SHAUN MURPHY is campaigning for snooker to change its rules to speed up the game – and avoid a repeat of “ridiculous” madcap 100-minute frames.
The Magician will be potting alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan, Luca Brecel and Kyren Wilson – all former world champions – on Friday in the inaugural Global Snooker 900 Championship in Reading.
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Snooker star Shaun Murphy is campaigning for a major rule change Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
The Magician wants to implement the 900-second frame rule Credit: Getty
At this event, frames last no longer than 900 seconds, or 15 minutes, there is a 30-second shot clock, and the cue-ball is spotted so fans can see spin and side played on each pot.
Balls must be either potted or hit a cushion and there is a ball in hand following any fouls.
Murphy’s appearance comes two weeks after Yu Wize and Mark Allen engaged in a bladder-bursting one-hour and 40-minute frame – the longest ever seen at the Crucible – in the semi-finals of the World Championship.
The 2005 world champion – a leading Motivational speaker with Champions Speakers – told JattvibeSport: “I’ve been a fan of the 900 since its inception.
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“It’s very close to the rules that I’d like to see brought into normal snooker.
“With the spotted cue ball and the shot clock. A ball in hand is something I’m a fan of.
“I’ve been campaigning for that for many, many years. So I’m quite excited to try it.
“I feel like it’s a much more rounded version of the Shoot Out, which I really enjoy. It’s a new version of the game and it’s very popular.
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Mark Allen and Wu Yize played out an hour 40 minute long frame at the last world championships Credit: Reuters
“I’ve been clear. I’d like to see it in all forms of snooker. I’d like to see that in all tournaments, including the Crucible.
“With a ball in hand and a shot clock, you certainly wouldn’t have had the ridiculousness of the 100-minute frame that we had in the semifinals.
“It would just take that away. I don’t think anybody enjoyed that. Least of all Mark Allen and Yuu Wize, who were taking part in it.
“Steve Davis called it a farce. I just think that’s the best advert for bringing in these types of things.
“I’ve been saying this for years, since the Premier League days of shot clocks.
“I think it would be fantastic to see. It’d stop that deliberate foul that all pros play. I don’t like professional fouls. I don’t like the bending of the rules.
“I’d rather see, you know, players rewarded for aggressive play, attacking play, playing to win rather than playing not to lose.”
Murphy went all the way in the final before eventually losing 18-17 to 22-year-old Chinese superstar Wu.
It was the fourth 35th frame of a world final under current rules, the first being Dennis Taylor’s epic black-ball win over Steve Davis in 1985.
Since then, he laid down the cue and escaped with fiancé Jo to five-star retreat Grantley Hall in North Yorkshire
With time to reflect on that loss, for which he received £200,000 in prize money, the 43-year-old is philosophical about that fortnight in Sheffield.
Murphy said: “It was a wonderful two weeks. It was a great season, one of my best seasons.
“And I came within a frame of snooker of it being the absolute icing on the cake, winning the second world title. The icing of my career.
“It’s the closest I’ve ever been since winning in 2005. I’d been in three further finals.
“I do like to go back to it – the air crash investigation is how I always describe it. Try and work out where it went wrong.
“It’s the best I’ve ever played there and lost. So I can’t be too hard on myself. I can’t be too critical of myself.
“I actually text Dennis Taylor, having played in my own final-deciding frame at the Crucible.
“I felt like I had a bit more of an awareness of what he must have gone through in 1985.
“Because there are only seven of us that have experienced that 17-17 feeling at the Crucible. That’s a very small group.
“I said now, having walked a mile in your shoes, I feel like I appreciate the stress and strain you must have been under to pop that final black.”
