Ronnie O'Sullivan slams 'car boot sale' UK events: 'Have the whole tour in China'

02/10/2023 22:30

Ronnie O’Sullivan reckons UK events on the World Snooker Tour are ‘like a car boot sale’ and says the whole tour should be moved to China.

The Rocket is playing in his first UK event of the season this week at the English Open in Brentwood, after jetting in from an exhibition in Macau over the weekend.

He landed on Monday morning and travelled straight to Essex where he beat Andrew Pagett 4-0 in the opening round, but the world number one was not impressed with the surroundings at The Brentwood Centre.

Speaking after his win he said: ‘I think it's important to have good tournaments. I am not saying this is a terrible tournament. But the venues…people walking up and down in the crowd.

‘I'd like to see someone get hold of a good promoter, get hold of the tournaments and make them a bit better. Nothing has really changed in 12 years. You just go through the motions in a lot of these tournaments. I don't want to be ultra-critical but also sometimes the truth needs to be told.

‘I don't know if you have had a walk around this venue or been in the toilets and had a look around. It's not the greatest. It's not the most inspiring place to come and play snooker but it is what it is.’

O’Sullivan reckons tournaments in the UK have not been up to scratch since the end of tobacco sponsorship in 2005, comparing them to a car boot sale.

‘They don't care here. They just don't care anymore,’ he said. ‘When we had tobacco sponsors, they were amazing, they really went out of their way to make all the players feel special.