Snooker has grown into one of Finland’s most popular TV sports. However, it is a different thing to pick up the stick and play, as enthusiasts know.
About 10 years ago Juha Tikalle the same thing happened to thousands of others.
Tikka flipped through the TV channels and stopped to watch the snooker broadcast. The peculiar, billiard-like sport was immediately hooked.
– Tactics, challengingness and Aki Kauppinen engaging narration. I guess they were charming, Tikka recalls.
In the following years, Tikka devoured snooker. World Cups, superstars and big money tournaments became familiar.
Today, Tikka, 42, plays herself. He joined the Joensuu Snooker Alliance club a couple of years ago, when its chairman Hannu Voutilainen had caught his eye on the talent of a novice at a local pool hall.
There are hardly any other beginners in the club.
– It’s different to watch snooker than to play it yourself. The difficulty of the sport will surely drive away many interested people, says Tikka.
There are few places to play
As a TV sport, snooker has been extremely popular for a long time. For example, last year the 4th session of the snooker World Cup final gathered an average of 170,000 spectators in Finland.
Recently, the sport has been in the headlines because of the world stars who visited Finland. Show matches that were sold out, even attracted thousands of spectators, have been organized in Tampere and Oulu, for example.
– These are all great things, but the boom only exists in the media. At the grassroots level, everything is pretty much the same as before, snooker director of the Finnish Billiards Association Petri Pallaspuro tells.
According to Pallaspuro, around a hundred players actively play snooker in Finland. Pallaspuro counts players who participate in official competitions as active.
In addition to those who participate in the competitions, snooker is played by random experimenters, the number of which no one knows.
– One problem is that there are not enough snooker tables in Finland. Those who are interested don’t easily get to try out whether they would like the sport, Pallaspuro reflects.
Finnish Billiards Association according to the listing There are more than 130 snooker tables in Finland.
– There would be more potential. For example, in Oulu, the largest snooker hall in the Nordic countries, it is sometimes difficult to get to play, even though there are 14 tables, says Pallaspuro.
Who would take the risk?
Juha Tikka signs Pallaspuro’s vision.
The snooker table, where Tikka started the sport, is the only public playing place in Joensuu. The local snooker club has five tables, but they are reserved for members.
– Someone should take a financial risk and get public snooker tables. In addition, sponsors could take the risk and support more domestic competitions, Joensuu Snooker Alliance chairman Hannu Voutilainen enumerates.
Voutilainen especially needs young players under their twenties to play snooker. Hannu Tikka is on the same lines, but warns about the challenge of the sport.
– First, so to speak, you have to learn to walk, then walk and finally maybe run. If you want to get to the top here, you have to start much younger than in your forties, says Tikka.