Stephen Hendry Debates Snooker’s BIG Questions With Trump, Allen, Milkins & More

Should snooker be in the Olympics? Is Jimmy White snookers greatest ever entertainer? And can snooker learn from darts to grow the game globally? These are just some of the questions we’re asking Judd Trump, Mark Allen, Robert Milkins, Tom Ford and Rob Walker in this first episode of Pick Your Side. Get a debate going in the comments with your biggest opinions on the questions in this video.
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this is Q-tips pick your side so what it is we’re going to pick a card yeah I’m going to read it and you got a chalk so we either strongly agree disagree strongly disagree okay sounds good okay snooker should ditch waste coats and bow ties far down can you I’m going to go not strongly disagree do you mean like a blanket even in the world championship yeah I for everything to be honest I don’t enjoy the way it looks but it also hampers how well I’m able to play I I feel I don’t feel relaxed enough I feel a bit uptight and the suit is very tight and things like that so I think my standard goes up when I’m not wearing it in other events you not feel the when like it’s like you don’t get a buzz you’re coming from a you’re putting the gear on you’re ready to play that that doesn’t I used to think I’m putting on my uniform on my working I’m going to work no it doesn’t appeal to me and I’m I’m someone this I’ve always been on the the mindset that I I want to get fans more involved so if you’re able to wear a shirt supporting your favorite player or stuff rather than just one indiv ual as a sport if you’re able to wear like trumpo Henry I feel like that would just I don’t know bring the game more up to terms up to scratch I can see your point of view as well um and I certainly feel like when you at your primer I think it was the whole identity of snooker and look I don’t mind if if the Wast CS that St for this one competition World championship’s always been special but I would like to see a bit more of it away from other events listening to music before a match helps you prepare yeah disag I’m the same I’m going to disagree when you’re in your dressing room here what you doing I used to read a newspaper just to just chill out basically yeah uh me too do you have anyone in there with you or yeah do you know what it bugs me like when people come in with me I don’t really want them voiced their opinion I’ve said I don’t I’m fully aware of what to do myself you you know look they all mean well I couldn’t even hold a conversation before because I just don’t want to speak to anyone 10 15 minutes before I go out well I I I make the effort but a lot of it I’m not no I’m not listening you know it’s going I got my own yeah just going through the motions going through the motions and and I’ve said to everyone before I come here this time I said nobody’s coming with me I want to go on my own I want to do everything on my own right it is yeah and I’ve said to everyone like you can have tickets you can come up but you’re not coming with me and you’re not staying like I know I’ve always put myself out with people you know and you’re getting especially L with the ticket situation as well like um now it’s even worse cuz I’m not good on phones I know it’s not much but they send you emails now so then you have to 40 emails on it bugs me Stephen you’re here at work yeah you’re not here to like make sure everyone’s happy and if they’ve got a drink or if they got a you know you’re there to do your job that’s right you know that while shoting last year so when um I was there pretty much all week on my own and then my ex manager and my friends and my family my kids they all text me before the finals saying we’re on our way what you doing you doing I don’t want I don’t want any of them there do you know what looking back at it I’m glad my kids are yeah of of course you are but but you don’t you don’t want to have anything to do with the actual physical way they’re getting there and getting their your do in between in between sessions as well go and see the kids oh I want McDonald’s oh no I want a sandwich you I just like nightm I mean my head would blow up me too don’t get me wrong best best friends in the world family like but it’s just as the end of day it’s not what you’re there to do you’re there you’re there win a snooker match no but I mean no it turned out well on the so The Crucible is my favorite place to play snooker oh he’s looking up this end could I just like leave it there you can leave it wherever you want you’re in the middle okay I’m right in the middle explain then I haven’t done well enough here for for me to be over that part but you’ve been you’ve been to one table twice right I know and you didn’t think that was like just the greatest place to play s i just thinking it’s nowhere like I remember like for me personally like I love playing New York okay I love the arena there I’ve got the three finals there I’ve obviously won there yeah playing on the waterfront in Belfast for me he’s obviously very very special play in front of my home fans winning there 98 against John you in the camp of you’re not bothered if it leaves the cruiser bow the world championship no I’m not balled but I wouldn’t be one that is actively pushing for it to move okay so again when it comes to that I’m right there as well like I think for the game to move