Cue Action Blog Snooker Debate: Should players give something back to the sport?

The second Cue Action Blog twitter snooker debate, saw the panel discuss whether or not snooker players should give something back to the sport. This bought into account thinks like promoting new tournaments and supporting new events, promoting the game of snooker, interacting more with fans, helping young players develop and even do hospital visits or charity work. This is what the panel had to say:

James Kilmartin, armchair snooker fan: “Certain unique people like The Nugget are genuinely interested in growing the sport they love.  Unfortunately, too many do it cos they're good at the game and it's better than having a proper job.”

Ash 147Promoter, Betting expert:” I don’t think it’s something you can ask of players, at the end of the day during their careers as long as they respect the sport, give interviews, respect sponsors and fans then that’s fine, afterwards we have no divine right to ask them to give something back, many will which is great but NO I don’t think they should be told too.”

Steff Coyle, fan: “Yes I strongly feel that they should people helped them start off in the sport it would be nice to remind some players where there grass roots and help teach new players. Some players think there better than the average person & don't help new players succeed. “

Paul Collier, World Snooker referee: “We should all give something back, not just players.  I do my job because I enjoy it. The money isn’t great but it’s a life that I chose. Some player’s don’t treat the sport as a job.”

Johnny May, snooker fan: “I don't think it's really a must, because at the end of the day - players like O'Sullivan, Hendry and Jimmy. They’ve played the game to a level where, snooker's popularity has increased; more people are watching the game, and more people want to play the game - whether it's just for fun, or to a professional level.”

Stuart Bingham, World No.8 snooker player: “Yes, I'm not sure how but if you look at other sports, they've got their own foundations.  I think it should be in the player’s contract that a World champ has to do his duty. Why should he be able to do what he wants? The fans pay to watch and should have some interaction with players.”

Christopher Vear, fan of snooker: “I think Snooker players often do enough to promote it. You see them walking on a "red carpet" in China. I think they should simply because Barry Hearn needs the full support of *everyone* to help snooker grow further. The World Champion should follow up from his win, and entertain the fans in following ranking events."

Barry Hearn, World Snooker Chairman: “It's a partnership. A wedding rather than a date. “ Barry also said that it was “harsh but partially true” that players couldn’t grasp what was needed to be true professionals, and that giving players media training was “on their agenda”.

Vikki, female snooker fan: “Players play for more than 3-4 hours matches then give interviews and some of them give for charity they do enough. I think the new generation players promote the game with their quick style of play and how they look.”

E Jones, fan: “The legacy of great players should be to give something back for the younger players to run with. Past generations played the sport for peanuts because they loved it. Today there’s too much emphasis on what I can get out of it instead of because they want it to succeed and grow. Where were Judd, Higgins, Maguire, Ronnie when the Aussie open needed them?”

My opinion is that players should give something back to snooker, as the game has helped them out a lot over the years, so they should help promote the game and help snooker become a global sport. They also need to help young players develop, so that future of the game is in safe hands once they have retired. Players need to support new events and small events, to help them become permanent fixtures on the snooker calendar.

Some members feel that they do enough already to promote the game, while others thought that players could do more to help young players and support the new events, especially the big names within the game.

Overall it was a very fun debate, and was good to see everyone's opinions on another important topic. I hope to have just as much fun this week, discussing another interesting issue and will have the best bits from the debate on here a few days after the debate has taken place, so keep your eye out for it.