David Gilbert calls for change to prevent 'boring' play ahead of Northern Ireland Open - 'The worst rule I’ve ever seen'

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World No. 21 David Gilbert believes many snooker matches should be much shorter and has identified a format he is not a fan of. He has controversially called for the removal of the "worst rule" he has ever seen, while also advocating for significantly shorter matches across the different rounds. Gilbert's comments come ahead of this week's Northern Ireland Open, live on Eurosport and discovery+.

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David Gilbert has called for numerous changes to be made to the rules of snooker in some strong comments made on a podcast.

The world No. 21, who is currently preparing for next week's Northern Ireland Open, which is live on Eurosport and discovery+, is advocating for shorter matches among other things.

Gilbert would like to see shorter matches become a more consistent feature of all tournaments on the tour to prevent contests becoming "boring".

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Speaking to the Talking Snooker Podcast, Gilbert said: "I think best-of-11 is the bang-on format for any match.

"I don’t think we need to play any more than that. I like the short formats because snooker’s boring!

"You can’t change the World Championship, never, but I’d change the qualifying back to best-of-11. No one needs to play best-of-19, I prefer it as a best-of-11.

"I can’t believe that some of these people want to play best-of-19s. The World Championship [qualifying] changed to best-of-11. There was a lot of screaming and moaning, but for me, it was far better.

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Next week's Northern Ireland Open will see players compete in best-of-seven frame matches in the last 64, 32 and 16.

However, they will need to win five frames to book their place in the last four, while the final is played over 17 frames.

"[The] UK [Championship] is perfect, best-of-11s, but don’t change the final from best-of-11," he continued.

"Whatever it starts as in the first round, that should be every match, you keep the same format every game.

"In the Home Nations, how many times do you see a lower-ranked player get through the draw? They can win to four, everybody can play well for four frames, but they can’t win to nine, impossible."

Gilbert, who won the Championship League in 2021, believes modern-day players are simply too good at escaping from snookers, which leads to longer frames.

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To combat this, the 45-year-old would like to see tournaments adopt the approach of the Snooker Shoot Out, whereby a foul leads to a cue ball in hand.

He continued: "The miss rule is the worst rule I’ve ever seen!

"When there are 14 reds on the table and you’re playing someone like Mark Selby, an incredible player, if you say, 'Mark, here’s £10,000 to hit a red,' then he’ll hit a red.

"Snookering somebody now is almost pointless because they’re basically trying to miss the ball for three or four goes.

"A foul is not enough to try and encourage somebody to hit the balls. They’re trying to get the thin edge, flick it safe. I do it, I get it, you use the rule to your advantage, but there’s no point to a snooker any more.

"It takes forever to put the balls back, it slows the game up. If you just made it foul, ball-in-hand, bang, people will hit the ball.

"And if they don’t, then the geezer who played a good shot to get a snooker has a reward."

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