Shaun Murphy has backed the announcement of Saudi Arabia’s first invitational snooker event and the introduction of a new golden ball which could increase the maximum break to 167.
The inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker will take place in March with seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan set to feature in the 10-player field alongside 2019 world champion Judd Trump and current holder Luca Brecel. The tournament will feature the introduction of a 23rd ball, known as the Riyadh Season ball, which will be worth 20 points, but can only be potted once a maximum break of 147 has been completed.
Murphy, the 2005 world champion, urged traditionalists to give the novel idea a chance, likening it to the single-frame Snooker Shoot Out, that was met with plenty of resistance when it was introduced, but has evolved into a permanent fixture on the world ranking calendar since 2017. Murphy, who as the current world No 6 is set to feature in the tournament, said: “It was heresy when the Shoot Out was brought in as a ranking event – people were nearly out with torches on the streets – but I haven’t met a single person who has been to the Shoot-Out and not enjoyed it.
“You should never criticise something unless you’ve tried it. It’s just something different and it’s not the first time the sport has tried new ideas. I imagine the [World Snooker Tour] had to make a few concessions to get the event over the line, and the new promoters in Saudi will want their event to stand out and be different. At the end of the day you’d rather have the event than not.”
Precise details of the format relating to the golden ball are yet to be revealed, but it is understood that World Snooker Tour is not considering the introduction of the ball for any other tournaments.
The Saudi tournament, due to be held in Riyadh from March 4-6 and featuring the top eight players in the world and a prize pool of $1m (£800,000), will not offer the highest break in the sport’s history. A short-lived experiment in 1959 saw the introduction of a ‘Snooker Plus’ tournament, which included two additional colours, an orange ball worth eight points and a purple worth 10, which raised the theoretically available maximum to 210.
The announcement of the Saudi event, hailed as a “huge breakthrough” by WST chairman, Steve Dawson, was met with some resistance from lower-ranked players, with 2023 Shoot Out semi-finalist Steven Hallworth tweeting: “Was starting to lose sleep with worry that the top 8 players might run out of events and cash soon, thank God for this”.
Amnesty International criticised snooker’s addition to the growing list of sports heading to the kingdom, calling on those involved to seize the opportunity to speak out about human rights abuses. Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s Economic Affairs director, said: “It was just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia’s huge sportswashing machine sucked in snooker along with almost every other major world sport. If the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump play in Riyadh, they shouldn’t hesitate to speak out about human rights.”
For all that accepts the relevance of continued expressions of concerns, Murphy insists neither those prospective invitees, nor the sport itself, should be in any quandary about being part of the historic deal.
“Obviously there is a question over human rights, as there should be, but if we only traded with countries with perfect human rights records, it would be a very, very small pool to pick from,” said Murphy. “We wouldn’t be trading with the UK either. We haven’t covered ourselves in glory over hundreds of years, going around invading other countries, so people in glass houses need to be careful where they throw their stones.”
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PA Media