Snooker boss Barry Hearn defends the changes he made to snooker calendar
World Snooker Chairman, Barry Hearn, insisted that he has done a marvellous job since he joined snooker’s governing body as a chief. He defended the alterations he has made to the game so far and said that there is no place for lazy players in the sport
today. Hearn believes that they are making the game more exciting for everyone.
Hearn’s recent statement was a response to the verbal brawl that occurred between Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen and himself during the 2011 UK Championship. Allen was quite angry with Hearn’s initiatives and said that he came only to make money for himself.
The Pistol, Allen, was on his UK Championship campaign when he burst against the snooker chief, calling for him to sign his resignation because Hearn had shortened snooker matches for a couple of ranking events, such as the 2011 UK Championship held in York.
Hearn, on the other hand, did not agree to Allen’s comments and stated that he has made the game more exciting for spectators. The new formats are more entertaining for snooker fans.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 5 live, Hearn said, “I've done an amazing job with snooker. I've got the lazy whatnots out of bed and going to work because working-class people are supposed to go to work. The game is entertaining; we're making it more exciting.
I've taken events from seven a year to 30. I've more than doubled the prize money.”
The snooker boss added, “Some of (the players) don't like it. They want a bit of a comfortable life and trust me when I tell you they are not going to get it. The format - getting the game more exciting, seeing results, delivering what the public want -
that's been shown. At York we sold double the number of tickets that we did last year.”
Hearn was appointed as the chairman of World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association two years ago. Since then, he has expanded the boundaries of snooker across the world. In order to achieve his goal, he not only added more events in the snooker
calendar but also changed playing formats of some tournaments, such as 2011 UK Championship and Players Tour Championship (PTC).
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