Ronnie O’Sullivan has suggested that snooker needs to bring in a new rule to “get rid of boring players”. After criticism at recent tournaments over the speed of play, the Rocket has hit out at a number of players on the tour who he believes play “ugly snooker” and need to be banned.
Shaun Murphy and Stephen Hendry previously called for a rule change that would end a game once snookers were required to avoid prolonging unnecessary matches. However, Scottish Open winner Gary Wilson proved that such a dramatic change to the game would have robbed him of a place in the final.
In the deciding frame of Wilson’s semi-final against Zhou Yuelong, he needed three snookers after Yuelong had made an opening break of 69. Though he was able to make his opponent foul three times before sealing an unlikely victory, going on to the final which he won against Noppon Saengkham.
But O’Sullivan believes that “boring” players should be banned from snooker after being asked about a conversation that Murphy and Hendry had about calling games once snookers were required.
“I think you should bring a rule out where you get rid of boring snooker players,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “Boring players that just drag the game out, get rid of them, fine them. Do something.
“Make them play snooker instead of just draining the life out of everybody. You should just get rid of boring players who play horrible snooker, ugly snooker. We should get down to the nitty-gritty and get honest for a change.”
O’Sullivan did admit that he enjoyed Wilson’s attempts against Yuelong, but felt that the game of snooker needed to be sped up at times to appeal to a wider audience.
This is despite the 48-year-old once playing on against Mark Selby in Edinburgh during the 2020 tournament when 51 points behind and only the pink and black balls were in play.
“I think the game needs to be entertaining at the end of the day,” O’Sullivan added. “It’s when you get really negative players that are hard to watch, that’s an important thing to get rid of. It’s the way the game’s played that’s important. You need to encourage people to play snooker probably.
“A lot of the players I see they’re just painful to watch. There’s a winning style, play a winning game because if you play like that [negatively] you can’t win. What’s the point? You should try and play the game right. Go and watch Stephen Hendry videos and try and emulate that.”
