By Elliott West
Introduction
Barry Hearn was always going to be a hard act to follow. The brash businessman who was never afraid to speak his mind when steering the snooker ship rattled a few cages with his decisions amongst the players and the snooker community. Increasing the tour to 128 players, making some of the tournaments have a best-of-seven frame format and some of the chosen venues, raised a few eyebrows and he often had to deal with media outburst criticism from Ronnie O’Sullivan. However, overall most people believe that Barry was responsible for bringing out of the doldrums and returning the game to a firm footing in the sporting world. Hearn had bags of experience in snooker and is rightly credited for helping a lanky and shy Steve Davis walk the winning path, starting with his 1981 World Championship victory over Doug Mountjoy.
I was sad to see him retire as the chairman of World Snooker in 2021 but he thought it was time for a pair of fresh eyes, ideas and a new face at the top. I wrote about this at the time of the announcement and have to admit that I knew very little about his replacement, Steve Dawson. However, I am a fair person and always ready to give a new appointment a chance. Steve had worked closely with Barry for many years in the Matchroom arm of the business and so is no stranger to the snooker environment. Sadly this is where my positivity stops and I feel that I need to sound out what many players are saying behind closed doors.
Aloof
Apart from a few trophy presentations and several written WST statements, Steve Dawson might as well be the invisible man. His identity is as sparse as his profile photographs on Google search. This was summed up by a stinging attack by Shaun Murphy after the Macau saga where Barry Hearn waded in with a threatening statement about any player who chose to cross the rule-break line to take part in it.
Where’s our chairman? Where’s Steve Dawson? Where is he?”
“Where is Steve Dawson, the new chairman of WST? Where is he, making these statements?
“Why are we rolling out a 70-odd-year-old…president…of Matchroom? A former chairman – he’s not even in the job any more.
“Why is he being rolled out to make these comments? Where’s our chairman, where is he?
“I’m going to add Steve Dawson to the ‘Find My Phone’ feature on my iPhone. I’m going to try and locate him because he’s gone missing.”
Shaun Murphy
Perhaps Dawson is camera-shy or doesn’t like the media spotlight but if can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen! His absence reminds me of a bust flush and what snooker doesn’t need at the moment, like a hole in the head, are turbulent waters. The Macau compromise, as I like to call it, is merely a sticking plaster for a bigger problem that exists among the players on the tour. With China again becoming a dominant force in snooker, it probably won’t be long before some more players are tempted by the whiff of big money to play in a rogue Chinese tournament or exhibition away from the snooker calendar. WST can’t keep juggling dates to appease the players because otherwise, they will look like a Tommy Cooper magic trick where it all goes wrong.
The Cracks
I have a great deal of respect for Jason Ferguson and think he does a great job. Especially around his handling of the recent match-fixing saga with a relatively Swift outcome and resolution. I have no beef with Jason and have always seen them as a friend and a thoroughly decent man who played the tour and has snooker in his veins. However, Steve Dawson is sadly becoming a liability and doesn’t help his cause by staying firmly in the snooker shadows. The mute approach doesn’t do the game any favours. Some may not agree with me but as a writer especially on snooker, I feel it is my job to highlight the good and the bad in the sport.
I appreciate that Steve has to cover a vast number of portfolios across WST and Matchroom but there has to be a face to the head of snooker and that is lacking at the moment. I would get more information out of a cardboard cutout than Dawson at the moment and so I am writing this piece to provide a metaphorical pair of jump leads to make this happen. There has to be a change of direction soon or the curtains may have to close on this chapter and a replacement found. Barry Hearn had his time and I don’t expect him to speak out every time there is a media headline around a problem in snooker. Sort it out Steve or I will be writing a similar piece in a couple of months!