on I think it’s inevitable it’s going to move I never thought i’ see Mark Allen sit in the fence sorry man it’s a strong fence though snooker should be in the Olympics ooh oh this is a big of you because you’re you’re the track and field man aren’t you I am I’ve covered every Olympic since affin in’ 04 and oh God I’ve never thought Sur gets in front of bre Danon come on yeah okay okay okay do you know what yes because it is a sport and it annoys me cuz covering Athletics and snooker is a funny mix cuz you couldn’t get two more diametrically opposed Sports one of the arguments against for instance sports like Golf and Tennis is that a lot of true fans of the Olympics would say unless winning the Olympic title is the ultimate Accolade in that sport it should not be in the Olympics so so tennis and golf would be yeah but I changed my opinion I I was I was with that yeah but when I saw how much it meant to Murray to become the Olympic champion and to beat federa in the final and when um was it Justin Rose won won the first did Murray win that for Scotland or for Britain for both but for Great Britain Scotland um but then when when Justin Rose won the inor Olympic top well they had golf back in the day the modern day first Tim he said that was one of the greatest things you ever done I strongly agree because I think just the the skill factor involved um is is is enough say there was a big song of the dance and it and it was a massive story and snooker got back in the Olympics do you think it’s possible that an Olympic gold for Scotland for Great Britain would have come close to to one of your world titles or is it just impossible for you to answer that uh it’s quite hard to answer but sitting here now I would say no I would say that this is this is this is the Pinnacle for me and that that would be you know you know my argument against strongly AG greeen is that you know with mentioned the Sports golf and would that be the Pinnacle for a snooker player to win it where I agree with you the Olympics should be the Pinnacle so yeah so but I will I will I will strongly agree yeah I I would I would do the same yeah okay Ronnie I is the toughest opponent I’ve faced yeah I yeah I’m going to agree okay okay explain you disagree I disagree because sometimes you don’t know what you’re get M Ronnie I agree he’s got that aura about him that it makes him 21 28 points better anyway just turning up but to having to really knuckle down and try and beat somebody I would say s is my S of one of them that’s up there that you you have to play well to be fair I was probably a bit quick I should be somewhere around here really between disagree and age because I mean cby I I I played at Selby two or three times and I must admit when I see him the way he plays here I would struggle unless I was at my best I think I would struggle and I think but even with Ronnie as you say sometimes you could still get chances if Ronnie’s on fire then oh strongly agree yeah but if he’s not on fire that day you still might get you still might get a few chances okay Tom chalk is the best chalk to use I’m going to go I’m going to go there sitting cuz you you were one of the last you don’t use triangle but you stuck with it for quite a long time didn’t you I think it should be banned yeah basically I always felt like if if it’s not broken don’t fix it I’ve always had that kind of attitude and I certainly feel like with the triangle CH is more consistent in the strike obviously the less choke that’s going on the tip is always going to be a little bit more consistent and there something that I’ve kind of battled with and it definitely does help reduce kicks but still don’t think it’s the perfect okay cuz I I was I was the biggest skeptic of all when it first came out I I was like I stuck with trying I thought it’s chalk my opinion A lot of the time is most of the kicks are caused by bad queing I think on the whole is is certainly getting better and it just eliminates excuses for players Well normally now when you miss you kind of know they’ve missed whereas before I always felt there was a lot of times where I’ve missed balls but I haven’t actually missed them in like the commentators get slaughtered he’s missed an easy pot whereas now if I missed I probably have missed what color do you use blue or green uh green making a 147 is the toughest thing to do in sport uh I I I I got a strong agree yeah listen I’m we’re biased I’m I’m I’m a snooker and I’m going to always going to think Snookers the the best sport in the world the most difficult I have 36 pots and to bef every okay you can be a little bit out and you can you can regain the situation in golf you play a bad shot you can play another shot to get it out of there yeah and then you just you’re you know you s if you play a really bad shot 147’s finished it’s gone yeah a sort of strongly agree but it’s CU we do it like cuz I’m a player Sno player many of you had in tournaments no I’ve only had three I’ve had three but I just think cuz we’re snooker players I don’t think it’s that difficult yeah exactly yeah I’m just you know what like I bet you can’t remember how many you’ve had can you not in practice in practice that’s what I mean you get say you it becomes you get blaz about it don’t you yeah I mean in matches is different is it in matches tougher a lot tougher absolutely absolutely my phone screen time is too high I’m going to say