Ronnie O'Sullivan's manager makes bold 'Class of 92' claim with snooker restrictions lifted

Jason Francis expects at least one of the snooker’s ‘Class of 92’ to grace the next World Seniors Championship at the Crucible after the easing of player restrictions. The iconic trio of Ronnie O’Sullivan, who is managed by Francis, Mark Williams and John Higgins, along with players inside the world’s top 64, were previously barred from competing in World Seniors Snooker (WSS) events due to an agreement with the World Snooker Tour (WST).

WSS, of which Francis is chairman, had been lobbying the WST to allow all players over the age of 45 to be eligible for their events. A compromise could not be reached, leading to WSS breaking off the arrangement with WST following May’s World Seniors Championship in Sheffield.

Now, any player who meets the age criteria, regardless of their ranking, can play in WSS tournaments provided they don’t clash with WST events. That has naturally led to speculation over whether O’Sullivan, 49, Williams, 50, and Higgins, 50, who boast 14 world titles between them, will play in two different World Championships at the Crucible next spring.

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The presence of any member of the 'Class of 92' would be a major boost to WSS. Francis said: “They’re available to me right now. If the commercial terms are right, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams, John Higgins can all play World Seniors Snooker UK broadcast events.”

Francis added: “A lot of players have expressed an interest in supporting the World Seniors and would like the chance to play in what they like. I would be staggered this season if you didn’t see at least one of the Class of 92 in World Seniors events, maybe more.”

On whether his client, seven-time world champion O’Sullivan, will be involved, Francis said: “The interest will be, ‘Will Ronnie O’Sullivan play at the Crucible at the World Seniors Championship?’ I don’t know at this point but he can, that’s the point.”

One top-64 player who has already taken advantage of the lifting of restrictions is former World Championship runner-up Matthew Stevens, 47, who will be part of the field at the British Seniors Open in Derby, which will be broadcast on Channel 5 over Christmas.

Francis says there has been great interest from players like Stevens, currently ranked 52nd in the world. He said: “While the headline will always be that (the Class of 92), let’s look at the other players who now become eligible for another earning opportunity.

“People like Matthew Stevens are looking at this rule change and thinking, ‘Hang on a second, I get the chance to play at the Crucible again.’ If we get the bigger names in, we should get prize money up, then these things start snowballing.

“Now that we’ve broken away from that restrictive contract, we’re able to compete, albeit we have an age group in the seniors. We’re not in a position where we can broadcast Judd Trump and Zhao Xintong yet. But there are no (other) restrictions as long as we put our events on when World Snooker don’t have an event on.”

Earlier this year, NST Worldwide, of which Francis is a director, launched a £10.2m lawsuit in the Competition Appeal Tribunal against WST and snooker’s governing body, WPBSA.

NST claims that “unlawful and anti-competitive practices” have been used to prevent snooker players “playing in tournaments, events, or matches organised by competitor promoters.”

Victory for NST would potentially lift playing restrictions further. WST, which is owned by Barry Hearn’s Matchroom company, has said it “rejects” and “will defend” the claims against it.