Snooker star John Higgins has branded superstar Ronnie O’Sullivan a “disgrace” for saying he “wouldn’t want my child playing snooker”.
The Rocket launched a stunning tirade where he said snooker had “fallen behind other sports” and he would rather his son chose golf, tennis or football to make a living.
O’Sullivan (six) and Higgins (four) have won 10 World Championships between them since turning professional together in the summer of 1992.
And speaking after his second-round 4-1 Scottish Open win over Noppon Saengkham, disappointed Higgins fumed: “I thought he was a disgrace what he was saying about telling young kids not to play snooker.
“I thought that was dreadful coming from someone as good as that to sit there and say that.
“I can only think of myself and if my dad heard Steve Davis or Jimmy White say ‘don’t get your kids into snooker’. My dad could see I could like it and I was wanting to play snooker, but he would say ‘Steve Davis said you shouldn’t be playing snooker so I’m not giving you the money to go down and practice’.
“That was terrible Ronnie saying that, he should know better.
“I couldn’t believe Ronnie said that, especially given how massive he is for our sport.
“To hear him saying that on worldwide TV I thought it was poor, very poor.”
Higgins came through the ranks as snooker was thriving in the UK amid the success of Steve Davis in the 80s and Stephen Hendry in the 90s.
But Chinese whizkid Zhao Xintong’s UK Championship triumph on Sunday highlighted the difference with how snooker is treated in China and the UK.
China ploughs millions of state funding into grass-roots snooker in the country, whilst Sport England gives the sport almost nothing here.
“When we were coming through we were helped because of the club environments,” reflected Higgins.
“It was wealthy business people who owned and ran clubs. But there’s not that money for people to make and they’re closing them down.
“I’ve been in a couple of chats with some people and they don’t think the heart rate gets going.
“They don’t think it’s an Olympic sport, I know we’re trying to get there, but it can teach you in so many other ways as well.
“When you’re growing up it teaches you manners, arithmetic, how to act around adults and your peers.
“It’s a great sport to be involved in a great sport.”
*18+ | BeGambleAware