yes yeah I mean listen I mean say you’re practicing in the club and the other guys at the table have you got your phone in your hand no definitely not definitely not it’s such a distraction I hate when people do that it annoys me no not I wouldn’t be the G but what I would say is I’d say my screen time likez just it’s like it should be like planted to no not they plant we were in China for that tournament and Jack was showing me a screen time was avering like hours or something I ridiculous unbelievable but I think it’s a bit false that screen time because if you have an app open right and it’s happened to be sitting over there and you’re practicing and practicing and practicing or you’re listening to music it’s sh as you’re on your phone okay I didn’t know that technically I would say I think my screen time is probably about 9 hours a day I’d say probably I’m probably only on the phone half that or less okay so it probably a bit worse I think that’s just this day and AG now I’m I’m only on checking my followers that’s what I’m on so you’re not on for very long it’s still possible to watch snooker just for fun why I’m going to disagree I’m going to disagree as well I mean I I I watch snooker for living though pretty much it’s not fun for me because and it is fun I enjoy watching you guys play and everything but it’s not fun inite that I want to be out there you know what I mean and that’s the thing for me so you’ve played the game at the highest level yeah and especially yourself it must wind you up watching some of these players that you know that when you was at that level I mean first I’m just jealous of you guys being out there to start to start with because it’s like to play these amazing venues and stuff but yeah I strongly disagree because I just can’t stand watching theame I was just going to say that if you get beat you never watch if you’re at the tournament you won’t watch it no if I get beat you find me in the pupp it’s just one of them even as a kid I just never enjoyed watching the game I don’t know if that was a Willie Thorn and Cliff thorburn sort of put you off put me off when I first come the best the best match I’ve never been one for watching the game um even when a couple of the friends have been playing that I might watch the last 10 15 minutes of it but it’s horrible to say but I find the game boring right I can’t sit there and watch a full game I’m thinking just I just want to put the football on or something like that just get me away from it amazing snooker will have a world championship winner from China in the next 10 years ah I want to be like somewhere here I’m going to go disagree uh I’m going to go just in between okay I’m going to KN you down who who will it be C sh we I think C’s got potential If he if he’s able to recognize what he’s doing wrong I certainly think he’s got the pot and ability and break build in ability it’s just whether he’s able to kind of get in his head that he needs to play safe I not sure whether some of the Chinese players have not been able to kind of fully comprehend to take themselves to that next level they kind of have the game and it stays with them for their career I still feel like there’s going to be someone that comes around and blows us away though I do and I feel like maybe that is about 10 years away where someone’s going to come come through in in the in the likes of what you did or or Ronnie I don’t feel it’s as easy as to do nowadays he’s never going to be coming and blast 78 world I I don’t think that’s going to happen but some of the Chinese players now have that freedom they were all a bit robotic before yeah now they look a bit more natural in it and I feel like there’s going to be that one player that really comes and storms through I I put disagree because at the moment I don’t see anyone coming through but as you say 10 years is a long time I don’t still don’t see anyone in ding’s class at the moment um but as you say you never know snooker can learn from darts how to grow the game globally I mean we’ve got the same owners so You’ think they would like I I disagree I don’t know yeah I don’t know whether I strongly disagree yeah I do strongly disagree I think I think it’s a completely different I don’t I don’t think we need to learn anything from it’s a completely different sport right it’s a completely different atmosphere a completely different selling point there 10,000 in there it’s probably only 200 watching the game seriously the rest are all having a party you there’s an argument of should snooker be an entertainment rather than a sport That’s Entertainment to me DS snooker is a sport for me I think from that perspective you could maybe say we could probably change a little to be more entertaining but you don’t want to lose that history of the sport and you want to like the traditional of it it’s hard cuz like I’ve been the darts I love the darts but it’s a completely different night out no you’re there for a drink now I think they they done a survey at the Premier League darts right and only 17% of the people that were going were actually there for the darts there for the drinks they there for whatever else and like at the end of the night the last thing he wants people throwing their drinks everywhere so exactly exactly so I don’t know to their own but not for me well we strong or disagree snooker should utilize technology to improve I’m going to go