Chairman launches blueprint for snooker

Rodney Walker has spelt out his determination to repair snooker’s tarnished reputation as the sport enters a critical phase.

World Snooker and WPBSA chairman Walker has been given a free hand to try to repair the damage caused by in-fighting and litigation which has drained snooker’s coffers.

The former Rugby Football League and Leicester supremo knows the big challenge will be to attract new sponsors into the game.

Gallaghers, who sponsored the Benson & Hedges Masters for 26 years, are no longer involved and after 2005 a new sponsor will be required for the Embassy World Championships because of the British government's ban on tobacco advertising.

Prize money is already being cut by over £1m (€1.48m) a year and Walker admitted snooker’s main terrestrial broadcasters, the BBC, were also unhappy with the path snooker was treading.

But Walker, who has also been a leading figure with UK Sport and Sport England, has been encouraged by the response of everyone in the game to turn around its fortunes.

He was given a free role in March to select a new WPBSA board and has recruited from outside the sport in Premier League chairman David Richards, HMV chairman Robin Miller and former Olympic medallist Adrian Metcalfe who had a lengthy spell as Channel 4’s head of sport.

The new board are expected to hold their first meeting shortly after the World Championships which ended on Monday, and then start to try to revitalise snooker.

Walker told the Press Association: “With snooker if it were my school report I would expect to see the words ’room for improvement’.

“There is no hiding the fact that the fortunes of the sport have sunk to a fairly low ebb. There is a lot to do.

“The first thing to do is rebuild its reputation, get our credibility back and stop wasting money.

“I don’t want to be specific but I estimate in excess of £2m (€2.96m) has gone out of the sport in the last five years simply on legal and professional fees where people have got into dispute both internally and externally.

“Snooker can’t afford to see money of that magnitude simply drain away.

“Snooker was on a one-way street. Its reputation has taken a hammering. The BBC made it clear early on they were unhappy with the way the sport was organising itself and their relationship with it.

“The real big challenge is to find new sponsors. With Gallaghers gone and only one more year with Imperial Tobacco, there are big holes to fill.

“The problem the sport has had is, as its reputation has suffered, sponsors have not been lining up to take the place of the ones we are losing.”

Nevertheless, Walker has been encouraged by the response of everyone in the game to try to remedy a situation which had reached crisis point.

He said: “The fact I was given a free hand to sort it out is a sign that other people realised things couldn’t go on as they were.

“Since the players gave me the mandate in March to get on and try to fix things, the people I wanted to join me on the board have all agreed.

“I’ve had a series of meetings with people right across the sport and there is a huge groundswell of people prepared to work with me to try to put things right. The early signs are encouraging.

“Snooker has a lot to offer still. It is number two to football on terrestrial television in terms of the hours coverage it enjoys.

“In an increasingly competitive world, the BBC would not be giving as much coverage if they thought the sport was on its last legs.

“We know there is a lot to do but if everyone pulls together as they have indicated then we can repair the damage and go forward.”