Ahead of his opening UK Championship match, Ronnie O’Sullivan has criticised the work ethic of younger snooker generations.
The record eight-time and defending champion at the Barbican in York, O’Sullivan, insisted that many new players to the tour lack “professionalism” that was expected in previous eras.
The Rocket came through as part of the famed ‘Class of 92’ with Mark Williams and John Higgins, having forged their careers through the Pro-Am circuit, a different situation to today’s game.
And O’Sullivan, before taking on Barry Hawkins in the first round of the UK Championship, took aim at snooker’s newer stars and outright told them they are “not good” enough to compete.
“We had that professionalism about us that maybe the newer generation [don’t have],” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “Maybe the newer generation have had it too easy. When we came through the amateur circuit you had to earn your way through it.
“Now a lot of players turn pro, they think they’re good, but really they’re not. We had to come through the hard way – the juniors, the amateurs, then professionals and work our way up through it. So have a lot of other players, but we were in a golden era for snooker I suppose.”
The trio of O’Sullivan, Williams and Higgins continue to be among the world’s best despite being into the twilight years of their careers.
The Welsh Potting Machine, 49, put on a clinic to win the Champion of Champions in Bolton last time out. He defeated Xiao Guodong 10-6 in the final, after the Chinese star had defeated O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Mark Allen in the span of two days.
All three of the ‘Class of 92’ remain in the top 16 and will fancy their chances of winning the UK Championship, with O’Sullivan steadfast in the view that their upbringing was a better education than those coming through the ranks now.
“I think about when we were juniors, there was such a good Pro-Am circuit,” O’Sullivan added. “I remember I’d travel to Wales, Sheffield, Leicester, and play against people like Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon and Anthony Hamilton.
“I would have only been 11 or 12 at the time. We were kids, me and Mark. Higgins never ventured out of Scotland – he appeared when he was around 14. I think that was the first we’d heard of John Higgins.
“But me and Mark were always playing in Pro-Ams and junior events, so I think we had a really good schooling. There were no phones, there was no Instagram. There was a different work ethic. We were much more seasoned, more purist. The way we came into it, you were maybe a lot more focused.”
