JV's question

It may not have escaped your notice that Paul Hunter, winner of the BRITISH OPEN did not wear a waistcoat - now obviously I'm not going to be seen without one - but is this the slippery slope of falling standards just when snooker is having to compete hard for viewing audiences?

I agree that it is very sad that the dress code regulations may be further relaxed - even now, the standards are relatively casual and the advertising on waistcoats is unbecoming.

Actually, there was a time when we were fascinated by the way certain players had very personal styles of formal wear; as a child, I loved the beautiful suits worn by Perrie Mans (complementing his immaculate hair) and, later, the wonderful tie pins worn by Tony Knowles (although he may have been wearing frilly knickers under his suit!) to go with those fantastic ties. Kirk Stevens, although he pushed the boundaries like Alex, still wore a true suit -even if was powder blue. Despite being a Hurricane fan, I didn't agree with his not wearing a bow tie or standard tie, but he managed to avoid it by getting a doc's certificate for barbers rash.

I don't have anything against coloured shirts so long as they are becoming. In fact, some of them have always looked smart like the red ones worn by Doug Mountjoy and Terry Griffiths.

We also now see shirts that look like they haven't been ironed. As for footwear, ironically I thought that Alex's spats were smart despite the controversy, especially compared with the shoes often worn nowadays.

Some years ago, there was a player who was always allowed to wear a glove on his bridge hand for medical reasons - do you remember who he was and what was his unfortunate problem? He did have the odd TV appearance. I also recall Alex (not televised) entering the arena in a lime green velvet suit to which the WPBSA took understandable exception. Regards
Neale Bray