A genius at work

 A genius at work.

When I was young and coming to the end of my schooling the question of what do you want to do in terms of a job was never far from my parents mind (if not mine) but if I had said "I want to be a snooker player" my folks would have had a cadenza. The image of playing snooker for a living, even the idea of the snooker hall was an anathema swathed in a concept of sleaze and ill gotten gain.
Pot Black on television was the first sight the general public got of the game. Then as now the game had its idols. Joe and Fred Davis were the best players by far in the 50s and 60s, with their black tuxedos and polished manners they made the game respectable.
The dodgy characters in the inner city snooker halls were still there and, hand in hand with the betting shop the people who frequented those places didn't seem to need a proper job, their earnings came from elsewhere.
Barry Hearn the boxing promoter, a man who himself often seemed to sail close to the wind in his boxing promotions, saw an opportunity and virtually bought the rights to run and broadcast professional snooker. He glamorised it and mounted tournaments around the world, increasing its appeal to a world television audience. The number of tournaments increased in leaps and bounds and he has even tinkered with a sort of 'speed snooker' which appeals to a younger audience.

Ronny O'Sullivan is the undoubted king of the game. His record for the number of titles won, or the number of centuries, or the fastest maximum break 147 are all his. He appears indefatigable as he moves around the table weighing up the next shot and how it will impinge, four shots later. The constant mental geometry and the judgement of speed and force with which  he has to  hit the cue ball and then, with the cue ball, the object ball, it's like chess but with an extra multitude of skills to make move after move.
Tonight he plays Mark Allen the man from Ulster for the UK Championship tile and as usual Ronny is favourite to win.
Ronny O'Sullivan hasn't always had favourable headlines, his mood swings and irritability seem at odds with his genius but a genius he certainly is and tonight, once again he is crowned champion.