Top snooker star Judd Trump has called for the sport to embrace change in order to survive.
The Juddernaut has worked wonders to attract a younger audience to the green baize game after his impressive success during the last few years.
His attacking brand of attractive snooker has been a breath of fresh air to a sport which has largely relied on crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan to entertain them with his unpredictable antics.
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And when the Rocket, a seven-time world champion, finally hangs up his cue, Trump is his natural success to be snooker’s main man. But the world No3, a 23-time ranking event winner, has become disillusioned with snooker’s direction and failure to grow.
“I feel like in snooker terms it’s affecting me,” admitted Trump.
“I don’t feel like the Tour’s improved in the past few years. I’m getting a bit too involved, and maybe I get a bit too down about where the game’s heading.
“Maybe I just need to focus a little bit more on the tournament that’s upcoming.
“I feel like snooker can be a lot bigger than it is and things aren’t progressing the way I think that they should.
“Certain tournaments I turn up and I get excited by them. The Champion of Champions is always one of those events.
“But I just feel like there’s no one around my age involved at the top of the game or behind the scenes.
“Someone who has maybe seen what I’ve seen and how we can sort of progress and appeal to younger generations.”
Trump has won all there is to win in the sport including the World Championship, Masters, UK Championship and the Champions of Champions, the latter of which he is trying to defend his title this week in Bolton.
But the 33-year-old, who won two big titles last season, wants to see a younger vibe in snooker – and for the sport to shed its image of yesteryear.
“I feel like a lot of people at the top of the game are the same age, maybe in their late 50s or 60s and don’t know how to appeal to the younger generations,” stressed Trump.
“I feel like it’s getting a little bit lost in snooker at the moment. Champion of Champions and the Matchroom events are run by a younger crowd and maybe appeal to me a little bit more. Maybe that’s why I feel more at home in their events.”
Trump has previously called for snooker to try and crack the American market and new territories around the world.And the left-hander is confident he can play a leading role and keep his own lofty career trajectory as one of the sport’s greats on course.
“For me there’s a lot of events for the top players,” he added. “It’s important for me to stay in that top three or four because you get invites to a lot of tournaments a lot of other players don’t get the opportunity to play in.
“On the one hand you see people moaning there’s not enough opportunities for people lower down the rankings and I see that.
“But on the other hand, some of the younger players don’t work hard enough to get to the top and warrant that.
“I think everyone needs opportunities.
“There’s been a bit of a slow down in the growth of snooker in the last couple of years.
“I feel like there needs to be more down to appeal to the whole crowd. More needs to be done to warrant the younger players coming through.
“Every year it seems to be getting older and older. I feel more needs to be done to promote the youth down the line.”
He added: “My future depends on what's going on at the time.
“There’s always certain tournaments that get you excited no matter what age you are.
“I think as you get older you do struggle with some of the smaller events, the set ups at certain venues that are chosen.
“There’s been times you think snooker’s maybe moving to bigger and better venues, and then they pull it back and go to smaller venues again and that’s disappointing.
“Hopefully people can learn from the recent Hong Kong event and see how big snooker can be if it’s run in the right way.
“Just being able to play in events like that make everything worthwhile.”
Former world champion Ken Doherty, who is chairman of the World Snooker Association (WPBSA) Players board, has welcomed Trump’s comments – and has also welcomed any input from the sport’s Ace in the Pack.
“I’d like to see Judd come to some of our coffee mornings and have a chat and tell us what he’d like to see in the game,” said Doherty.
“It’s easy saying he’d like to see changes, but what are the changes he’d like to see?
“We’d all like to see every event be like the Champion of Champions or the Masters or the World Championship. That would be fantastic.
“There are certain things that can be improved, not only at the front of house but also at the back of the house to get people more involved and families bringing their children.
“They have Cue Zones and stuff, but just get them involved more. Put a little bit more entertainment before and after the matches so that families can come along, not just avid snooker fans that we see at every event.
“I’d like to see players like Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan and the top players that the youngsters recognise go into local schools and say ‘there’s a tournament here next week’ and get those kids involved by having a school day out at some of these events.
“That’s how you get young people playing and get them interested. Give them access to these great players.
“If players like Trump and O’Sullivan are willing to give their time, that’s how you get kids involved. The access is very important.”
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