I mean, certainly Ronnie never fails to deliver.

Uh I think it was something that, that needed to be addressed.

And uh obviously, it's something that I don't like personally to see bully and intimidate.

I think there are two words that are very motive.

Uh And I think probably relevant to be perfectly honest with you, you know, the game's come a long way.

Um We've made a huge amount of progress over the last few years across the world to become a truly global sport.

And for that reason, we have to have standards and we have to have professional uh standards by players as well as of officials and tournament organizers.

When we, when we look at other sports, we are now competing with those.

We're not the little boy, we're not the little shop on the corner.

We're up there at the sharp end and we're competing with the golf and the tennis and the footballs and rugby because we're a major global sport and that brings responsibilities particularly on players.

We, we incorporate those in a player contract because we have to set it out the rules of how you what you can do and what you can't do pretty well.

The same as life really, you know, if you park on a double yellow line, you get told off or you get fined, that's a rule and snook is no different.

This to this contract is devised between Welsh Snooker and the players governing body, the W PBS A and actually, it's constantly reviewed and is currently being reviewed again to make sure that we really are delivering the product that our sponsors and our customers and our partners want to see within that contract.

There is a code of conduct, that code of conduct is the same for every player and every player signs a contract to agree to abide by the code of conduct.

So when you break it, please don't accuse anyone of bullying or intimidation.

If someone points out that you are in breach and things that we will never ever accept or things like we will never accept the scene of our language.

We will never accept officials being in public uh criticized in the open media.

We will never expect criticism of our partners, our sponsors or our television companies.

There is a procedure behind the code of conduct which allows you to complain but not in the public media because that doesn't do anybody any good.

And this is the problem we had.

So I can't really say more than everyone's treated the same, the rules are there and the rules are to change if the players themselves want to change them.

And there is a method of how they can change them, but it's not, it's not something to blurt out.

Well, that said clearly it looked like it was escalating because the language that you use in response had a whiff of legalese about it.

Where are we with it?

Barry, are you confident you can get a resolution with?

There is no resolution required.

There's a contract in place.

Now, uh the legalese language if you like was because I personally disapprove of any form of bullying or intimidation and frankly, it wasn't the case and hasn't been the case.

Players that have criticized the players' contract have never been specific about what they don't like and the door is always open to them to come, come and tell me what your problem is, come and explain to the players representatives W PBS A because nothing happens without their consent and they are your governing body.

Don't just go off on a tangent and try and blame something on something which is not really applicable.

The players' contract is a fundamental part of the image of the game of snooker to the world and we can't ignore it, you know.

Well, actually John Higgins is on record as saying when all of this blew up that and there are some points in that contract that may be a bit over the top.

Now, I I'm not sure specifically what they are.

But this is the whole point.

I don't think these top players, I don't think they've either read the players' contract themselves.

Even some of the older players have they read every word?

Do they understand it?

Do they, have they read it and don't understand it or have they read it?

Understand it and ignored it.

That's unacceptable.

So, when players are say there's two or three things in the players' contract, we don't like I say to them, fine, not a problem.

Tell me what they are.

But these players, when we put these things together, these are the players that don't attend the meetings that don't come and put their point across that don't write in, that don't read it and criticize, they wait for a platform to express something probably, probably out of frustration.

And what we're saying is we're not looking for a problem on this.

You know, we are reviewing it.

We've now got a players commission, Sean Murphy, Alan mcmanus, Mark Allen, Mark Williams.

I mean, these are, these are guys with an opinion and we will sit down with them and we will agree every word, but once we agree it and both sides are happy that contract has to be enforced.

And if that means disciplinary proceedings, there will be disciplinary proceedings because we can't have anarchy.

This sport is no longer a little boys club of getting together on a Friday night, making a few quid and having a laugh and saying and doing whatever you want, that's not the real world and we live in the real world.

I should also point out that John Higgins was very supportive of many of the other initiatives that been going on in the house un just to give a bit of balance.

Uh, but we also are in a situation here, Barry that, uh, Mark said become the first player ever to break the million pounds barrier in terms of earnings in one season if we were to go on and win this.

But there was a lot of dissent and talk last year about what's been happening at the, at the lower reaches of the sport.

Those who are just within the 64 and beyond.

What changes are you making to try and help?

I mean, this is again, this is the result of people like Ken and the other players actually fight in the corner of the less lesser the lesser known players.

I think we all understood and, and it's becoming crystal clear.

This tour is now 52 weeks a year.

It involves a lot of cost.

So today we are going to announce that number one, we're gonna look at our prize money.

We're changing and increasing prize money again, going forward into next year with an emphasis on the lower levels.

In other words, to make the prize money go deeper into a tournament number two.

And I think most important we're going to abolish entry fees.

We feel that we've become a global game now.

And as such, entry fees were a thing of the past when, when there wasn't the money in the sport where we had to have help from the players themselves to play for their own money.

When Ken started, it was the basis of financing a lot of tournaments.

They are abolished.

So that will save every player approximately about £5000 which will make a big difference to a lot of the players down the bottom because, you know, for guys, if they're not winning anything, you know, that 5000 is a lot of money and of course, that's net as well.

You know what I mean?

Without like the tax, you know, so, you know, you have to earn maybe 10,000 to get that at least £5000 and expenses.

So it will be a welcome.

Yeah, absolutely.

It would be good for a lot of the players.

We like to see a lot, a little bit more money as Barry said, down at the bottom levels for the players as well.

