Former UK champion Stephen Maguire has echoed Trump’s calls, describing Alexandra Palace as “our best venue by a good distance”, while this year’s tournament favourite Neil Robertson has suggested shifting early rounds to an alternative venue and cutting the length of some matches.
“I don’t really like the format,” Robertson told the Talking Balls podcast. “I think it’s pretty dated and it can be very stale. From an entertainment point of view, the World Championship is a struggle for me to watch and I’m a top snooker player in the game.”
Ever outspoken, former world No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan even recently insisted he “would not let” any son of his play snooker, because of its lack of earning power and stardust.
“Maybe 20 to 25 years ago it was a sexy sport but it has kind of fallen behind other sports,” said the man bidding to win a record-equalling seventh world title in Sheffield. “If you have a child you’d want them to get into a sport like Emma Raducanu, she’s doing fantastic. You look at the golfers like Rory McIlroy, and the footballers, it’s just lovely sports to be in.
“It’s just timing I suppose. Maybe in another 25 to 30 years snooker might be back on top but at the moment I’d be like, ‘go and get a job, mate’. Forget playing snooker.”
That sentiment was far from universal. John Higgins described O’Sullivan’s comments as a “disgrace”, while Hossein Vafaei this week questioned what snooker’s biggest name has done to help the sport, telling him to “retire and then the younger generation make the game bigger”.
They were bold words from a debutant who provides one of the more intriguing storylines of this year’s World Championship as the first Iranian to take part. Him aside, those at the head of the 32-man field are much the same as they were almost a generation ago, with seven of the top 10 turning professional in the Nineties.
Despite a number of Chinese challengers, the old guard’s grip remains strong. With the Crucible contracted to host the World Championship until 2027, familiarity remains in firm order
