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World Snooker


Muddy Funker
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I'm starting to get back into this game after a long lay off, enjoying it too.

Pretty much on a whim I thought it'd be nice to see it live, has anyone ever been to the crucible or tried to buy tickets?

They went on sale at 0900 today for next years championship.

I was laying there refreshing my phone constantly (very fast internet) at around a minute to nine it opened and I hit the buy button for the final session of the final. Now I'm not an idiot I know places are limited and it's popular.

I was instantly put me into a queue started at 977. It then counted down to sold out?

I then looked for next best option and managed to get seat B5 for final session of semi final even that was touch and go.

So my question is how the actual **** do you secure tickets of any kind for the final? I couldn't have been quicker.

Or is it a sham and they're already gone, they just pretend to make it fair?

 

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2 hours ago, shaun4860 said:

Dunno...

But...

I see the same guy at most of the sessions no matter what the competition, usually wears a light blue, striped,  what looks like a football top.

How he manages this I don’t know?

:shaun:

He is there again today, sitting over John Higgins left shoulder in a blue T-shirt 

He must spend a fortune on tickets.

:shaun:

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I used to go with a mate, every year (for 7 years) from 2001. I did go again a few years ago, but it wasn't the same going without my friend. 

The way we did it was quite simple, but also a bit dodgy. We both bought a season ticket (every frame of every game on one half of the draw) and we both had our favourite players, so sometimes we would get the same half, sometimes different. These season tickets also included all the semis and the final. We would then decide which games we wanted to see (sometimes I would only go and see one session) and so we would book the time off work and book a hotel (usually the cutlers as it was 2 minutes from the crucible) and the train there and back. 

Now for the dodgy bit.

All the games we didn't want to see, we put on ebay (you used to be able to resell tickets on there in those days). World snooker used to send individual paper tickets for every session in a season ticket, rather than just one ticket for the whole tournament, so it was very easy. The buyer just had to pretend to be either me of my mate. Most years we made so much money reselling that it paid for the season tickets, the hotel and the train, so we went for free! Best part was, you became a preferential fan after buying one season ticket, so we always got one offered to us each before the rest of the tickets went on general sale. 

It's all changed now of course and you can't do it like that any more. Getting married stopped me going in the end. I saw some absolutely amazing games in that time, met all the great players, had a few drinks with them too, even played a couple of frames with Jimmy White one year in the exhibition hall. 

We never got closer than row 5. Most of the centre section of the seating (directly in front of the tables) is reserved for world snooker employees and sponsors (such as embassy as it was back then) and the rest of the closest seats are for hospitality (maybe first 3 rows), so it's no surprise you see the same faces on the TV at games. We met so many of the same people there year after year, I should imagine that very few tickets ever come up for general sale that the occasional fan can get. 

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30 minutes ago, team tractor said:

My cousins partner goes to a few. A local Tamworth lad apparently has just been knocked out

Dave Gilbert, hadn't seen him play before, he'd never been to the final table, but played some brilliant snooker.

I'd imagine like most things you join a club or membership and get your tickets before general sale.

little things like JV talking about the old lady watching 95 years young add to the viewing.

grew up watching with me dad, and still enjoy it now.

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Some good stories there cheers 👍

I suppose I should be grateful getting anything I just couldn't believe how quickly they went, it must have sold out instantly.

Or in advance like I said, then they pretend tickets are on general sale when in fact there's none.

I know there was a presale yesterday for 1/3 of the tickets if you bought in person. Remaining tickets for sale today yeah right 😂

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6 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Could you manage to keep up the Hurricane ? , one of the all time greats to watch on the box .

hello, he was indeed, we use to play bar billiards in the local pub, not sure when he started playing snooker, ah i think they had a table in the stable yard rest room, 

Edited by oldypigeonpopper
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3 hours ago, shaun4860 said:

He is there again today, sitting over John Higgins left shoulder in a blue T-shirt 

He must spend a fortune on tickets.

:shaun:

He's also solely responsible for a ban on football shirts! He is a Coventry City supporter. For years he used to come in a Coventry strip, but I think the World snooker sponsors took a dim view of it because it was essentially free advertising because he was there so often! So the ban was brought in. He still comes religiously, and usually in some kind of Coventry City colour theme - light blue and white

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