This article is written in response to article in the Observer Newspaper on Sunday 10th January. You can read the Observer article here.

Barney Ronay in his article claims that snooker will once again become an amateur sport by 2020. Within the article he quotes Ronnie O’Sullivan, a quote that I must add came from the previous season so is a little out-of-date to be used as the current opinion of O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan was one of the voices from within the player base that backed Barry Hearn to become the new Chairman of the WPBSA. It is Hearn’s background as a successful sports promoter and lover of snooker that pushed him towards this role. If O’Sullivan was asked the question “Is snooker a dying game?” now then my suggestion would be that he see’s the sport now with a future.

It is true that the sport has seen better times but the game needed new impetus and fresh thinking and this is where Hearn excels. His success with darts is phenomenal and many believe he can be the man to change snooker’s fortune.

I read a lot in the press about snooker’s heyday in the 1980′s when 18.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the final frame of the 1985 World Championship final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor. Although this is absolutely fantastic what we also have to consider is choice. Back in 1985 the UK had only four terrestrial TV stations limiting the choice of what people could watch. Now we live in a digital age and the number of channels has increased to something like 500 plus on-demand services via the Internet. This dilutes the number of people actually watching any given channel.

Could it be that those 18.5 million watching the snooker did so because there was not a lot else available?

The article is not all bad, snooker does have an image problem and does need to do something to encourage more youngsters to either participate or become fans and spectators of the game. The long format may not be the way to develop this new following as today’s youngsters are used to pastimes that are quick and instant and rely heavily on the Internet and other services. One way to develop a new audience could be delivery of highlights via mobile phone services. Bite sized chunks seem to be what people are wanting to access these days.

For Mr Ronay to say that snooker does not have a format like Premier Leegue darts shows a distinct lack of research in his article. Snooker was the first sport to use this exciting format and the current Premier League snooker we see on Sky Sports dates back to a competition started in 1987.

The Premier League on Sky Sports also features a 25 second shot clock to encourage fast games, it employs bonuses for century breaks and winning frames, all of which are quite a radical approach but have added to and cemented the success of Premier League snooker for many years to come. Why a journalist writing for the Observer would not know this is beyond me.

The article goes on to talk about half-empty exhibition halls in Bahrain, again another ‘quote’ from the previous season. Bahrain was dropped from this years calendar as World Snooker actually did have the foresight to see that it was not working. What this did mean was a reduction in ranking events and a lack of playing opportunities for the professionals, however, sponsorship is tight across all sports in the current financial climate.

Snooker does need new impetus and needs more ranking events and probably a reformed ranking system in order for it to gain new appeal, but it is not dead nor dying and snooker will bounce back.

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