Crawley plays host to snooker’s English Open once again this week at the same venue described by Ronnie O’Sullivan as a ‘hellhole’ that ‘smelled of urine’.
The K2 Leisure Centre is the arena in question, and clearly World Snooker has not been put off a return to the venue despite the derogatory comments from the Rocket, nor has the K2 been tempted to walk away from the tournament it hosted for the first time last year.
O’Sullivan lost out in the semi-finals in Crawley last year, after saying of the K2: ‘I don’t know what this gaff is, but I’ve just done an interview and all I can smell is urine.
‘It’s just got no atmosphere in there. I’m practising and I’ve got wires all around the table. There’s no security, you’ve got people running at you left, right and centre.
‘It’s not the fans’ fault. They [World Snooker] obviously haven’t got the budget to run it properly. I don’t know where their budget is but they’re cutting corners. I think they should invest in good venues. Players deserve better.’
It was a harsh assessment of what, on assessment, is a perfectly nice leisure centre with no discernible smell of urine at all – a thorough walk around the building and not a single whiff of wee was detected.
The busy nature of the place is a more understandable gripe from the five-time world champion as the K2 is very much open for business for its other clients while the snooker is going on.
As you enter the playing area you walk past a class of, mainly, middle-aged women doing yoga. By the practice room is a room for gymnastics that was also being used for some kind of parent-and-baby class. There are squash courts, martial arts classes and people milling about in the cafe. A dedicated cathedral of snooker like the Crucible, it is not.
However, for a Monday morning in Crawley, the K2 was doing a roaring trade.
O’Sullivan said of the situation last year: ‘As a player you don’t want to be traipsing through families and kids, who are going swimming, got their flip-flops and snorkels, and you are about to play a match. You want to be in your bubble sometimes.’
He has a point, but options are limited for World Snooker when it comes to events such as the English Open, which sees 128 players competing in the first round across seven tables.
The number of venues willing and able to host such an event are not plentiful, especially when crowds will not exactly be stellar for all the sessions, some of which start at 10am on weekdays.
World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn explained the situation last year: ‘The English Open is a great event but it’s not the biggest on the calendar.
‘It’s an event that serves 128 players and part of the home nations. We run a business. We don’t go out to save money, but don’t have unlimited budgets. We don’t live on fantasy island, we live in the real world.
‘Trust me, we would be in Wembley Arena every week if we could. But there’s no point hiring Wembley and having 400 people.’
Like many of the sport’s tournament venues, the K2 was only hired on a one-year deal in 2018, which has been renewed this year, so there were certainly no worries from the governing body’s point of view. The tournament prize fund has also been upped to £405,000 from £366,000.
World Snooker were dismissive of the criticism from the Rocket, releasing a statement which read: ‘We are surprised to hear these comments from Ronnie given that he has made no formal complaint and the feedback from the other players has been overwhelmingly positive.
‘And the partners we are working with on the event agree with our view that K2 Crawley is an excellent venue with very good facilities.’
O’Sullivan received no punishment for slamming the K2 last year and he is back in Crawley and in first round action on Monday night when he takes on Jamie O’Neill.
World champion Judd Trump is also back in action at the event on the opening day, playing former world champ Peter Ebdon in the afternoon session.
MORE: Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump complete cracking English Open line-up
