Beard Liberation Front
2nd May
Crucible 2021: The long march of beard power in snooker halted
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that snooker risks becoming one of the least diverse of sports as the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield sees two clean shaven contestants in Sean Murphy and Mark Selby.
The last winner with a beard was Judd Trump in 2019 and his victory represented the first time a winner had worn a beard in the final.
The campaigners say that there is a significant residual element of pogonophobia in top level snooker. Mark Williams was criticised for being ‘untidy’ before he unwisely shaved his trademark beard while beaten semi-finalist Stuart Bingham was referred to as ‘The Bald One’
The BLF says that a beard in top level snooker can be positioned to promote air currents that help players to pocket balls through aerodynamic influence.
BLF organiser Keith Flett said, Judd Trump’s victory appears to have been the peak of a long march of beard power through snooker. Those sports that were overwhelming clean shaven until quite recently such as golf have become hirsute, while its quite unusual to see a football player without a beard these days. Murphy v Selby underlines that there is much work to be done in terms of diversity in snooker and outdated attitudes on appearance and style.
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