There are one or two characters in snooker still

Tony Knowles was one of the stars of snooker’s golden age and while he feels the game can still boast some standout characters these days, the drive to succeed has overtaken the need to entertain.

Steve Davis was the consistent winner of the ’80s, while Jimmy White and Alex Higgins were the wildest of snooker’s wild children, but Knowles both picked up some brilliant results and some memorable tabloid headlines along the way.

It is often claimed that snooker does not have the characters in the game it enjoyed in its pomp, but while there may be fewer, the idea that there are none is daft.

Ronnie O’Sullivan remains the world number one, the sport’s biggest name and unquestionably a character, while world champion Luca Brecel grabbed headlines during his Crucible run for some good old fashioned partying.

On the Belgian’s boozing through the World Championships, Knowles laughed: ‘He’s following in the footsteps of a few other people there!’

A fan of the world champ, TK added: ‘He’s a very good player and he will still improve. Tactically there’s a few loose shots in there every now and again, he does throw his cue at things if he can’t think of the shot. But other than that, as a fluent attacking player, he’s got all the shots you need.

‘He’s got the nice fluent action, full weight of the cue through the ball so can manoeuvre it and make it do things.’

But what of other characters in the game? Knowles is not claiming snooker is void of personality, but does admit that it is harder for players to show it in a ruthlessly professional era of sport.

‘There are one or two characters still,’ he said. ‘I think there’s more emphasis on winning snooker matches now. In our day we had to go out and entertain, we were earning more money off the table doing an evening’s entertainment than competitive play. It’s different now so it’s changed a lot.

‘What you’re doing now is practicing and competing, in our day we did that, but five nights a week we were doing exhibitions in working men’s clubs and entertaining people.’

Some of those exhibitions Knowles played were with the legendary Alex Higgins, and Tony is not ashamed to admit he was the B-side of those affairs.

‘I used to practice with him when I was 16-17 in the club in Bolton when he first came over from Ireland,’ he said. ‘I played him every day. He was wonderful then, I learned a lot from him then.

‘I used to do exhibition matches with him when he was world champion. He got £10 a night and I got £2, so times have changed, shows how long ago that were.’

Over 50 years on from those first days practicing with the Hurricane, Knowles is still playing and has a crack at The 900 this week, the fast-paced one-frame amateur event.

The 68-year-old has played Q School in recent years, coming close to regaining a place on the professional tour in 2021, but he says that is not really his aim, he just enjoys playing and competing.

‘It’s not so much that I want to be on tour,’ he said. ‘At my age I don’t really play that much, but I do like to play. There’s just not a lot I can play in.

‘I don’t want to trudge round the country and play on club tables with big pockets. At least in Q School you’re playing in the same conditions as the top pros and it gives me a chance to compete with the top amateurs of today.

‘I don’t want to be playing all year round. It’s not as if I want to go back on the tour, it was just competing at a level to see whether I could qualify. I nearly did it two years ago, I was only a couple of matches away from getting back on the tour, but I probably wouldn’t have played all the events.’