Fletcher unconcerned about Crucible future

Officials in Sheffield are confident they will be able to fight off the threat from China and remain the home of the World Snooker Championships.

The city’s Crucible Theatre has hosted the event for the last 31 years but Rodney Walker, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, has revealed he has been approached about making the switch to the Far East in 2011.

There are two years left on the contract to stage the event at the Crucible and David Fletcher, director of Creative Sheffield – who works with World Snooker on behalf of Sheffield City Council – said the venue still had a lot to offer the sport.

“We are not particularly concerned by Rodney’s comments. We do not see them as a dig at Sheffield,” he said.

“At this stage of the process we were expecting World Snooker to be considering their options for the future.

“We have been aware of the potential attraction of China as a place to hold major snooker events before now.

“China will, undoubtedly, be a major player in the sport in the future.

“However, Sheffield has worked hard over the last few years to become a key partner for World Snooker, for example in the development of the World Snooker Academy, as well as hosting the professional qualifying events for the Masters, UK and World Championships.”

Fletcher said a recent programme of renovation at the Crucible would, by next year, make it a world class venue.

He also felt the fact most of the top players were British could have a significant influence on future decisions.

“The thing about snooker is it is a very UK-centric sport. The majority of the world’s top 16 are from the UK,” he added.

“There is a big UK centre of growth but it is a commercial world and World Snooker have to balance the benefits of staging the event in the UK with the undoubted attractive commercial benefits of having it somewhere else.

“I would like to think in the next year we will be bringing the whole dialogue to a conclusion.”

With increased sponsorship and prize money on offer in China, WPBSA chairman Walker has admitted they have considered other options to Sheffield.

“During the Roewe Shanghai Masters I was approached about the prospect of moving the World Championship to China,” Walker told the Daily Mail.

“The momentum of snooker in China is growing and this is not the first time the matter has been raised there, although discussions are at a very early stage.

“We have a contract with Sheffield City Council which has two years to run, but beyond that we have to evaluate all options available to us and decide what is best for our members.”