Fit for Purpose
Watching a live snooker match is an amazing experience but have you ever wondered what goes into making this event possible? World Snooker employs a large team to travel with the tour whose responsibilities include constructing the seating, the stage and building the table or tables for the venue. Rather like an Ikea flat pack, workers have to start from scratch. The venue, most of which are long established as hosting tournaments, chosen for practicalities, are used for other purposes. It may be a theatre or sports hall and so the team have to set up many days in advance to create the snooker environment required for a match.
Teams of staff are used to build the stage on which a seating plan is created, a feat that is not that easy as it has to be constructed safely and able to hold the weight and movement of the audience. As the stage is created so the central table area can be made. Carpet is laid on the floor and electricians and riggers, then create a lighting frame along with television monitors above the table area.. Depending on the venue and tournament will determine the number of take required. For example, in Berlin, a multi table environment had to be created with a central televised table. This takes a lot more work than somewhere such as the Crucible that has only a two table capacity.
Having built the main stage, it is then time to construct the tables Rather like Leggo, snooker fitters are responsible for building the tables. Transported in large lorries to their destination, the table parts are brought to the central stage and built. Although a tried and tested method, many pitfalls can occur when constructing a table but the problems don’t occur until the start of play. If the bed or slate of the table is not correctly aligned, then this will affect the roll of the ball in play and similarly if the pockets are too loose or tight, this could work to a player’s advantage or disadvantage.Therefore this blind process requires expert attention to prevent it being a regular occurrence on the tour.
Having built the snooker stage and tables and fed all the lighting and camera feeds required for televising an event so various testing and dummy runs are carried out before the stage is fit for public purpose. Most of the audience would take for granted when they walk into a snooker arena and fail to see the amount of work required to get it to that specification.
With the stage set and matches in progress, the job of the team is never complete and so fitters will remain on site for the duration to maintain the table, such as brushing the baize between frames and recovering the table or table maintenance when table problems occur. With a well oiled operation, this works so well and takes the team to the Far Eat destination of China and back to the end of the season to Sheffield. This requires dedication and teamwork, who can achieve tight deadlines and at the same time create a great and safe environment for the audience to watch in and the players to compete in.
Teams of staff are used to build the stage on which a seating plan is created, a feat that is not that easy as it has to be constructed safely and able to hold the weight and movement of the audience. As the stage is created so the central table area can be made. Carpet is laid on the floor and electricians and riggers, then create a lighting frame along with television monitors above the table area.. Depending on the venue and tournament will determine the number of take required. For example, in Berlin, a multi table environment had to be created with a central televised table. This takes a lot more work than somewhere such as the Crucible that has only a two table capacity.
Having built the main stage, it is then time to construct the tables Rather like Leggo, snooker fitters are responsible for building the tables. Transported in large lorries to their destination, the table parts are brought to the central stage and built. Although a tried and tested method, many pitfalls can occur when constructing a table but the problems don’t occur until the start of play. If the bed or slate of the table is not correctly aligned, then this will affect the roll of the ball in play and similarly if the pockets are too loose or tight, this could work to a player’s advantage or disadvantage.Therefore this blind process requires expert attention to prevent it being a regular occurrence on the tour.
Having built the snooker stage and tables and fed all the lighting and camera feeds required for televising an event so various testing and dummy runs are carried out before the stage is fit for public purpose. Most of the audience would take for granted when they walk into a snooker arena and fail to see the amount of work required to get it to that specification.
With the stage set and matches in progress, the job of the team is never complete and so fitters will remain on site for the duration to maintain the table, such as brushing the baize between frames and recovering the table or table maintenance when table problems occur. With a well oiled operation, this works so well and takes the team to the Far Eat destination of China and back to the end of the season to Sheffield. This requires dedication and teamwork, who can achieve tight deadlines and at the same time create a great and safe environment for the audience to watch in and the players to compete in.
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