Hearn happy to use fear factor in order to encourage support from elite

O’Sullivan accused World Snooker of forcing him and others in the world’s top 16 to turn up for obscure Players’ Tour Championship (PTC) events or risk losing valuable ranking points.

The PTC events are a new addition to snooker’s expanding calendar as World Snooker chief Hearn leads the drive to take the sport global and increase the number of events on the circuit.

Disgruntled three-time world champion O’Sullivan, 35, claims the sport’s top stars are not rewarded with enough prize money at PTCs, while lower-ranked players even lose financially because of costs involved.

Hearn is unrepentant and says the only way of ensuring the game’s elite help transform the sport is by playing at new events.

“I can’t survive in a selfish environment where players just look at it for prize money,” said Hearn. “I made them ranking events to actually force the players into playing.

“Ronnie is quite right that it is a form of blackmail, and I put my hands up and plead guilty. When I don’t do that blackmail, like at a recent invitational event in Brazil, nine out of the top 16 didn’t travel because they probably thought it was a long way to go.

“I should have made it a ranking event and that would have justified Ronnie’s case.

“Like everything else, it’s a long-term plan. Snooker hasn’t gone anywhere for 20 years and if I would criticise myself for anything I have probably gone a bit too quick.

“I have woken them up to such an extent to realise that this is a job as well, it’s not just a pastime or a hobby.

“The PTCs are there for the benefit of the 96 players on the pro tour, not just one or two. It give opportunities to the amateurs and lesser-known professionals to advance their careers, and gives the players the opportunity to spread the game themselves.

“If I can rely on players to support me, then I don’t need to make them ranking events, but when I am trying to sell the game to new audiences I need the players’ support.

“Unfortunately, I have to use not just encouragement, but the fear factor that if you don’t support snooker, snooker won’t support you.

“If the top players like Ronnie O’Sullivan look at it just for money, they are missing the point. I am in this for the long run, I am going to build a global sport with solid foundations for the benefit of all the players.

“The best players will win the most money, of course, but I can’t afford to give the players the choice too much because I know from experience they will get lazy and not bother.

“The way I have got it at the moment is they have to play. It is a bit of blackmail, but it’s working.

“We are taking these tour events to places like Belgium and Poland and places like that, and the next thing is a full-blown ranking event, but you don’t get them automatically. The game has to be worked on.

“People that know me say I am a benevolent despot; which means I don’t suffer criticism, lack of ambition or lack of hard work very easily. I like to work very hard myself and be successful and I want the players to share my enthusiasm.

“Sometimes they don’t. And, therefore, I have to put in a little bit of a whip hand. There’s a bigger picture, this game can be huge. It’s not huge yet, but it’s a lot bigger than it was two years ago.”

The final qualifiers for one of the sport’s flagship events, the UK Championship, which return to York’s Barbican next month, are being played today.

Trying to clinch a place in York is the seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry, who has slipped out of the world’s top 16 after failing to pick up enough ranking points this year.

Tickets for the UK Championship at York Barbican, from December 3-11, are on sale now. For details, call 0844 854 2757 or visit www.worldsnooker.com/tickets.