Snooker briefly flirted with the idea of an inter-continental competition comparable to golf’s Ryder Cup before it failed – but there may be hope for the idea yet
Snooker briefly flirted with the idea of an inter-continental competition comparable to golf’s Ryder Cup before it failed – but there may be hope for the idea yet Snooker briefly flirted with the idea of an inter-continental competition comparable to golf’s Ryder Cup before it failed – but there may be hope for the idea yet
Snooker mastermind Barry Hearn has lifted the lid on why the sport’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup fell to pieces.
The father of the UK snooker scene had an idea back in 2017 to pit the best of Britain and China against one another in a team format. Like golf’s iconic quadrennial clash between Europe and the United States, the hope was that the tournament would attract enough interest to warrant future editions.
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui were the landmark names who led their respective five-man teams in the inter-continental contest. But the aptly named China vs UK Challenge (or CVB Snooker Challenge) didn’t capture enough attention to justify future investment.
For Hearn – who is currently overseeing the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace – it wasn’t the first (nor last) time one of his innovations would fail. But the Matchroom Sport chief has now explained the inner workings on why exactly he feels it fell flat.
**LOVE THE DARTS? **Get your ultimate World Darts Championship preview now
“It didn’t really take off,” Hearn told Mirror Sport when quizzed about his failed Ryder Cup-style plan. “This year, I think there are six major events in China, it’s roughly a third of the prize money [in snooker] comes out of China. So there’s a lot of attention in China, but that also means there’s a lot of snooker.
“So to be different [is the key]. I think the World Cup will be coming back, which is an interesting event. We did that two times in Wuhan. But you’ve got to be careful about just creating something that looks more or less the same as something else. You need innovation.”
O’Sullivan led Team Britain to a dominant 26-9 victory over their Chinese counterparts in the inaugural CVB Snooker Challenge, held in Shenzhen in July 2017. Just like the Ryder Cup, players competed in singles and doubles matches and changed pairings over the course of two days, though the meagre £120,000 prize pot couldn’t be compared to the pinnacle of team golf events.
(
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
Hearn acknowledges that’s one area in which new sports concepts tend to fail, with the top athletes in any sector only liable to come if sufficient money exists. However, he also described the lack of worldwide appeal around Chinese players – an increasingly powerful component of modern snooker – as a factor that hampered his idea.
“I think we’re looking at things like the China Snooker League as a new development in the next couple of years, which will be predominantly Chinese players with just a smattering of World Snooker Tour players,” he continued. “That’s because all sports need local heroes, and we need to build these Chinese players up.
“Because they’re very good – but they’re particularly unknown. And that’s not good narrative for me. I need people we can talk about. And the Chinese players – they’re brilliant on the table; I think they’ll dominate over the next few years. But at the same time, I need personalities playing sport. That’s not a criticism. . .they just don’t come from that genre of thinking.”
(
Image:
Getty Images)
It’s also a potential obstacle that the optics around Chinese snooker have suffered in the wake of the sport’s biggest match-fixing probe. No fewer than 10 Chinese players were suspended under allegations of match-fixing across 2022 and 2023, including Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong, each of whom competed in the 2017 China v UK Challenge.
There are perhaps other avenues to be explored in opening up a potential snooker Ryder Cup to other parts of the world. However, an already stacked snooker calendar and the growing presence of Saudi Arabia in the sport could complicate matters in fitting in another international fixture of such magnitude.
Learn more
The new football season is upon us and with 500 live games to watch, as well access to Cricket, Golf, F1, Boxing, NFL and the NBA across eight dedicated channels, Sky Sports is the only way to watch all the action.
Mirror – Sport