On January 18, the professional snooker tour roared.
The umbrella organization World Snooker announced that Saudi Arabia will organize the most lucrative invitational tournament in snooker history in its capital, Riyadh. 3.–7. the eight best players in the world ranking are invited to the competition in March. One million dollars or 920,000 euros in prize money is being distributed.
In addition, the umbrella organization said that in the Saudi tournament it is possible for players to make the biggest break in professional history.
Normally known as the maximum break, the stroke sequence consists of 15 red and 15 black balls and after them six color balls pocketed in order of value from smallest to largest. You get 147 points for that stroke series.
If the player makes the maximum break in Saudi Arabia, an extra golden ball worth 20 points is added to the table at the end. Therefore, the maximum break would be 167 points.
The release received a tumultuous reception from both snooker fans and snooker players.
– I don’t like this proposal. This is not the right way to introduce snooker, a long-time snooker professional Joe Perry says Urheilu by phone from his home in Chatteris, England.
In World Snooker’s Saudi bulletin, it was also confusing that the umbrella organization did not say on which side of the table the golden ball would be placed.
– The natural place would be in the middle of the table, but I have no idea, says Perry.
He estimates that the idea of a golden ball goes back to the Saudi organizers and the millionaires who influence World Snooker’s decisions, Barry and to Eddie Hearn.
– It is certain that no snooker player is behind this idea.
– The eight best players in the world are able to market snooker in the best possible way with their own game.
Saudi kohu is only the tip of the iceberg
The 49-year-old Perry has been playing snooker on the professional tour since 1992. The current world ranking is based on the prize money Perry has accumulated over the past two years, 176,000 pounds or 206,000 euros. With them, he can be found at number 27 on the list.
After taxes and insurance, professional snooker players return on average a good twenty thousand euros in travel expenses. The players have to pay for their trip mainly by themselves, because the sponsor money is practically only channeled to the sharpest end – no fewer than 57 of the 128 players on the professional tour are English.
The cold fact is that the average English wage earner has more left over from his job than two thirds of snooker professionals.
This season, there are 23 races on the professional tour calendar, six of which are invitational races. In addition to these, there are three competitions in the calendar, which only a small number of players can enter based on the results of the season.
According to Perry, the professionals are most disappointed in the case of Saudi Arabia that the tournament organizers and the umbrella organization broke their promises. Originally, Riyadh was supposed to host a ranking competition open to all professionals in October 2020, but the tournament was canceled due to the corona pandemic.
When the competition debuted on the snooker tour in March, 3.5 years behind the original schedule, the prize pool of one million has remained the same, but now instead of 128 players, only the top eight of the sport are fighting for it.
– All the money coming into snooker seems to be going to the stars who need it the least at the moment, says Perry.
Professional or screening tour?
It is not the first time that the general livelihood of professionals has been discussed. The umbrella organization introduced a reform in September 2022, where each player receives a so-called £20,000 of the basic salary, i.e. about 23,400 euros.
However, the umbrella organization will recover the amount from the prize money won by the players. If the player has less than 20,000 prize pounds at the end of the season, he does not have to pay back the short amount.
However, it is only a loan for the least successful players. Last season, 34 professionals fell below that limit.
At that time, out of 128 professionals, only 47 broke the £50,000 prize pool. For example, in the 2018–2019 season, there were 64 of them.
Last season, 128 professional players were awarded a total of only 10.8 million British pounds, or 12.6 million euros. For example, 18 million euros in prize money is distributed to 128 players in the ongoing tennis Australian Open in both women’s and men’s singles.
Although, according to Urheilu’s data, snooker was the fourth most watched and second most visible sport on the global Eurosport channel in 2023, the vast majority of snooker professionals do not receive financial benefit from the visibility.
According to Perry, the reason can be found in the politics practiced by the snooker bosses, where the star players are too much in the center.
– They have to change their way of thinking, think more about the well-being of the tour and create opportunities for everyone. At the moment, development is going in the wrong direction. The prize money is increasing, but the number of players making a living is only decreasing. The equation doesn’t work.
There are only nine races left in the professional season, which ends at the beginning of May. Three of these are invitational tournaments and two are ones in which only 16 and 8 players who collected the most prize money during the season claim the right to play.
– At this rate, the professional snooker tour is becoming a show tour of the best, says Perry.
Young people in trouble
Currently, the average age of the top ten players in the world is 40 years. In recent years, we have seen several players who get to celebrate the biggest tournament win of their career at almost 50 years old. Perry is one of them.
Perry, who earned more than three million euros in prize money in his career, feels that a story like his cannot be repeated in the current tour system.
– I’m not a serial winner when it comes to titles, but I’ve been able to support myself as a snooker professional for 32 years. Such a career is no longer possible for a player of the same level as me.
– There are wonderful young players in the sport, among other things Stan Moody (age 17) and Liam Pullen (18 years old). It is likely that they will not be seen playing in the big lights, because breaking through in the current system is almost impossible, says Perry.
Swan song
Perry is one of the most loved figures in snooker circles. For him, sport is a matter of the heart. That’s why Perry wants to talk openly about the dark side of snooker as well.
– In order for the sport to be viable in the future, things must change. The fact that a player reaches rank 40 in the ranking must be rewarded better in the future than now. Right now, being the 40th best player in the world means practically nothing.
Although Perry is still a strong presence on the professional tour, he has already prepared for his post-snooker career. Late last year he opened a snooker hall in his hometown of Chatteris.
In addition to that, Perry has worked as a commentator and coached the 2010 world champion, who performed in Tampere in December Neil Robertson. Perry will also be seen playing in Finland in the spring.
On May 24, he will face the second player in the world ranking in an exhibition match organized at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki Judd Trump.
– I received an invitation before Christmas, and I didn’t have to think about the answer. I have good memories of Finland. However, it’s been a while since the last visit, Perry says, referring to the Finnish Pro Snooker Challenge between professionals and amateurs organized in Turku in 2010.
Similar mixed competitions are still of interest to snooker history.
– I agree with you that my career is coming to an end. Even if I drop out of the tour in the next few years, I plan to continue at least with the senior competitions. Snooker will always be a part of my life, says Perry.