Shaun Murphy has criticised the move to play three events in China over a five-week period, questioning who the change in schedule suits.
There have been calls from UK-based players for some time to put Asian events in a block, hoping to minimise travelling and time away from home by playing tournaments back-to-back.
In an effort to respond to those concerns, snooker chiefs have re-jigged this season’s calendar to put the Shanghai Masters, China Open in Taiyuan and Wuhan Open from July 27-August 29, with a week between the events.
Murphy does not feel this was the answer to any questions the players were asking.
The Magician points out that the British Open in Cheltenham started on Monday, two days after the Wuhan Open concluded, suggesting that negates the idea that Chinese events cannot be held right after one another.
There are other issues as to why Chinese events are not literally back-to-back, with promoters and broadcasters having a say in keeping them separate for their benefit, but Murphy was not impressed with the solution that has been reached.
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‘As far as I’m aware, nobody asked for what we got,’ Murphy told Metro.
‘I know from when I was chairing the Players’ Association, this is something we discussed at length with WST and we were always told back-to-back events in China weren’t possible. By back-to-back, I mean one finishes on one day and another starts 24-48 hours later in another city.
‘We were told for many different reasons that couldn’t possibly happen. One of those reasons was the vast distances in China, they are phenomenal. But as I said to the representative from WST, none of those distances are as great as the distance from Wuhan to Cheltenham, and there was only 24 hours between that event and this event. So I’m not sure their argument holds a great deal of water.
‘As far as I’m aware, no players wanted three events in China that cost us the guts of six weeks. There’s a few days out before, you’ve got the events themselves, and then there was at least a week between events.
‘We weren’t out for three back-to-back events, we were out for nearly six weeks. I don’t know anyone who wanted that.
China swing winners
China Open – Mark Selby
Wuhan Open – Chang Bingyu
‘I’d like to know who and how and when these things are looked at in World Snooker Towers, they look at that and go, yeah, that’s fine, we’ll sign that off.’
Murphy suggests the time in between tournaments can be much easier for top players who have the funds to make it comfortable and other pursuits away from the table, but less so for qualifiers who have made it to the Chinese events.
‘It’s alright for the top boys to be out there for a week off,’ he said. ‘Myself and my other mates, we’re in the same little management group out in China. We’ve opened a business selling cues and cases and chalks and tips and all the rest of it. So we were busy. That’s alright for us.
‘But what about the guys down the pecking order who perhaps can’t afford those extra two and a half weeks in a hotel in Beijing or Shanghai or wherever it might be? There was a lot of questions.
‘I had a good conversation with a WST representative whilst I was there. I just said, well, I think you’re going to have quite a few disgruntled players on your hands, because I don’t think anyone asked for what we got.
‘I don’t know who it suited. I don’t know who it actually suited.’
On Monday in Cheltenham, Mark Williams lost 4-0 to Dave Gilbert after arriving back in the UK from China late on Sunday night.
Murphy spoke out about facing a similar situation at the Champion of Champions after the International Championship last year and again questions why some tournaments are played back-to-back across the globe but not in the same country.
‘I was treated very poorly by the event organisers there,’ he said of the 2025 Champion of Champions. ‘But it’s no different to what I’ve heard Mark Williams went through. He only landed at midnight last night and he’s here playing today [Monday].
‘I’m just not sure who that suits. It doesn’t suit the player. It certainly doesn’t suit the crowd. They probably pay their money to come and watch somebody knackered knock a few balls around. I don’t know who’s benefited from this decision.’
World Snooker Tour explain the scheduling and decision-making behind it, stating: ‘Scheduling of events is based on many factors including the preferences of broadcasters and promoters and the availability of venues.
‘We do everything we can to piece this together in the best interests of the players, pursuing our ambition to grow the sport worldwide. We have been asked in the past by players to combine the China events as best as we can, which we have done with the recent swing.
‘We have been clear that running events in consecutive weeks without a gap between them is not possible, for multiple reasons. In the recent ‘China swing’ the players were competing for total prize money of nearly £3 million and the events were fantastic in three incredible cities.
‘We always welcome feedback from players across the tour and this will help us to draw conclusions.’
Murphy added: ‘When you’re out there in China, the effort they put into the events and the PR ceremonies are fantastic. You can really see that they’re trying their best. We get treated really well when we’re there. This is no criticism of that at all. We really enjoy the events once we’re there.
‘We’ve always been told for 20 years that the powers that be in China and the broadcasters and the TV companies and the sponsors have all the power. I mean, that must change at some stage. That must change at some stage.
‘We must be able to say, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t suit us here. We want to come to this. We want to keep expanding the tour. We want to keep doing our bit. Actually, this doesn’t work for me. This just doesn’t work for us.’
Judd Trump was less strong on the China swing, but did suggest three events was too many, especially for his situation as he lost in the first round of the second tournament.
‘It was a bit long towards the end,’ he told Metro. ‘It’s OK if you’re doing well but I think after losing early in the second one, it’s two weeks off, which is a long old stint.
‘There’s only very few select players that obviously go deep in the second one and then you’ve still got a week. Most of the other players have got 12, 13, 14 days in between. It’s difficult in snooker, you try and do the right thing but it’s very difficult to please everyone because everyone’s finishing at different times.
‘Then you’ve got people flying back and flying out and then playing terrible and losing first round and flying back again. I think three events was maybe too many.
‘I think the standard wasn’t particularly great by the time we got to the third event.’
Agreeing with one of Murphy’s queries, Trump added: ‘It’s strange because they obviously stick these tournaments back-to-back with no break and they stick the International Championship back-to-back with Champion of Champions and you’ve got to fly all the way back.
‘But they can’t do China back-to-back so it can’t be one rule for one and not for the other.’