‘A feeling money can’t buy’ – BBC snooker presenter hits out at controversial talk over moving World Championship
BBC snooker presenter Hazel Irvine has hit out at plans to move the World Championship from the Crucible.
The veteran host said a move away from the much-loved home of snooker would be like depriving golfers of the chance to win The Open at St Andrews.
Irvine told The Courier: “There’s been talk about this for years and years and years.
“Ever since I started doing the snooker actually, there’s been a sort of ‘shall we move, shall we stay’.
“I think there’s something about being part of that building, that city, and that place when you win.
“I still am in awe of how one little theatre can produce chapters and chapters and chapters of ever-changing history in sport.”
Seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has been one of the Crucible’s leading detractors and has suggested the World Snooker Championship should be moved to a more commercially viable location.
Saudi Arabia and China were among the destinations O’Sullivan suggested.
He exclusively told SunSport in April: “I don’t like the Crucible. I don’t think you can get in and out of it.
“I think definitely it’s a wise decision to take it away from Sheffield.
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“Still have a tournament there. Why not? But just not the world championship over 17 days.
“It’s a massive circus and you need a massive space to accommodate it.”
He added: “I know at the Crucible you get nice tea there, you might get lasagne if the guys are cooking. But that’s about it.
“A lot of the problem with Sheffield is you get no peace and quiet, you cannot even park there.”
But Irvine cited four-time winner John Higgins‘ arguments for remaining at the Sheffield venue.
She said: “He said he can foresee a time when it may move.
“When that’s going to be we don’t know.
“But actually, he sort of felt sorry for the boys who may never win it at the Crucible, because there’s something – a bit like being in St Andrews and winning the Open there – that you are part of that building and that city and that place when you do.
“I think that’s a feeling that money can’t buy.”
While St Andrews, where Irvine is from, does not host The Open every year, the Scottish course remains the host of the major every five years.
However, Higgins did admit that he felt the World Championship’s departure from the Crucible was “inevitable”.
He commented in April: “I think it’s inevitable. The landscape of the snooker world will have changed in three years.
“I’m just lucky that I’ve won it here. It will be sad to leave, it’s been a massive part of my life.
“I think if you asked other players who have never lifted the trophy here, that would be something they would probably regret for the rest of their lives.
“The bank balance might not say that [for future winners], but if you look back on the history and the champions before them, they would love to have won it here because it’s special.
“It’s the best place to play snooker.”