Snooker, to me, is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying sports to watch in the world. The precision and skill needed to master the baize is extraordinary. Then why when I say the word ‘snooker’ to so many people they switch off and mock me for being an old man.

The coverage on television of the World Championship, which happened over the last 17 days, leaves no stone unturned. Long and extensive with the BBC showing of up to six hours of snooker each day. Surely the sheer volume of the programming is enough to force the sport upon the less interested audience?

Watching the final of the tournament, between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter, during the mid-session interval the coverage must be filled. You would think this is a great time to show how entertaining and exciting snooker can be. But the BBC had different ideas. They decided to interview Ronnie O’Sullivan’s sports psychologist instead. Surely this isn’t the most effective way to inject some new blood into the sport. Watching quite a boring man, talking about the mental state of players in what is deemed to be quite a boring sport.

The 1980s are widely considered to be snooker’s ‘golden years’. Colour television made it infinitely easier to watch on TV and the game was full of characters such as Jimmy White and Alex Higgins. Even Steve Davis was dubbed ‘interesting’ Davis. The 1985 World Championship final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor was watched by 18.5 million people. The charisma of the presenters and commentators was a bonus for the watcher with David Vine and Ted Lowe being the most famous snooker broadcasters of all time. They connected with people and made it more interesting to watch. The uninspiring tones of John Virgo and Hazel Irvine don’t exactly get the juices flowing for snooker fans nowadays.

Snooker, no matter how you look at it, is on the decline. The most successful, and arguably best, player of all time Stephen Hendry retired during this year’s World Championships. Hendry dominated the 90s winning seven World Championships, more than any other player.  His retirement was given very little space on the back pages of the national newspapers. Most papers only gave it a couple of hundred words mention at most. Would this have happened during the ‘glory years’ of the 80s?

As a snooker fan I am worried. The sport is in danger of sneaking into obscurity. President of the Snooker Federation Barry Hearn is doing his best. The introduction of tournament for 50 weeks of the year, although unpopular with some players, seems to have injected a new life into the game but is it enough? With the characters of the game that there used to be missing, and the fillers during the matches missing the interesting mark to say the least, I feel that one of the BBC’s signature sports could be with us for not much longer.