Is change necessary? Global snooker chairman Jason Ferguson talks rules, rankings and regulations

In the first part of an in-depth interview with Totally Snookered, Jason Ferguson - Chairman of the global governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) - has spoken about the possibility of changing things up.

Current world snooker ranking system working, but not perfect

Over the last few years, some top players have criticised the sport’s current professional ranking structure, with world number one Judd Trump labelling the ranking set-up as ‘probably not a fair system‘.

The introduction of high value events in recent years, such as the Saudi Arabia Masters - boasting a £500,000 winners share - has allowed players to surge up the rankings from success at a single event.

However, Chairman Ferguson maintained that the system is still fair for all players: “If you take two events in isolation - a two million pound event against one at half a million pounds, you would say that that’s not fair. But actually, if you take the whole global tour, and take the fact that every single player has the same opportunity to play right across the system, the system is actually fair.

“One thing it is, is simple. We all know where we stand. When people put big events on we know they mean more in terms of ranking,” he explained.

Arguments have also been made over the two-year ‘rolling’ format, with players hanging on to the top spots despite not performing well recently. Luca Brecel, for example, is projected an astonishing drop to 45th in the world, after his 2023 World Championship points have kept him in the top eight for the last two years.

“It's not perfect, but it is a system that is working. We've done various analysis over rankings and we've had some of the best experts in the world that have done rankings in other sports and they’ve taken it away, come away with other concepts.

“Well guess what? The players are almost ranked in the same place as they are on the prize money ranking system when you put these things side by side, so it is a fact that it does work,” Ferguson said.

The current prize money-based ranking list came into play in the 2014/15 season, with every single pound earned in ranking tournaments (bar some exceptions in tiered events) translating directly to their ranking status. Before the current system, ranking points were allotted to events, scaling up to the prestige of the tournament.

Despite all this, Ferguson reiterated that the World Snooker Tour are always open to ideas: “Things can always be reviewed, we have a players’ body which looks at player-related issues, we can review anything if we find a problem. It might be that somebody will come up with a good idea and the World Snooker Tour listen,” he explained.

No plans to change the foul and miss rule, but new technology on the horizon

Along with the world rankings, the foul and miss rule has long been a topic of debate in the sport.

Former world champions Ken Doherty and Shaun Murphy have suggested changes to the sometimes controversial rule, but Ferguson is not keen on fixing something that is not broken: “The miss rule was originally brought in because it was too easy to foul on purpose and gain an advantage.

“I’m not saying the miss rule is perfect, it does raise a lot of attention when somebody’s got to put 15 different balls back in the same place and there are ways of utilising technology to do that, we’ve got some innovations in the pipeline on that.

“The potential for automated ball replacement technology is exciting, it would provide a welcome reprieve to the referee and help speed up the arduous process, making for a better viewing experience.”

Ferguson underlined the importance of putting fans first: “There are innovations that we should listen to and we should always listen to our fans because the fans are the paying customers of the sport.

“We're not only in the sports business, we're in the entertainment business. If people stop watching sport because of the miss rule, we'd have to review it. People are not stopping watching the sport, the viewing figures are getting bigger and bigger every year - they're just going off the scale.

“I'm not saying that we will never review the miss rule and we will never change it, but it would certainly have to be a great deal of consultation over it,” he added.

“We've got to keep us striving for better, whatever we're doing - whether it's rankings, events, grassroots, we have to keep striving because we're all sports people at heart,” Ferguson concluded.

Ferguson responds to recent toilet break controversy

One recent development that has caused controversy in the sport is players allegedly exploiting toilet breaks to gain an advantage.

Speaking on his ‘Onefourseven’ podcast, Shaun Murphy claimed toilet breaks to be ‘the epidemic that are spoiling snooker action’ and ‘one of the biggest blights on our sport’.

Once a former top 32 player in his own right and multiple-time Crucible qualifier, Jason Ferguson knows what it’s like to be in the player’s shoes: “Some people think toilet breaks may be being used for gamesmanship, sometimes a player needs a second to calm down after a big clearance.

“Speaking as a player that used to play - if you just made a clearance, you might be shaking, you just may need a bit of composure.”

As well as this, Ferguson explained the difficulty in actually stopping players from leaving the arena: “It's very hard from a health perspective to say to a snooker player, ‘you're not allowed to go to the toilet’. We're not doctors, we don't know what's going on in people's lives.”

According to Ferguson, the referee already has the tools to punish a player for deliberate time wasting and gamesmanship: “The rules are actually there, if a referee feels that a player is time-wasting - either with toilet breaks or time-wasting on shots. The referee in the arena is in control of that match at all times, the referee has the right to warn a player about gamesmanship.”

Last week, the World Grand Prix took place at the 5,000 -seater Kai Tak Sports Park Arena in Hong Kong. The solution of timed breaks may work in some occasions, but Ferguson explained the difficulties with universal implementation: “The building (Kai Tak) is huge, I can tell you, it's a long way to the toilet. So everybody who says you need to be back in two minutes, you better get running, you're going to get docked a frame if not.”

Part two of our interview with WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson will be online soon.