agree so what what what technology do you think I I think more not on the lines of cues or anything like that more on the lines of how the viewer can watch it on the TV maybe full speed and and stuff like that like you maybe now seeing golf snooker is a little bit behind on that and what do you think about um using the spotted white cuz some people we we did it in the 900 and some my friends were saying it was amazing to watch Su being played with the spotted right because you can see the spin I absolutely hate it yeah I do I hate it to me it’s very very offputting after I think playing the whole life with just a normal white to then go to that it’s kind of off putting so on the way that it’s viewed on the TV maybe more for the viewer to kind of see what they’re doing maybe if they can have an accurate repent where where they hit the white for that certain shot and stuff like that I I I put disagree basically I wasn’t thinking like you’re thinking about the TV side of thing I just put like technology I mean I’ve seen the the the sort of introduction of the the carbon cues here um Anthony Migel and it didn’t work for me yeah in terms of Technology basically it’s it’s always going to be you the Que in the table isn’t it in the ball I think with the Que I think it’s always going to be a challenge I think you’re always going to be very close to what it is now I just think technology wise on the TV maybe they could right okay be like a shot Tracer and go yeah exactly something more like that an idea okay cuq control is the most vital part of a players game I’m going to strongly strongly agree put it in between really in between Okay Age agree why did you just agreed not strongly because I I believe that CUO control is everything I won a tournament last year without having good cu you know no no because like honestly like 19 20 years of age getting in the club filling up the B with 100 breaks my game is completely different right but I won a tournament last year I’m a better player now through just having a bit of knowledge around the table and and as I fancy myself pretty much against anyone in the safety department so you can get away with making probably not here longer frames you can get away with making 40 and 50s obviously an ideal word You’ have both would you seem to happen both at the same time so I that’s why I agree and not but not strongly agree okay Ron San’s Q action is the greatest of all time wow yeah I’m I’m I’m I’m going to disagree as well I think his Q action is unique to him I don’t like I don’t like the way he aims down on the Q ball okay and I think because he’s so talented he gets away with it I think if you T taught someone to do that they’d be putting unwanted side all over the Buton it’d be very hard um to control I mean we’re picking net picking with like the greatest player of all time right but I mean whenever he misses as a Dell because he has got that long long back swing so you’re talking about the techniques of the Q action I think there is there is faults in it I think there’s there sort of I mean if you look at I don’t know Neil Robertson you if you were if you were going to make build a snooker player he’d probably be up there it’s not level it’s very steep yeah but there’s a lot of movement there’s a lot of movement but what I would say about Ronnie’s if you just took this one aspect of his QX I’d have it over here yeah his final delivery there zero movement and it’s just straight through like the perfect the final delivery is just perfect the way he strikes the Q ball you can’t you can’t pick that before that is far from perfect and something you definitely wouldn’t teach and like you said with the talent that He has but there must be hard work to go with it yeah just gets him through and gets it get away with it Sean is a great action but it’s quite loopy yes I think Robertson’s the one for me just looks perfect well we both disagreed with the goat is the best Q action in the world okay Jimmy white is the Best Entertainer that snooker has ever seen oh oh I really oh my God this is horrible this is horrible I didn’t even know it was on you can’t ask me that that’s like asking someone to choose between their mom and their dad oh oh and I’m not going to sit in the fence I refuse to sit in the fence I’m going to disagree I’m going to go there because of his of his generation okay I’m going to go there well no yeah I mean if you talk about his generation of his generation he be straight there straight there yeah but I think he’s a great Entertainer but he’s not the O you can’t you can’t strongly agree with that because he’s not the only enterer is he no I I think if you look at the way the way what Ronnie has done and the way he’s done it um you 147’s in five minutes in 19 seconds and everything and we obviously had Alex Higgins back in the day who was hugely entertaining to watch you know was all right um but yeah I I I would disagree although although Jimmy was my hero when I first started when I got this a table like this actually loved watching him playing as you say he was my idol but um in terms of the Best Entertainer the games i’ ever seen I think it’s got to be Ronny and you know that funny statistics that Phil Yates came up with Alex Higgins is 13 years older than Jimmy Jimmy is 13 years older than Ronnie and Ronnie is 13 years older than Jud so you got multiple Generations I I forgot about Jud [Music]