Is snooker as popular as it used to be?

When I was growing up, never did a month go by without snooker being on the television (and thats when we only had 4 channels!).

If it wasnt a tournament, it was Eddie Charlton vs Tony Meo on Pot Black. It was nearly always on at some point each week. I used to love going to play every saturday at one of my local clubs and all my mates would come too.

these days, however, I cant seem to find the passion for the sport that I used to. Snooker clubs are now full of American Pool tables, and televised events are few and far between. Even the players seem to have less personality. Yes, three are some flamboyant ones but even the boring ones back in the day were interesting. Even David "the Silver Fox" Taylor seems more interesting than say, Stephen Lee.

Could you imagine Spitting image on TV these days - there wouldnt be a snooker player in sight but in the 80's, you would have had Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Terry Griffiths and Alex Higgins et al.

So why has it fallen from grace so much? Has it? Is it just because I dont see it as much and I have more channels?

What are your thoughts?

I think it is yes.
There is some exciting young talent coming up the ranks now and that can only be good for the sport.
But i would like to see more publicity on the events from the various sporting bodies.

I've voted no.......purely because I never seem to hear about it anymore.......by that I mean there are a lot of sports I'm not interested in but I'm always aware of them going on.

A few years ago I could name the top snooker players, even tho I never took an interest in it........now I couldn't name one.

It used to be on TV a lot......don't think it is so much these days.....or is it? I rarely watch TV.....I'm either out or on here lol

Does that make sense? Probably not lol

Solerina

I dont watch it as much as i used to but i still play it as regular as i can.Theres no real characters in the game anymore,i loved Higgins and Jimmy White,real entertainers.Theres only Ronnie and hes hot and cold.A sport id rather play than watch.

I don't watch it as much as I used to down to sheer choice on TV. Although when the world open (used to be the grand prix) was in Glasgow not long ago I never seen a single bit of advertisement for the event. The hall they held it in was small and never more than half full and their was 3 local men in the tournament. Higgins, Dott and McGuire.

I'd say definately not. Personally I've not followed any snooker since 2006 when I watched Graeme Dott win the final. I'd agree with previous statements made that there just isn't many interesting characters in the game. One of the great aspects of the game used to be entertaining characters like hurricane higgins, jimmy white, dennis taylor e.t.c.

Nowadays, I can't really think of anyone who comes close to these guys in terms of personality, except O'Sullivain. Players now can be boring and so can some of the games, with some being more boring than others. Another sign of declining popularity is the shortened version of the game being trialed with talk of it doing for snooker what T20 did for cricket in providing a faster and shorter game for spectators.

Sadly, I think snooker is no longer what it was.