooker and the other necessary authorities should be as quick as they can in collecting efficient amounts of evidence.
The other panel members agree that guilty players should receive life bans, and that the true fixers need to be made examples of, to stop others turning to match fixing.
Was a very good debate again, getting lot's of people talking about this major issue, which is exactly what I wanted. Looking forward to next week's debate already, should be good fun again.
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