DAVID GILBERT reckons British snooker kids are lazy and refuse to work as hard as their Chinese counterparts – because they want to be social media influencers.
It is almost week since 22-year-old Wu Yize claimed the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield by beating Shaun Murphy 18-17 in a last-frame shootout in the final.
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David Gilbert has hit out at British snooker prospects Credit: Alamy
Chinese youngster Wu Yize won the World Championship Credit: Getty
It was only his third tournament appearance and, following Zhao Xintong’s 2025 breakthrough triumph for China, it might signal the start of Asian dominance on the baize.
Snooker, which celebrates 100 years of its World Championship in 2027, is popular throughout Britain and reached its boom period in the 1980s.
Yet clubs are slowly shutting down across the country due to various reasons, including high-energy prices, and pool is just as popular.
And Gilbert reckons talented youngsters – he does not include Stan Moody, 19, or Liam Pullen, 20, in his assessment – would rather post on social media than pot balls due to a societal change.
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The two-time World Championship semi-finalist is a co-owner of Potters Snooker & Pool Club in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, the place where he first played as a 10-year-old.
Gilbert, 44, said: “Sadly, in this day and age, the kids don’t want to play snooker.
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“It’s too hard and everybody wants to be a social Instagrammer, vlogger, whatever you call them.
“They want to make money from holding a phone. Nobody wants to graft for anything anymore.
“So that’s quite sad. It is a shame that there’s no British talent anymore. The Chinese guys are taking over.
“They work hard and they deserve all they get for it. It’s a tough game and you’ve got to put the time in, that’s the problem.
“I think the kids are just all so lazy now and just want to hold a phone and make money.
“When I was a kid you went to work and earned some money, whatever that was.
“I worked on the farm for £8 an hour and worked as hard as anybody for it. You won’t get a kid to do that now.
“I don’t know why a lot of clubs are shutting. I guess the expenses and rates and everything are all flying up and you can’t really put your prices up to match.
“We take pride in having a lovely club with great tables, conditions at very, very affordable prices.
“We’re really cheap compared to pretty much every club in the country for what we do.”
Though Gilbert is downbeat about the next generation of British snooker players, he reckons Yorkshire lad Moody – who made his Crucible debut last month – has a great chance to be a success.
Gilbert said: “I’ve practised a few times with Stan at my club and I’ve seen how attacking he is. I was shocked when I first played him.
“He’s brilliant for the game and I knew he’d go out there and put frames on the board that the crowd would love him. Just how he plays, he’s the most attacking thing ever.
“Stan wants to be a part of the big time, he’s not scared of it. How he plays, he’s just completely all-out attack.
“Probably a bit like Judd Trump when he made the final when he was a kid and he wasn’t supposed to.
“Stan doesn’t want to leave the table, he wants to pot every ball and that’s what people want to watch.
“Listen, Stan’s going to be a star. I said it the first time I’d seen him play. So good luck to him and Liam Pullen, too, who is doing great.”
