World Snooker to limit number of toilet breaks per player to prevent gamesmanship

Some players have complained to World Snooker about the misuse of toilet breaks as a tactical ploy to disrupt the rhythm of a match

Lawrence Ostlere
Crucible Theatre
Monday 06 May 2019 16:17 BST
Comments
Snooker World Champions 2019 preview

Barry Hearn will establish new rules to limit the number of toilet breaks in snooker to prevent “gamesmanship”.

There is currently nothing to stop players taking toilet breaks at the end of a frame, outside of the scheduled intervals during and between sessions. John Higgins has left the arena on several occasions during the final against Judd Trump immediately after winning frames.

Some players have complained to World Snooker about the misuse of toilet breaks as a tactical ploy to disrupt the rhythm of a match, and Hearn, the chairman of World Snooker, will take steps as he continues his mission to improve the game as a spectacle.

“As someone in their 70s I understand you can need to go at any time,” Hearn told media at the Crucible. “But there is a thought that toilet breaks are used as gamesmanship. We are monitoring and are in consultation with players to bring in new rules.

“We’re not going to monitor if they are physically going [to the toilet]. But we have looked at Wimbledon, for example, where they limit the number of breaks a player can take. A medical problem can obviously be covered by a certificate.

“Snooker is a different game, we know there is a lot of time sitting down, drinking water. There’s a not a black and white rule, but there’s a feeling among players that it’s being used. The new rule will probably be a certain number of breaks.”

Hearn added that World Snooker is continuing to monitor the speed of play, after declaring last year that the game needed to be played at a faster pace in order to retain interest.

“During the year we have seen a speeding up across the board. We don’t have in our view a serious problem but it’s one we continue to monitor. There are only a handful of players regularly over 30 seconds per shot. We are keeping our referees up to date with those players lagging behind.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in