“C’mon Ron, let’s get fired up,” beseeches Rob Walker, the exuberant match announcer, nudging the hunched figure to his right. The World No.1 glances up, shrugs and resumes reading.
It is 1.15pm, just 45 minutes before he is due on Table 1 for the first showpiece match of this season’s Glasgow Grand Prix, but O’Sullivan is struggling to muster any enthusiasm. In the wake of his first-round victory over Jamie Burnett on Tuesday evening, the Londoner insisted he would only begin to think about his last-16 tie with John Higgins a quarter of a hour before it began. And, right on time, he downs the dregs from his polystyrene cup, lifts his cue case and heads for the changing rooms to swop his bomber jacket and jeans for a waistcoat and dickie bow.
Inside the converted gymnasium of the Kelvin Hall, there is a hum of anticipation. Two tables sit just a few metres apart, separated by a tall blue partition and enclosed by a low, black perimeter wall. On three sides of this amphitheatre there are banks of seating, half with a view of one table and the rest overlooking the other. The excitement is only coming from one side.
While over 2000 people have taken residence around Table 1, just four lonely souls are scattered across the remainder of the seats awaiting the match between Jamie Cope and Mark Allen as Walker bounds into the arena. John Parrot and Steve Davis stand silently, waiting to do their BBC broadcast, as the angular announcer interacts with the audience. “Is there anyone in from Scotland?” he bellows. The crowd respond with the enthusiasm expected from those who should otherwise be in offices or lecture theatres at 2pm on a midweek afternoon but their attendance is a huge relief to World Snooker.
While the opening day of the tournament last Saturday drew decent numbers for Higgins’ first-round match with Mark Joyce, the following afternoon attracted a disastrously meagre crowd that only just crept into three figures. Granted, there were no Scottish players in action and Glasgow was somewhat preoccupied by another sporting event on Sunday, but the lack of interest in a schedule featuring world-class talents such as Ali Carter, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui caused further alarm for a sport that has long been in decline.
Worries over a lack of sponsors, fewer ranking events and low prize money have overshadowed the opening weeks of the season, with the game at its lowest ebb for some time. While O’Sullivan, Higgins and Hendry will always attract attention, the younger players who comprise the rest of the elite are struggling to draw support. The ovation given to Davis and Parrott before yesterday’s action told its own story and shed light on the composition of a crowd that, while knowledgeable and enthusiastic, were easily old enough to remember the days of Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor.
The truth is obvious: if it is to survive, snooker must adapt to appeal to a younger market. While ticket prices are reasonable – £15 for a day, with concessions set at £5 for a single session – it is still an expensive way to spend an afternoon. Surely it would be feasible to fill these daytime stints by handing out tickets to schools or allowing students in for free on a particular day? It works for other sports, so why not snooker?
Granted, attendances have maintained at the level of the 2008 event at the SECC and remain up on the two years in which the tournament was held in Aberdeen, but those turnouts were far from stellar. Filling the Kelvin Hall for the latter stages – the full quota of 5500 tickets have been sold for Sunday’s final, while business for the semis has also been brisk – is unlikely to prove problematic but something must be done to prevent the early rounds being played in front of crowds that would embarrass a busker.
While critics claim that the organisers have not done enough to promote the Grand Prix, they have at least attempted to inject innovation by introducing a random draw with no seedings for each match from the last 16 onwards. As a consequence, Higgins and O’Sullivan were paired yesterday, a serendipitous stroke of fortune that injected the tournament with fresh impetus and prevented another disappointing turnout.
“Raise the roof for the boys on the baize,” roared announcer Walker as the players emerged to a rousing reception. Little under three hours later it was over, along with O’Sullivan’s participation, as the tournament was robbed of one its more enticing acts.
If only World Snooker could harness the enigmatic Englishman, a player so talented that he romped through the first frame alternating from left hand to right while recording a break of 131. His nonchalant genius should be to snooker what Roger Federer is to tennis or Tiger Woods to golf but O’Sullivan has enough trouble maintaining his own interest in the game, never mind that of anyone else.
With him gone, the Grand Prix must now rely on patriotism. The banners draped outside the Kelvin Hall in an apparently reluctant nod to advertising indicate as much with images of O’Sullivan and Higgins joined by those of the two Stephens – Hendry and Maguire – who are both in action today.
Yesterday, the poster depicting the seven-time world champion had fallen to the ground and lay face down being ignored by passers-by. Snooker should heed the warning.
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