Ronnie O'Sullivan is once again in the spotlight of snooker media, after the other day, O'Sullivan claimed that snooker was in the worst position ever, and that it was in great crisis. At the same time, O'Sullivan also called for a strike by professional players and demanded at least another £20 million increase in tour prize money, and accused the snooker governing body of inaction.
In response, Snox Knock Tour chairman Steve Dawson officially responded through the media and criticized O'Sullivan's erroneous thinking. Two years ago, Steve Dawson took over the baton from Barry Hearn and began to take the helm of world snooker, but unfortunately the new crown epidemic has dealt a major blow to the snooker movement. Steve Dawson argues: Ronnie O'Sullivan's explosive remarks are absurd and incomprehensible.
"Ronnie is a fantastic player and a legend in our sport, but sometimes his remarks go too far and are misleading to snooker, so I have to respond to that. First of all, Ronnie never attended a player meeting to discuss his proposal with us. Also, he had my cell phone, but he never called me to communicate with me directly. Of course, I welcome him to communicate directly with me. ”
"Secondly, Ronnie always compares snooker to golf and tennis, but until now I have not seen Ronnie O'Sullivan as a role model for fans like Roger Federer, as a qualified ambassador. With snooker, we're trying to take it to the next level, but at the same time, we need a great player like Ronnie O'Sullivan to promote snooker. But Ronnie didn't, saying long ago that he wouldn't let his children take up the sport of snooker. ”
"There is no doubt that Ronnie's erroneous remarks were harmful to snooker. In 2010, there were only six ranked snooker matches with a total prize pool of £3.5 million, but now we have 21 tours with £11 million in prize money, and £15 million before the pandemic. As 2019 began, we had to suspend all competitions in China. ”
"Now that the pandemic is over and we are trying to go back to China, soon the Shanghai Masters will be held in China, and I believe snooker is moving in a good direction." In addition, Ronnie also mentioned that players are afraid of being penalized by us for speaking out, which is obviously rare, and in general, snooker players have more freedom of speech than other sports. Because, we also want the players to have more contact with the fan media, which is conducive to the development of snooker. ”
Not only did Steve Dawson respond to O'Sullivan's remarks, but former world champion Sean Murphy also criticized Ronnie O'Sullivan, so is O'Sullivan wrong to publicly criticize the sport of snooker? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area.