Snooker star rivals reveal opinions on the world ranking system and issue call for change to officials

The progress of the recently created Professional Snooker Players Association (PSPA) - of which both Murphy and Maguire are on the players board - has been a hot topic of debate this week throughout coverage of the Northern Ireland Open at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

Several star cueists who are involved with the new organisation have explained why the independent body has been founded and what changes they want to see within the sport.

Reoccurring themes amongst those players polled include the suitability of venues hosting events, playing conditions, and a change to the ranking system.

The World Snooker Tour (WST) currently uses a prize-money based system for its world ranking list, a formula that has been in place since the 2014/15 season.

The global standings are calculated on two-year's worth of cumulative prize money earned from ranking events. A dynamic, rolling system is also used, meaning the rankings are updated after every ranked event - unlike in the past when the standings were only revised at the end of each season.

One positive of using a prize-money list is that it is relatively easy to understand. If a player wins £50,000, that amount gets added to their total, although anything they earned from that corresponding point in time two years before comes off their tally, too

Shaun Murphy on current rankings structure: "It's a skewed system"

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week whilst in Belfast, current Masters champion Shaun Murphy talked about his thoughts on the ranking discussion.

Murphy has been in red-hot form over the past few weeks, winning the British Open and then following that up with a run to the final of the Xi'an Grand Prix.

'The Magician' collected a top prize of £100,000 for his title triumph in Cheltenham, winning seven matches along the way.

A few weeks before, Neil Robertson pocketed £500,000 for winning the second edition of the Saudi Arabia Masters, where he came through five rounds.

Both those competitions were ranked, and therefore the prize money they earned got added to their ranking totals.

Career Triple Crown winner Murphy feels that due to the big differences in first prizes these days on the top flight, it's now time for change on how the rankings are worked out.

Murphy said: "I don't think the Saudi Masters is five times more difficult to win than the British Open, but it is worth five times the amount of points and prize money. It's a skewed system in my opinion.

"I think it would be good to have a money list for whatever the WST want to use it for - but in terms of the rankings I think we need to return to a points-based system where you can have that equality a little bit more."

Stephen Maguire on rankings: “Why not have a points structure?”

As well as the overall world rankings, there is a separate one-year/seasonal list purely based on performances at ranking events from that season only.

This is also a prize-money list, and determines qualification for all three lucrative Players Series events in the second half of the season: the World Grand Prix, Players Championship, and Tour Championship.

Regardless of a player's world ranking, every cueist starts a new term on zero when it comes to the one-year list.

With Robertson winning half-a-million pounds in Saudi - the same amount that Zhao Xintong received for his world title win a few months before - so early in the season, he is already guaranteed to qualify for all three Players Series competitions.

He is also very likely to be the number one seed for all three of those events, chiefly from the basis of just that one title win.

Former UK Champion Maguire concurs with Murphy that - when it comes to the rankings - prize money should be replaced with points.

When interviewed by Phil Haigh at The Metro, seven-time ranking event winner Maguire said: "you cannae have somebody winning half a million pound at the start of the season and have half a million ranking points.

"Have the half a million pounds! But it just messes everything up with the Grand Prix and everything. Why not have a points structure? It's a big tournament, so get more points, but it doesn't have to be half a million.

The Scot also echoed Murphy in saying that this week's Northern Ireland Open - that carries a champion's purse of £100,000 - is not "five times" easier to win that Saudi.

Snooker is not the only sport that uses a prize-money based world ranking system. The Professional Darts Corporation and the World Nineball (pool) Tour both use this formula for their standings - although both circuits are also part of the Matchroom empire.

There has also been talk from big voices in the respective darts and nine-ball pool worlds that those sports should also use a points-based system.

In darts, the winner of the next PDC World Championship at the Alexandra Palace in London will earn £1,000,000 and there is concern that this will skew the standings too much with other major ranking events on the circuit not carrying anything like that for a top prize.

There is a similar situation on the nine-ball pool scene with the $250,000 issued to the winner of its World Championship dwarfing many first prizes elsewhere on the WNT.