HomeSome serious / nice / fun Ronnie stuff
Some serious / nice / fun Ronnie stuff
November 1, 2020 Monique Eurosport, InterviewEurosport, Interview
Let's start with the serious stuff.
Ronnie spoke to Eurosport about Marcus Rashford and his campaign to help disadvantaged children who suffer from hunger in the UK.
RONNIE O'SULLIVAN: 'MARCUS RASHFORD HAS RUN RINGS AROUND GOVERNMENT, THEY'VE GOT IT BADLY WRONG'
By Desmond Kane
Ronnie O'Sullivan has joined the growing chorus of support for Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford's "fantastic" campaign for free school meals. The six-times defending world snooker champion feels it should be used as part of a wider movement to end the scourge of hunger and homelessness in the UK.
The superficial thirst for success in professional sport is left trailing by the very real hunger for social justice. The very real chance to affect meaningful change in society.
Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford and world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan are among the favourites for this year's Sports Personality of the Year award – and both sing from the same hymn sheet in calling for an end to child poverty in the UK.
Scoring goals, potting balls or holing putts for a living means little when you consider what is going on in the wider world at large. Real drama looms far away from playing games.
Rashford was awarded an MBE for his campaign to extend free school meals for the most vulnerable during the summer holidays, but has so far been rebuffed in his bid to see the government support his calls for an extension until Easter 2021.
In the year of a global pandemic, O'Sullivan has applauded the England forward's passion in his campaign for free school meals during school holidays, but can't understand why hunger and homelessness has not been properly addressed in the UK.
"I think the campaign is fantastic. It is brilliant," said O'Sullivan. "I've been there and know what it is like to have to rely on free school dinners.
"This is very important to families up and down the country. No kid or person should go hungry in this country I believe.
"Homelessness has always been a big bugbear of mine. Why do some people have so much yet some people can't even get a sandwich or a cup of tea?
"I could never quite fathom that out or how that was allowed to happen.
"Unless people like Marcus Rashford stand up and speak for these families who are struggling then their voice doesn't get heard.
"I think he's used his platform, especially for someone so young to come out and speak and be so passionate and proactive in his campaign."
Rashford has submitted a petition that has attracted almost one million signatures forcing it to be debated in parliament.
O'Sullivan feels the government should "admit defeat", change their position and make Rashford the focal point of the campaign to eradicate child poverty.
"I think the government have really got this one badly wrong. If I was advising the government, the first thing I'd be telling them is to get Marcus Rashford in to talk to him and be wanting to work with him," O'Sullivan told Eurosport.
"We want him representing us as a government and us as a country. We want the whole world to see what a brilliant job we are doing.
"At the moment, they've got it wrong. The best thing they can do is admit defeat and admit we can all be teachable.
"Someone like Marcus Rashford is running rings around them at the moment. If they want the embarrassment to stop then the smartest thing to do is bring him on side."
O'Sullivan – who returns to action at the Champion of Champions event in Milton Keynes next week – is also dismayed to see investment being spent on railway projects such as HS2 when there are people living below the breadline.
"I think at the moment, it's about unity. When you watch what is going on in America, there is so much division," said the seven-times UK and Masters winner.
"That's never really a good thing. Hopefully as a country at this time, it's about uniting and supporting the vulnerable.
"With the free school meals, they can find millions to get help you get from the North of England to the South of England 20 minutes quicker yet you can't find £20 million for some school dinners and an extra £5m for the people of Liverpool and Manchester at this time.
"You think something is quite not right there and again wonder where are we at? How can you not find that money? Yet you can find £100 million for a train to get you from north to south quicker.
"This is a time to support the vulnerable. A lot of people are going through hardship at the moment, and this is when you want your government and country to support you."
Ronnie was with Jason Francis at the Fan Cave doing a "social distancing" signing whilst answering fans questions.
This was shared live by Jason on Facebook. The actual footage starts after about 12 minutes.
So, Ronnie will play next at the Champion of Champions, Northern Ireland Open, and the UK Championship.
He also names his Mount Rushmore of snooker. It's "Joe Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and himself" or, not taking himself into account "Joe Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Steve Davis"
This Mount Rushmore thing isn't a new idea… here is David Hendon's take on it nine years ago on the Snooker Scene blog
MADE OF STONE
The Mount Rushmore national memorial was carved into the South Dakotan mountain side 70 years ago to commemorate four legendary US presidents.
What if snooker were to have a similar monument to the players who have best served and represented the sport?
Of course, it isn't going to happen unless some lunatic is let loose with a chisel on Snowdon, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss who should appear on such a memorial.
The rules: there is only room for four players. In fact that's the only rule.
So here are the main contenders, considered objectively, not based on personal favourites…
Joe Davis was the father of professional snooker. It was he who saw its potential in the age of billiards. It was he who began the World Championship, buying the trophy still presented to this day using half the original entry fees from the inaugural championship in 1927.
Davis won the world title 15 times in succession before retiring from the professional game in 1946. His style of play was the textbook followed by many who took up snooker in his wake.
Ray Reardon was the most successful player of the 1970s as the professional game was revived and started to receive TV attention.
He was six times a world champion, having not had the chance to play professionally at the early age modern players now do.
Alex Higgins was a firebrand and a rebel and these characteristics, coupled with his electrifying style of play, brought a new audience to snooker, attracted television coverage and sponsorship and helped lead to a burgeoning professional circuit.
