Stephen Maguire wants a change to the way snooker’s world rankings are decided, believing the current system is not right.
The world rankings are based on prize money won over a two-year rolling period, so the 2025 World Championship winner adds £500,000 to their ranking and at the end of the 2027 tournament that amount comes off their total.
There is also a separate one-year ranking list, also based on prize money, with that deciding which players qualify for the World Grand Prix (top 32), Players Championship (top 16) and Tour Championship (top 12).
It is a straightforward system and (hopefully) easy to understand, which is one of its strengths.
However, Maguire feels the rankings, especially the one-year list, is being too heavily skewed by the big money on offer at the Saudi Arabia Masters at the start of the season.
Neil Robertson won the £500,000 top prize in Jeddah in August and will now, almost certainly, be top of the one-year rankings all season unless anyone else wins a string of big titles.
The Scot argues that the rankings should be measured on a points system, allowing the bigger tournaments to offer more points, but without having as much impact as the prize money does.
Maguire was speaking at this week’s Northern Ireland Open, which offers a top prize of £100,000, a fifth of the winner’s cheque in Saudi.
‘My thing going forward would be the ranking system,’ he told Metro. ‘The money is great, but 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.
‘Win this this week you’ve won the same amount of matches, but get £100,000 points. It’s not five times as difficult to win Saudi.’
The tiered system of some events is also an issue on the rankings, with a top 16 player winning one match against a lower-ranked opponent in Saudi Arabia and landing £30,000.
That would see them shoot up the one-year list above players who have won many more matches elsewhere, but for less money.
Maguire added: ‘The boys in the top 16 deserve to be where they are but it doesn’t mean they deserve to win one match and have a platform to get in the Grand Prix just for one match.
‘The boys would agree. I was up there once and the top 16 will agree with that, they shouldn’t win one match and overtake everybody that’s winning qualifying matches and getting to last 16s. It’s not right.
‘It’s just a little tweak. No bad words said. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a tweak to fix it.’
Maguire is on the players board of the new Professional Snooker Players Association, which he hopes will bring about change.
Chiefly, his motivation to be involved is because he believes the players should have an independent voice, separate from the current WPBSA Players board, which is attached to the governing body.
‘I just think it should be separate. With the players board the way it is, nothing seems to be getting done, it’s all in house,’ he said. ‘Every other sport has got a separate independent [body], we’re lagging behind.
‘So when that came up…I’m not really involved, but I support it, because it should be independent, it’s a no-brainer.
‘There’s a few things going on behind the scenes, but I think we should be listened to, the players. Listen, there’s no game if there’s no players and I think the guys at the top forget that sometimes. They need to be reminded, there’s no games without players and they don’t listen to players.
‘That’s where I’m at. I’ve told them, I tell them all the time. If it’s an independent board that makes things go forward and respect each other. Nobody’s saying anything bad about anyone, it just should be independent.’