Mark Allen calls on World Snooker Tour to push new era of stars to help sport continue to flourish post Class of '92
Mark Allen has urged the World Snooker Tour (WST) to put more emphasis on the new cohort of players coming through as some of the game's elite enter the twilight stages of their careers.
Whilst the 'Class of 92' featuring John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan continue to shine on the biggest stage, their 32-year-long careers are due to come to an end at some point.
Antrim native Allen has openly expressed his respect for his peers but says WST needs to create a new batch of heroes – which includes the likes of himself, world champion Kyren Wilson and current world number one Judd Trump – when the game’s golden generation hang up their cues.
Allen has won 11 ranking event titles throughout his career and was world number one for a period earlier this year.
“We've got a new era of guys ready to take it on and I think that's great for the sport,” Allen told SportsBoom.com.
“It's up to the guys at World Snooker to really push us. I'm not saying that because I'm one of them, but they need to push us.
“If Ronnie decided to retire tomorrow, which he could well do, then what's left?
"I don't see much promotion of the top players outside of Trump if I'm honest. They really need to take that on board. Things are getting better recently, but they could still improve.
“I think there will be a little drop off when Ronnie leaves whether that be retirement or otherwise.
"But the game will survive. It’s not as big as one player on their own, it’s much bigger than that.
“It might take a short time to recover, but there are other good players as well.
“It’s up to WST now to make sure the other players get the warranted coverage so that whenever Ronnie does drift off into the sunset that the game doesn’t suffer because we have other stars too.”
The Class of ‘92 – who have won a combined 98 ranking titles, 39 Triple Crown titles, and 14 world titles – are still competing for the game’s biggest prizes.
O’Sullivan is the reigning UK and Masters champion, John Higgins was beaten in the recent British Open final, with Mark Williams being one pot away from winning the lucrative Saudi Arabia Masters back in September.
With that in mind, Allen knows the trio are still very tough opponents to beat to claim the sport’s biggest trophies.
“I think we've been here before where we think the Class of 92 are coming to the end and all of a sudden they're winning the following season,” he remarked.
“They're still unbelievable players. You see the snooker Williams played to win the Tour Championship, he's capable of that on any given week.
"I think he would even admit himself that the chances of him doing that week-in and week-out are slim.
“Even John, there are individual performances where he is absolutely unplayable. Ronnie's just a freak of nature, he'll still be winning tournaments into his 50s.”
The World Snooker Tour have been contacted for a statement.