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As he said at the World Championships, Ronnie O’Sullivan is taking a break from snooker after refusing to sign the new players contract for 2012 which basically obliges players to a 50 week season and 27 events around the globe visiting at least 2 countries every month.
Barry Hearn has said this means Ronnie is ineligible for any WSL events until he does sign the contract.
He could of course change his mind and sign and then enter tournaments but he may just decide to be pampered and paid in China playing exhibitions and private games at his leisure.
With snooker still being rebuilt as a major sporting event after years in the doldrums I am surprised WSL have allowed the reiging world champion and premier league holder, the most talented player the game has seen and biggest box office draw, to be effectively blackmailed out of the game.
This still could lead to a split in snooker as happened in darts, the two biggest names have gone, it only needs the money now and China have plenty of money and players.
What will happen to his ranking? Will he remain on the list and drop down when others take over or will he be dropped off the list completely if he’s ineligible?
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Ronnie is ranked 9th with about 53k ranking points, the rankings are revised after every tournament with the points for that tournament the past year removed, so as I understand it he will start to slip down the rankings but slowly as he has a lot of points and it is a two year list.
The WPBSA chairman has said the issue is around earning power and appearance money but Ronnie and others have said previously they have received disciplinary letters for not playing in tournaments for no good reason but the WPBSA statement says signing the contract doesn’t compel players to play every or any tournaments.
Either way, it seems to me that there’s some poor PR and communication here – has racings PR man joined snooker?
Must be me showing my foolishness in thinking it can’t be too difficult to be transparent and clear with the detail
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