Barry Hearn calls return of fans to snooker 'a joy' as he plays down fears of player unrest

The return of spectators at the World Snooker Championship final weekend will be a "joy", according to Barry Hearn as he played down fears of player unrest over the renewed crowd pilot.

Around 300 of the 1,000 capacity Crucible Theatre in Sheffield will be allowed to attend for the remaining sessions, two weeks after trials were suspended hours into the opening day's action.

The previous return had sparked rifts in the build up to the event, with Judd Trump attacking Anthony Hamilton for dropping out and Hearn, chairman of World Snooker, hitting back at "ignorant" criticism from Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Yesterday Hearn again dismissed the suggestion that players were being treated as "lab rats" and instead said Government inspectors had told him the Covid control measures in Sheffield were "exemplary".

Hearn said he had never given up hope of getting crowds back in despite Boris Johnson saying he was putting "a brake" on lockdown easing two weeks ago.

"The art of staging events is the logistics and it's been a huge undertaking but we have an expert team of people who have worked incredibly hard," he told the Daily Telegraph.

"The news that we are now permitted to have a limited crowd for each session of the last two days is a real joy. There's nothing like the atmosphere created by live crowds. If we don't go back all live sport suffers terminally."

Five-time champion O'Sullivan - the most outspoken critic of the trials - remains in contention for the final two days, but saw his overnight lead disappear against three-time winner Mark Selby slashed in the semi-final on Thursday night.

The competition had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds getting the Crucible ready for fans. "We hope this is the start of crowds returning to all major sports and we're proud that we've been at the start of it," Hearn said.

Hearn, who says he has already "swallowed" £2million losses compared with last year, says a total of 30 government inspectors were in attendance in Sheffield and World Snooker was also carrying out its own evaluation report which it will share with other sports. "We've paid for it all ourselves - we've even maintained our pre Covid prize money," Hearn said. "For the Crucible, I'm £2million short on my game. I've swallowed that."

The return of spectator trials, beginning at the Crucible, is a lifeline for hopes that fans can attend sporting venues at Premier League grounds and beyond from the start of October.

A full pilot programme will be announced within the next week after the PM sanctioned a return to the timetable of crowds returning.

The World Snooker Tour announced late on Thursday night that a small number of tickets for all four sessions of the final would go on sale on Friday morning.