In the snooker soap opera of the 1980s, he was a much loved villain who put the sport on the front pages and kept up the remarkable levels of interest.
Steve Davis lived a much more placid life and was completely dedicated to being the best, which he was for a decade.
Davis has won more titles than anyone else and is still capable, into his 50s, of producing high quality performances. As an ambassador for snooker, he remains unsurpassed.
Jimmy White's enduring popularity and cheerful optimism in the face of many knocks means he is still a draw more than 30 years after turning professional.
Never a world champion, he won ten ranking titles, including the UK Championship, plus the Masters and has provided many a fan with the sort of emotional rollercoaster ride which means they remain loyal to him long after his peak.
Stephen Hendry raised playing standards and ushered in a new era of attacking snooker. He has won more of what matters than any other player.
There were 90 ranking events played in the 1990s. Hendry won 27 of them, just under a third of the total. He is still more than 100 centuries ahead of the field.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is a rare natural talent whose brand of entertaining snooker has drawn many new fans to the game during the last 15 years.
Perhaps the best break builder snooker has ever seen, his many controversies have only added to his status as flawed genius but his achievements stand for themselves.
John Higgins has proved himself as the toughest match-player of the current time, with four world titles to his name and an almost innate knowledge of every aspect of the game.
Brilliant under pressure, he remains every bit as difficult to beat as when he first emerged two decades ago.
I realise some will argue for others, such as Fred Davis, John Spencer and Mark Williams, but this is the list from which I will select my four.
The first face who earns a place in our imaginary mountainside is Steve Davis.
It is hard to believe now the attention he had in the 1980s, when snooker bestrode TV sport like a colossus – and Steve did the same on the green baize.
He never went off the rails, never shirked from his professional responsibilities and, despite the odd famous slip-up, just kept on winning.
He could have walked away happy with hit lot but, such is his love of the game, that he carried on and is still delighting fans now, as well as providing inspiration for a whole group of much younger players.
Davis was always the model player to look up to. He is to snooker what Jack Nicklaus is to golf.
The second face the carvers had better set about constructing is that of Hendry, who decided from a frighteningly young age that he was going to be the best.
Sport thrives on the fluff and intrigue that surrounds it, but the true test of greatness is achievement. For this alone Hendry deserves his place, but the quality of snooker he has produced down the years speaks for itself.
My third face will be that of Alex Higgins. He didn't win as much as Reardon but he had an alchemy that meant he was an absolutely vital figure to snooker's growth and development.
People admired the Reardons and Spencers but they loved Higgins. Many hated him too, but nobody who watched him play could fail to be excited by his charisma, his shot making and his theatrical style of death-or-glory snooker.
So one face left to be carved and, for me, it should be O'Sullivan.
It was Joe Davis's misfortune not to be playing in the colour television age. Snooker owes him a huge debt of gratitude but that is not the whole story.
He created the professional game but he also killed it when he retired but continued to play exhibitions. Everyone knew the best player in the world wasn't in the World Championship and it was eventually discontinued for a decade before being revived, largely due to the efforts of Rex Williams.
In truth, professional snooker had two beginnings. The first was under the auspices of Davis in 1926. The second was in 1969 when the World Championship reverted from challenge system to knock-out and Pot Black began. It was this latter beginning which was more significant to the sport as it is today.
Reardon's modern day tally of world titles was equalled by Steve Davis and surpassed by Hendry. He may have won more than Alex Higgins but Higgins's contribution off the table cannot be overlooked.
The only mark against White is that he never won the world title, which has to count him out.
John Higgins is a great player but ultimately O'Sullivan has been responsible for keeping interest levels up in an era in which snooker's survival as a top level sport has been under threat following the loss of the tobacco millions.
New viewers around the world watching snooker for the first time on TV have been drawn in by O'Sullivan, whose talent and changeable personality have created a heady mix and sustained the game in the media. He is, by any definition, a star.
So my four for snooker's Mount Rushmore are Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Alex Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Something tells me not everyone will agree with these choices.
I agreed with David at the time. Today I would kick out Alex Higgins and put Joe Davis there instead. Of course it's all about why, in your opinion, a player should be included in that snooker pantheon. Form me it's about a combination of their achievements and their contribution to the evolution of the game.
For me, it's about what they brought to our sport
Joe Davis transformed a game into a sport. He set up the foundations of a professional approach to snooker.
Steve Davis was the first "complete professional" in the current understanding of what a professional sportsperson should be. He was dedicated, a student of his sport, and someone who paid attention to every detail.
Stephen Hendry started a revolution. He forever changed the way the game is played with his extremely aggressive, attacking approach and the way he delelopped the pack from the blue at the first opportunity.
Ronnie brought Stephen Hendry's game to a new level, whilst also integrating a very strong tactical side. He was probably the first player to gain true international superstar status strongly contributing to growing the popularity of snooker beyond the British/Irish traditional hotbed.
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One thought on "Some serious / nice / fun Ronnie stuff"
Obviously with such an elite list it's very easy for people to fall into the trap of choosing personal favourites or players from 'our era'. Dave Hendon tends to be very 1980's-focused, like most commentators. With Alex Higgins the myth is much larger than the reality.
Assuming snooker is still played in 100 years from now, Joe Davis would in fact be the only one guaranteed, because of his unique position as a pioneer. His 15 World Championships is also a persuading argument. Of course if snooker is no longer played in 100 years from now, then none of this matters – the names will be forgotten just as the great billiards players have been. The only way to honour the past is to safeguard the future.