Judd Trump frustrated with snooker growth and says more needs to be done for younger generation

Judd Trump has aired his frustrations with the “slowdown in growth of snooker” and is not positive about “where the game is heading”.

Former world No. 1 Trump is in action at this week’s Champion of Champions, which is an elite 16-player invitational event.

Trump says the tournament is one he gets “excited” for, but has suggested others on tour do not fill him with the same enthusiasm.

Asked whether he is enjoying this season so far, Trump told ITV:

“It’s been up and down.

“In snooker terms it’s affecting me more with what’s going on. I don’t feel like the tour has really improved over the past few years and I am getting a bit too involved in it and maybe a bit down about where the game is heading and need to concentrate a little bit more on the tournaments.

“I feel snooker can be a lot bigger than it is and things aren’t progressing the way I think they should.”

At the age of 33, Trump is one of the leaders of the next generation of snooker stars following the Class of 92’ of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams.

He feels snooker is getting “older and older” every season and more needs to be done to attract a younger crowd.

“I just feel there is no-one around my age involved at the top of the game or behind the scenes who has seen what I have seen and know how to progress and appeal to the younger generation.

“I feel a lot of the people at the top of the game are around the same age and don’t know how to appeal to the younger generation. I feel it’s getting a bit lost in snooker at the moment.

“On the one hand you see people moaning there’s not enough opportunities for people down the rankings, I see that, and on the other hand I see some of the younger players don’t work hard enough to get to the top and warrant that. Everyone needs opportunities.

“It’s just been a bit of slowdown of the growth of snooker over the last few years and more needs to be done to appeal to the whole crowd. More needs to be done to warrant the younger players coming through. Every year it’s getting older and older.”

One of the standouts of the season so far was the Hong Kong Masters when a huge crowd watched O’Sullivan beat home favourite Marco Fu in the final.

Trump added: “There’s been times when you feel that snooker is moving to bigger and better venues then they pull it back and go to smaller venues, and that’s a bit disappointing.

“Hopefully people can just learn from the Hong Kong event and see how big snooker can be if it’s run in the right way. Being able to play in events like that make everything worthwhile.”

Trump’s comments about the state of the game were put to Ken Doherty, who is chairman of the players’ board.

He said: “I would like to see Judd come to some of our coffee mornings and have a chat and explain what changes he would like to see in the game.

“It’s OK saying the game should be changing but what are the changes he would like to see? We would all like to see every event be like the Champion of Champions or the Masters or the World Championship, that would be fantastic.

“There are lots of things that can be improved.”