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Eurosport commentator Steven Hallworth reflects on his tough first spell on the World Snooker Tour and how he got his head together by working in a pub
Steven Hallworth was left so broken by his first run on the World Snooker Tour that he sought salvation in his local boozer.
He didn’t turn to alcohol to drown his sorrows, though. Instead, he began pulling pints, which was enough to get his head together after a bruising spell amongst the sport’s elite between 2014 and 2016.
Hallworth was just 18 when he won his spot on the tour. By his own admission, the Lincolnshire cueman wasn’t ready nor good enough to be in such esteemed company – but it wasn’t an opportunity he could turn down.
“Initially it was brilliant,” recalls Hallworth, 28, now a familiar voice in the Eurosport commentary box. “It was a life ambition of mine to turn pro. But I soon had a strong realisation that it wasn’t going to be as good as I thought it was going to be.
“I thought I was going to turn pro, be a top professional and everything was going to be cushty, but it wasn’t like that. I was getting battered and bruised by the best players in the world week in, week out.
“Back then, the format of events was different. They were flat draws with bottom players playing top players. Pretty much every week I was playing a top player. I don’t know how many matches I won over those two years but it was no more than 10. It was a struggle.
“You have to grow up and learn quickly. I was definitely not good enough to turn pro at 18. I can confidently say that now, looking back. At the same time, it was priceless match play and the experience and has stood me in good stead.”
During that first spell on the tour, having been ground down by defeat after defeat, Hallworth took up a ‘normal’ job to take his mind off snooker, working in pubs in his home village of Skellingthorpe, just outside Lincoln.
“It was purely because I was getting consumed by snooker,” explains Hallworth, the current English amateur champion, whose second stint on the tour ended in 2022.
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“I was getting battered week in, week out. Because I was playing full-time and doing nothing else, I was very much consumed by the game. I was depressed, to be honest, I was really struggling mentally and in a bad place.
“Getting a job saved me and was honestly the best thing I ever did. Also, I was getting to the age where my friends were working and earning good money.
“I was playing snooker and wasn’t getting paid for losing. Eventually, I had to start bringing some money in. But more than anything, it was an escape.
“I would leave snooker at the practice table, then it was straight to the pub, where I’d be chatting to people and not thinking about snooker, which was the best thing that could’ve happened. Prior to that, I’d be thinking about snooker all day. Snooker is a tough sport which can be mentally damaging, but I found a way to deal with it.”
Hallworth has been combining tournaments on the amateur circuit with his increasing media commitments but intends to step up practice in the New Year when the race for tour cards hots up.
The tour is now awash with talented teenagers, like Hallworth was a decade ago. Asked if youngsters are truly prepared for the rigours of the tour, he is clear.
“I don’t think so,” he says. “There is the Q-Tour, which is the secondary tour, but when you turn pro that young, you can’t possibly be match hardened, it’s impossible. You’ve come through because you’re an aggressive player, you’re attacking. You can score, you’re fearless.
“But you soon realise that the tour is more than that, which is fine. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing for them to get on the tour, but they’re not ready. That said, you’ve got to start somewhere and what better place to learn your trade than on the World Snooker Tour?”
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