by elliott west
What started off as a good concept has frankly now become a joke in the sport. A million pounds for winning all of the Home Nations’ tournaments is a big ask on paper but magnifies when it becomes a reality. Players like Mark Selby, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson have laughed when asked by pundits if it was achievable and even Neil Foulds has dismissed the idea.
For me, World Snooker needs to steer away from this type of razzmatazz and move back to ideas that work. Yes, players need to be rewarded for their efforts but dangling a golden carrot in their faces is not the answer. I remember in the past when a car was displayed outside the arena and the player who got a 147 won the car. Now there have to be twenty 147’s in a season for them to share a million pound prize pot. Snooker isn’t like darts and should be treated as a serious sport. Players practice for hours to achieve the top prizes in the season and although prize money has drastically increased and the tour has massively expanded, the governing body needs to take on board what the players are telling them.
Perhaps the penny has now dropped after Barry Hearn admitted in the media that the million pound prize was “damn impossible” to achieve. This emerged in a conversation had between Hearn and Neil Robertson whilst practicing in a club in Romford. Robertson believes there was a method in Barry’s madness when he made the announcement as it was a ploy to alter the terms in the next season.
He cites Ronnie O’Sullivan’s break at the recent UK Championship in York when on a potential maximum, he decided to take pinks off the remaining reds and completed the break on 133 in his 6-0 match against Ross Bulman. Instead Barry Hawkins got the high prize of £15,000. A prize that O’Sullivan joked, saying:
“Barry could do with the £15,000 more than me. He is super excited to be able to spend money on some Christmas presents”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Hopefully now the governing body will realise that this gimmick needs to be rectified and a different direction followed. It is a great shame that this was rolled out in the first place and reminds me of one those terrible game shows in the 1980’s.
Barry Hearn has my upmost respect and I will always thank him for helping to save snooker and bring it back to its rightful place as a top sport.
The standard of snooker has massively improved in recent years and the style of play has been highly competitive and more attacking. I admit that mistakes can be made but this one needs to fall under a snooker iron and emerge as a format that works for all and most importantly is achievable.
