Why has O’Sullivan been snubbed again?

Ronnie O’Sullivan is in the record books yet again. After winning his sixth UK Championship, he has equalled Steve Davis’ record of six wins and Stephen Hendry’s record of 18 victories in Triple Crown events. O’Sullivan is undoubtedly the greatest snooker player ever to have lived, and one of our country’s finest sportsmen – which makes his continued snubbing from the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards all the more shocking.

There is more to this award than just sporting trophies, but O’Sullivan’s record is an impressive one. Alongside his six UK Championships, he also boasts seven Masters and five World Championships. He is also the holder of the record for the most competitive century breaks, and for the fastest competitive maximum break (completed in five minutes and 20 seconds). His professional career began in 1992, at the age of just 16, and he has only got better with time – leading commentators within the game expect him to easily break more records in the coming years.

So why the snubbing? The panel is made up of twelve sportsmen and women who choose the shortlist, and O’Sullivan has never featured, despite his record as one of the country’s most successful sportsmen. Fellow players were unable to believe it: Mark Williams branded it ‘unbelievable’ that O’Sullivan was never considered, and Joe Perry called it an ‘absolute disgrace.’

The World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn also waded into the debate, saying the decision to omit O’Sullivan was ‘stupid beyond belief,’ and that he believed the panel should be sacked. In a statement, Hearn said that ‘we don’t produce enough geniuses in our sporting world to ignore a talent like Ronnie O’Sullivan.’

TV audiences are declining in most sports save snooker, and the sport is one in which the UK dominates, despite the emergence of Chinese players. You would have thought that the committee would be keen to recognise a sportsman in a sport that sees such global success for the UK, but it seems not to be the case.

We don’t produce enough geniuses in our sporting world to ignore a talent like Ronnie O’Sullivan

Could it be that the competition itself just has a bias against snooker, or that snooker is not ‘exciting’ enough to be considered? No snooker player has made the SPOTY shortlist since it was introduced in 2010 and, before that, the last time a snooker player reached the competition’s top three was in 1990 (Stephen Hendry, who came second).

After failing to be nominated last year, O’Sullivan slammed a ‘car-boot mentality’ that he believed was responsible for snooker’s continued omission by the Spoty judging panel. He believed that there was too much snooker on TV, thus diluting its specialness, and that the sport simply doesn’t have the money to compete with ‘core’ sports like football and tennis.

Maybe the snubbing of O’Sullivan stems from his somewhat mercurial personality. He has frequently expressed a dislike of the sport, and threatened to retire during spouts of bad playing. Recently, he turned down the chance to make a 147 break after learning that the prize money for such an event was comparatively low – something with received a great deal of coverage at the time. Even so, O’Sullivan is a massive fan draw, with his talent and natural flair for the game making him an exciting player to watch. And personality doesn’t matter that much – I mean, Andy Murray has won three times.

Maybe the snubbing of O’Sullivan stems from his somewhat mercurial personality

Perhaps it’s just the case that, because O’Sullivan has been so good for so long, people expect nothing else from him, and him winning more titles just doesn’t excite as it should. But looking at the shortlist this year, it’s not hard to find space where O’Sullivan could have fit, and made a worthier addition. His continued omission from the SPOTY nominations speaks both to a looking-down on the sport of snooker, and a snubbing of one of our country’s greatest ever sportsman, and it’s a situation that really should be rectified as soon as possible.