MONDAY, JANUARY 13

There is usually an eclectic range of things to do and see at Alexandra Palace for players with downtime between matches at the Masters. The iconic and ornate building, originally built in 1873 and sitting on top of Muswell Hill, plays host to all manner of concerts and exhibitions, as well as boasting one of the finest views of the city from the south side. Bizarrely the snooker is sharing the premises with a model engineering exhibition which starts on Friday. And the ice rink on site is being used this week as a practice area for the current reality TV series of Dancing On Ice, with the likes of former X-Factor singer Ray Quinn and ex-Eastenders actor Todd Carty dreaming of triple Salchows and toe-loops. Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty may have missed the chance to get their skates on next year, though, with the series set to be scrapped.

TWITTER SEES RED OVER TV DECIDER SWITCH

THE decision of broadcaster the BBC to move away from terrestrial coverage of Mark Selby’s epic first-round Dafabet Masters match against Mark Davis at 5-5 ahead of the deciding frame drew much negative comment on Twitter and elsewhere.

With the match being shown on the red button and online and therefore available to pretty much everyone it could be argued that the decision was a mild inconvenience rather than catastrophic. However there is no technical reason why the pre-recorded Ski Sunday programme that took precedence could not have been put on to the red button, and the audience – some of whom may not have been initially watching on the red button - allowed to see the match climax undisturbed.

The issue for many snooker fans is how the sport is truly viewed by the BBC, the fact that so many hours are devoted to it not being the whole story. And this is a question that goes right to the suits at the top, rather than the very able production and presenting staff at the tournaments themselves. Would the same thing have happened had it been golf or tennis? It seems very unlikely. And a BDO darts match, not the best standard that sport has to offer, was allowed to finish the previous week without the switch.

There is an impression that at times certain senior managers at the BBC are almost embarrassed by snooker, and the fact that it commands such big audiences compared to other supposedly ‘superior’ sports is an inconvenience. If the BBC want to show that it truly supports snooker, rather than show lots of it because the rights are relatively cheap and they have lost other sports broadcasting rights, then it needs to demonstrate it clearly at times like this.

NOISES OFF

THE FIRST MATCH at the 2014 Dafabet Masters was hit by disruptions and distractions in the early stages.

Any World Snooker earpieces sold at £6 a throw on the day, rather than those saved from previous visits, were badly malfunctioning and noise could be heard by Mark Selby and Mark Davis in the arena. And that came after BBC commentator Dennis Taylor’s voice was boomed out to the crowd in error shortly before Selby got his title defence under way.

An emergency operation was mounted with around 600 sets of the faulty equipment sold among the sell-out 1,500 crowd being exchanged for working models after each of the first two frames to huge queues of disgruntled fans. Both frames were won by the Leicester Jester, understandably more relaxed about it all than Davis at that stage.

Throw in a connecting door that kept banging, also clearly audible in the playing auditorium, and there was plenty to keep mildly embarrassed officials charging around the building.

Sunday 12th January

The media centre was greatly cheered on day one of the Dafabet Masters to receive a visit from MC Rob Walker, wife Becky and their new baby son Arthur. At just two weeks old, having been born on December 30, Arthur has not only visited the most prestigious invitation snooker event of them all, hob-nobbing with the likes of former world champion John Parrott, but also met darts legend Bobby George at the Lakeside in Frimley Green, where Walker has also been working early in the New Year. Perhaps fortunately, young Arthur remains too young to clearly remember that particular experience.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 - LIVE FROM ALEXANDRA PALACE

So the 2014 Dafabet Masters gets underway here at Alexandra Palace today and we’ve donned our standard issue anoraks to look at some stats ahead of the game’s biggest invitation event.

The most popular scoreline since matches became best of 11 frames is 6-4, which has occurred 79 times. There have been 14 6-0 whitewashes and 70 6-5 deciders.

Stephen Hendry has won the most matches in the Masters with 42 but Jimmy White has played in more matches than anyone else, with 61.

Ronnie O’Sullivan leads the all-time Masters century tally on 51.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10

Neil Robertson will tomorrow be a guest on BT Sport’s Sports Panel programme, which airs live from 9.30-11.30am.

The show is a discussion of various sports, presented by Tim Lovejoy assisted by former England rugby union international and Question of Sport captain Matt Dawson.

Robertson will of course be talking about the Dafabet Masters but is a general sports fan and will doubtless have plenty to say about his beloved Chelsea as well, of course, as Australia’s recent capture of the Ashes.

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Speaking of football, ardent Liverpool fan Ricky Walden is a little happier with how things are going this season, with his side currently fourth in the Premier League, six points off top. 

He said: “I don’t think we can win the league but we’re much more competitive now. We can definitely have a crack at the Champions League and hopefully make a few more signings this month and keep kit ticking over. Brendan Rogers is doing a great job and putting us back on the map.”

But does Walden have any sympathy for the previously all-conquering Manchester United, currently languishing in seventh and already out of the FA Cup?

“No, definitely not! It’s been a long time coming, seeing them struggling so I’m getting a kick out of it. But I think they’ll be back. They’ll make a few signings and they’ll be back. It’s a competitive league this year. Man City are the team to beat."

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Inside Snooker couldn’t resist a smirk after reading the story about Scottish football manager Kenny Shiels, in charge of Championship side Greenock Morton. Shiels somehow managed to get a doctor’s note giving him permission to skip post-match press conferences for the good of his health, as according to the Northern Irishman he could never successfully plot a path through the minefield of questions laid down by the Scottish football journalists and always ended up getting in trouble. 

“You get emotionally unbalanced at that time and feel an urge to tell the truth,” said the 57-year-old Shiels. “You drop your guard. I am probably not intelligent enough to deal with that because these journalists can catch me. I am very susceptible to being controversialised.”

Answers on a postcard as to which snooker players should consider heading straight off to their local GP for some paperwork.