Snooker bosses facing player revolt as leading stars shun huge tournament for little-known exhibition

SNOOKER is facing another crisis with top stars choosing Far East exhibition cash over playing in a traditional UK event.

Mark Selby, John Higgins and Luca Brecel are leading a player mutiny — by  handing an embarrassing snub to snooker bosses.

Four-time world champions Selby and Higgins plus reigning Crucible king Brecel, along with Ali Carter and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, have shunned this month’s Northern Ireland Open.

Despite threats of legal action from World Snooker Tour, the five opted instead for a lucrative exhibition in Macau.

WST bosses sent emails and strongly worded letters claiming if the players took part in Macau they would be breaching contracts, harming the game and facing disciplinary action.

But lawyers representing the furious players, unhappy with heavy-handed tactics, believe the threats are baseless since they did not enter the Northern Ireland event and are just doing what they want in their own time.

World No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan backed the “Macau Five” — describing WST’s stance as “b*******, trying to scare players like that”.

Selby, who has suffered with mental health issues in recent years, is understood to have requested he receive no further correspondence on the matter.

There is another highly paid unofficial event featuring O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Jack Lisowski and Ding Junhui this month in Shanghai, during the Northern Ireland Open qualifiers.

Player power is a big challenge for snooker bosses and — with Chinese events back on the calendar following Covid-19 — O’Sullivan reckons his peers should be able to  maximise their earning potential.

FREE BETS - BEST BETTING OFFERS AND BONUSES NEW CUSTOMERS

The Rocket added: “This is about players being able to earn what they can and choose how and when they play.”

A WST spokesperson said: “WST does not publicly discuss private conversations with the players, or share contractual information.”