Who would’ve thought that a Gen Z – or a speculative novelist – could be a crazy snooker fan? The Scottish Open might have been one of snooker’s ‘small’ events but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. Here’s what happened when I watched a match live last year.
I don’t know why I love snooker so much. I found it in 2021, when I had nothing to watch during the pandemic. It wouldn’t be fair to say I dragged my brother to a live match either – no, he kept asking when I’d buy the tickets.
My brother hates snooker and exaggerates that fact to spite me (but not all of us are die-hard gamers!) I nearly booked tickets to a live match in 2022. With my writer’s brain, I had these romantic ideas in mind. I imagined someone meeting their idols backstage or entertaining the crowd if the players arrived late.
Idealistic journeys often begin on a train, and ours did. It was early morning, and not as dark as you’d imagine. The passengers didn’t speak to us, but we were busy watching this video anyway, laughing at ‘angerey vegetals.’
I’d read other anecdotes about the Scottish Open before we boarded the train. Some lucky person had a long conversation with Ken Doherty in Edinburgh Waverley! Granted, they were talking about playing snooker, and I can’t play.
The passengers walked through the station in lines, filtering along the platforms with gaps between each line akin to the gaps between trains. It was December 2024, and there was nothing Christmassy above Waverley. There were no famous people, only suitcases and coffee. My brother relied on me and Google Maps (we might be Gen Z adults, but we’ll never take technology for granted!) It doesn’t matter how old we get – we could be in our fifties, and my brother will still rely on me to take the lead when we travel. Anyway, the venue was a half-hour walk away.
You can’t miss the images of the players on the banners. The banners clung to the railings. Half of the players on the banners did not take part. One of the participants who was not on the banners waited at the top of the stairs – shoutout to Mark Allen for being the first famous person I’ve met!
‘How does this game work?’ my brother asked when we queued to get to our seats.
He was too young to know and like this game. I was too young. Everyone else was over forty, holding coffee, old phones, and 70s-style umbrellas.
‘You pot the red ball, then a colour…’ I rambled. I even told him about a maximum break – a 147. Ha! As if we’d get to see a 147 live.
He asked me, during the match, why the players were hitting the same ball again and again. His interest in the game died when he learned exactly why the game is called ‘snooker.’ To be fair, he had an exam the next day, and he was looking for any excuse to not study.
The lights were bright enough that the brown ball looked like one of the reds. I was disheartened that there was no walk-on music and no announcer, but it was cool to see the (at the time) reigning champion Gary Wilson and his opponent, Long Zehuang. I was happy to see any match. I had picked Gary out as the winner but, alas, he was defeated that day.
You can find us on the WST YouTube channel now, for a split second, in the crowd. We were hidden in the blue light, gazing up at the screen.
I might have had overly idealistic expectations, but I’d still highly recommend going to a live snooker match if you’re a fan.
The image of the snooker match was taken by me.
Image of Meadowbank Sports Centre by John Lord on Wikimedia Commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meadowbank_Sports_Centre,Edinburgh–geograph.org.uk-_3549601.jpg licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.