So when they win a match, they've got a bit more, you know, when they're traveling to China, you know, it's costing them a lot for flights and a not for accommodation, but for flights and stuff like that.

We'd like to see a little bit more of that down the bottom.

I think, I think we're going to see this year.

What we're announcing again today that our prize money this year is going to go up to £12 million.

Now, six years ago, it was 3.5 million, it's gone to 12.

But more importantly is this is just the beginning.

You know, we have deals in place now, which we will be announcing over the next few weeks, which are gonna show an entirely different climate coming in in terms of prize money from China.

For example, we are delighted to say that we've just agreed a new 10 year deal with the national television company in China CCTV.

So our future is guaranteed.

Now, the only people who can mess this up is us, the players.

They're, they're delivering brilliant entertainment.

We have to be a professional sport in the same way when I look at golf, you know, II, I remember a golf of mine that used a four letter word on the 17th tee of an event with two Spectators when he walked off the 18th t he was fined £2000 by the PGA.

That's how, that's how you keep the level of respect and the perception of value and class and quality that snooker is.

We've got an amazingly great product.

We've got great players, we have to listen to the players all the time and I think this new players commission is gonna be a V addition to the circuit because these guys are not frightened of me.

You know, a guy that's just got his tour card is a little bit in awe of rocking the boat.

Ken Ken Doherty, Mark Allen, Mark Williams.

They don't care about rocking the boat, so we'll get a balanced view to go forward to be fair to everybody and that's what we want.

But at the same time I gave certain guarantees six years ago, on the level of prize money this year, I have surpassed those guarantees by £26 million.

So we are doing something right?

How, how much can you further align the business to accommodate the Far Eastern market?

Because I know with interest, we had six Chinese players and we had no on obviously from Thailand as well.

And you're on record as saying, half of the, the top 16 is gonna probably be made up of Chinese cumin within the next five years.

I inevitably will the sport much more prevalently go.

It's interesting, you see the whole point of the businesses are all about supply and demand.

So we control the number of tournaments all over the world in China.

We're not going to have, if we have one more, we won't be having any more.

So we've restricted supply.

The effect of that.

Hazel has been as you'll see over the next couple of weeks to substantially increase the price money because we've got demand.

So when demand exceeds supply in any business, the money goes up so by doing that and actually where it's worked to our advantage by saying to them publicly to the Chinese, we, we get on very well with a fabulous relationship with them.

You can't have the crucible, you can't have the world championships, you can't have our history go and make your own.

And the Chinese promoters, the Chinese sponsors and the Chinese television, both lineal and digital are rising to that challenge and they're going to shock a lot of players over the next few weeks.

With the opportunities there still for the winners will be the most reward, of course, but there's going to be a hell of a lot more money in the pot.

Why can't, why can't you do what they've done in women's golf and other sports and create another major in that case and give it to China because would you move any of the three majors?

We will be creating another major with a prize money that we've never seen before.

Officially quartet prize money really actually generates majors.

To be perfectly honest in the brutal world of sport, it comes down to money, doesn't it on everything?

So if someone wants to come up and say, well, we're going to give you the same prize money as the World Championships, that event will become a major because every top player will say, wow, and every young player will aspire to be in the final stages.

How do we combat the influx of so many Chinese players though.

But what about our own grassroots again, Ken, it's something we've been talking about for form.

What we're going to do now at the commencement of next season, we're launching a new challenge tour for European players so that they, for the players that enter Q school that don't get their Q card.

They will have 10 events.

This is a joint venture between the W PBS A and World snooker.

We will finance it.

Give these guys practical experience in a way.

I do it on my golf tours.

You know where you say it's, it's quite a small event, but you're gonna find out whether you've got it, what it takes to go to the highest level.

So there's, there's a lot of movements, but again, this is, we are all learning the world of being a truly global sport.

We've talked it up in the past, but now we're in the real world.

We're up there competing with tennis and golf and have to give something to the amateurs.

You know, I think that they have to strive to at their own level before they get to the professional level.

Just like what China are doing.

If we don't feed the grassroots, we'll have no future in the game here.

And what's the potential for integrating the women's tour with this challenge to her?

Well, no, the, the, the, the women's tour, as we know when we say the women's tour, let's talk about women because the day is ladies' day here, you know, so we operate a completely open system.

It's a non sexist organization.

In other words, whether you're a woman or a man, the, the rules are the same.

It's a game of snooker.

And we've seen some, some reasonable performances, Rhian Evans this year in the qualifying.

Did ever so well.

But I think what we're saying to them is if you've got the ambition to play on the main Turkey, then whether you're a man woman, black, white Muslim Christian doesn't make it.

This is sport you can play in the same situation.

If you enter Q school, you can.

Now if, if the women be enter Q school and show that they've got the ambition to be a main tour player.

If they want to play small events, that's really not my role.

I'm looking at the bigger picture, the commercialization of, of a great sport, but the opportunity will be there to play in the challenge tour.

There'll be queue, there will be spots on the main tour for the winner and the runner up of the challenge tour alone as a separate event.

So they'll be very motivated, but also they'll find out what they want to do with their life.

Are they prepared to pay the same price as today's pros are paid to get where they are.

If they have, we will give them the opportunity.

We shall see.

Fascinating as always Thank you very much for joining us and enjoy the rest of the championship.

Thank you and I'm sure you'll be watching this afternoon as Ronnie o'sullivan goes out there and tries to overturn a four frame deficit against Ding Jun Wei in this final session, Ding has been sleeping.