Higgins was the best, but for him, I may never have taken the game up
BUT for Alex Higgins we might never have had Ronnie O’Sullivan. Inspired by the Irishman’s flamboyant style and dynamic approach to the game, a young O’Sullivan, aged around seven or eight, hopped from one snooker club to another near his Essex home to develop his skills.
As a result, a star was born. Three-time world champion and arguably the most naturally talented player ever to play the game, ‘Rocket’ Ronnie stepped into the mould of the crestfallen Higgins, and admits he wouldn’t be half the player he is today if it wasn’t for his boyhood idol.
“Alex Higgins was one of the real inspirations behind me getting into snooker in the first place,” O’Sullivan said. “He is a legend of snooker, and should forever be remembered as the finest ever snooker player.”
Renouned for his outbursts and short fuse both on and off the baize, O’Sullivan’s passion for the game has been thrown into question in recent years. The 34-year-old, however, says he is misunderstood.
As a dedicated student of the game from the days of Joe Davis in the 1920s, O’Sullivan has looked deep into the evolution of snooker and believes the end of the Higgins era marked a new dawn in the sport.
“Years ago, players had to hustle to earn a living,” O’Sullivan told City.A.M. “All Alex Higgins was a hustler, who thought one day ‘you know what, I’m pretty good at this’. He then turned pro and twice won the world title. It’s not like that now, the players have become machines.
“Look at Bruce Forsyth. He can tap dance, sing and entertain. Years ago people had to be the all-rounder, it was a way of life. But now, a lot of that has gone, we are told to be robots and people now can only do one thing.
“If you sat amongst a lot of snooker players you would see they are funny guys with a wicked sense of humour, but they are frightened to let it out because they are just snooker players.”
Perhaps O’Sullivan’s most famous show of petulance came in the 2006 UK Championship when, at 4-1 down to Stephen Hendry in the quarter-final, he conceded the match and walked out after missing an easy red.
Since then, he’s admitted he’s become disillusioned with the game on several occasions, but insists poor form, and not a waning love for the game, is the cause of his frustration.
“Perhaps I don’t explain it right but I love the game, I just don’t like playing crap,” added O’Sullivan, who has been world No1 for the past five years.
“Although you can love something, if you are not doing it the way you know you can then it can become very frustrating. People ask me why I don’t love the game, I do, I just get frustrated when I’m not playing too clever. That isn’t a reflection of the game, that’s more of a reflection on me.”
With 22 career titles under his belt, O’Sullivan already ranks among the greats, but the Rocket admits he still has some way to go before he can place himself alongside the likes of Hendry or Steve Davis.
“Davis won six world titles, Hendry seven. I’ve only won three. It’s very hard to compare eras – Hendry and Davis were the best in theirs, I’d like to think that I had a bit of dominance for four or five years, but I haven’t won enough world titles to be the greatest snooker player. I’d love to win another world title, it’s the ultimate test.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan is an ambassador for Rileys – the UK’s largest pool and snooker operator – who are offering 147,000 free junior memberships to youngsters aged 12-18 during the summer holidays.