What a difference a year makes as snooker fights back
Jim Leacy, then chairman of the Irish Snooker and Billiards Association, spoke about the struggle to unearth the next generation: “These days we aren’t just competing with other sports, we’re competing with iPads, box sets and all the rest.”
With snooker halls closing all over the country many began questioning the long-term viability of the game. Not that the concern was confined to Ireland.
In a 2010 article a British newspaper predicted snooker’s illustrious 80-year professional status would come to an end before the decade was out.
Plunging viewing figures, coupled with the banning of tobacco advertising in 2005 (previously worth millions to the sport) led to reduced prize money and disgruntled competitors playing to smaller crowds.
Pessimism reigned supreme.
Fast forward 12 months and thanks to various initiatives such as same day multi-regional events, an across-the-board reduced flat rate admission fee, coupled with increased funding from the Irish Sports Council, and snooker is among the fastest growing sports in Ireland.
Leacy and his board have seen the fruits of their labour both at underage and veteran level.
In recessionary times, the chance to keep kids occupied for hours on end for €5 has proven extremely popular with cash-strapped parents. So meteoric has been the rise in the game’s popularity at underage level that an increase of over 80% has been recorded in the combined underage groups over the past year, according to RIBSA (Republic of Ireland Billiards and Snooker Association).
And as impressive as the underage figures are, they actually lag some way behind the over 40s, where the upsurge in participation contributed to the recent victory of the men’s national team at the European Championships in Serbia.
PJ Nolan, a full-time national coach at RIBSA, is greatly encouraged by the recent growth and believes the creation of modern facilities across the country to also have been a contributing factor.
“The dingy, smoke-filled snooker halls have been replaced by clubs with state of the art facilities like the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow and the Ken Doherty Academy in Dublin. These are venues any parent would love their child to be playing in” he said.
Not that Ireland is alone in this snooker renaissance. According to the BBC, who provide the coverage of the World Championships to the overseas markets, in just five years the global television audience has jumped from 84 million in 2007 to an estimated 350m for last year’s tournament with China accounting for a sizeable chunk of that increase.
But China is not the only growth area; India, Iran, Canada and Norway are all contributing to the world rankings’ cosmopolitan feel. There are few better placed to assess the sports global growth than Nolan, who is also an international coach and development officer, working with kids all over the world. His work has seen him coach in Qatar, UAE, Israel and India, as well as several countries across mainland Europe.
“The countries all across Asia and in Europe have caught up really fast. China, India, Thailand and Iran are all producing great talents.” he said.
From a player’s perspective, Fergal O’Brien, a former British Open winner and professional of 20 years, welcomes the growth in overseas popularity leading to more events and, ultimately, more prize money.
“A few years ago there were only five ranking events, which made it very difficult to make a decent living from the game,” he said.
“Now, thanks to China, there are 11 [ranking] events and I can see that figure rising each year, as the game becomes more and more popular, not just in Asia, but mainland Europe too.”
Whilst it may be too early for talk of another Irish World Champion, Nolan believes the foundations are certainly in place.
“With the increase in the number of kids taking up the sport, coupled with the excellent facilities, we’re certainly giving ourselves every chance.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
