THE 2021 World Snooker Championship final will begin this weekend capping what has been a strangely successful season for the sport.

The isolated nature of snooker as an individual rather than team game has seen it generally cope well through a difficult period, and it is now playing a key role in exploring ways to get fans and spectators back to events safely.

The continuation of professional snooker tournaments during the past year has often given them pride of place on TV, and the sport could emerge from this period stronger than it has been for some time.

The final session of the World Championship final on Monday will be played in front of a full house at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, with earlier sessions also close to selling out.

These capacity crowds at an indoor venue will be the biggest test yet of the first phase of the government’s Events Research Programme, in which this year’s World Snooker Championship has played a major part.

There are few sporting arenas in the world where those watching the game live and in-person are as much a part of the action as they are at the Crucible.

The theatre has hosted the tournament since 1977, and part of the test for the players is how they deal with the atmosphere, the crowd, and the cameras which are all in close quarters.

This year’s tournament began with the venue at 33 per cent capacity. On most days it was much lower due to ticket purchases being grouped in socially distanced bubbles of people from the same household.

The capacity was increased to 50 per cent for the second round, before the semi-finals and final at 75 per cent and full capacity respectively.

A negative Covid test from the same day or previous day has been required for spectators to enter the venue, along with a matching photo ID. Those not providing both were refused entry and offered refund options, as was anyone testing positive.

Two home testing kits have been provided at the end of sessions with spectators asked to complete one on the day, and another five days later as part of the research.

This programme is aimed at finding ways to enable fans and spectators to return to events safely using a combination of testing and non-pharmaceutical interventions to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Other pilot events in the programme have taken place, or will take place, at football matches (including last week’s League Cup final and the upcoming FA Cup final), nightclubs, outdoor gigs, business events and cinemas.

There was a brief lifting of restrictions last year when sporting events, such as non-league football, were able to welcome fans into outdoor grounds, and a small number of spectators were allowed to attend the final stages of the 2020 World Snooker Championship.

The government’s bumbled handling of the virus, especially in those vital early days, weeks and months, meant there were no real plans in place working alongside these events and this inevitably led back to square one late last year.

Those hosting such events were much more competent than the government, though, and it’s no surprise that snooker has been one of the sports chosen to try to push things forward in a sensible manner and as safely as possible as part of Stage 4 of the Covid-19 roadmap out of lockdown.

The full capacity crowd for the final still feels like a risk at this stage, but those taking part in this pilot event have been made fully aware of what’s going on throughout the process.

The communication from the World Snooker Tour has been very clear, and those working at the Crucible Theatre have made it easy for spectators to follow the necessary guidelines.

“This research programme will provide the evidence required to show that people can get back to doing some of the leisure activities they love, such as visiting theatres, indoor concerts and sporting events,” Barry Hearn, then World Snooker Tour chairman, said last month.

“It is yet another challenge for us, but so far over the past year we have risen to every challenge and met it successfully.

“We have proved again and again that we can stage events where the safety of the players, officials and fans is paramount.

“Snooker continues to lead the way in the sporting world as we fight back against difficult times.”

Snooker managed to complete its 2019-20 season in August last year and has now played out a full 2020-21 season.

The World Championship aside, this campaign has been played behind closed doors in isolated venues in Britain, meaning most players have not had to travel around the world to compete.

They have still been affected, though, with many having to spend long periods away from family.

Others, such as Hong Kong’s Marco Fu, have not been able to compete at all due to coronavirus travel restrictions, while Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham had to withdraw during World Championship qualifying after testing positive for Covid-19.

The many players who have managed to compete in qualifying and the tournament proper have made it a memorable World Championship, perhaps epitomised by Stuart Bingham’s impressive run from round 3 of qualifying to the semi-final where he faces Mark Selby.

The standard has been high and at the time of writing 93 century breaks have been made, closing in on the Crucible record of 100 set in 2019.

Semi-finalists Bingham, Selby, Shaun Murphy and Kyren Wilson have each entertained spectators in the venue and on TV in their own way, and fans will be hoping the final goes all the way to the end in that sold-out last session on Monday.