Maflin: life on the Main Tour
KURT Maflin laid bare the realities of life as a professional snooker player in an exclusive interview with www.cuestars.co.uk
On the face of it, being ranked 50th in the world and having pocketed more than £70,000 in prize money over the past two seasons, the 32-year-old father-of-one (pictured) is living the dream.
But speaking during the Cuestars finals day at Jesters Snooker Club, Swindon, Maflin admitted he’d have to “remortgage my house” if it wasn’t for his sponsor, Frames Academy in Coulsdon.
“It’s nowhere near enough, to be honest,” he revealed. “The season alone costs £16-£17,000 for all the entry fees and flights. The entry fees alone come to about £5,000 plus hotels, travel, flights back and forth to China or Germany or wherever you’re going.
“You need to be hitting £80-£100,000 a year to be comfortable.”
Although winning just one match in the 2016 China Open earned the players £4,000, Maflin said: “That sounds great. But you’ve got to pay for flights to get out to China.
“World Snooker or the sponsors of the tournament cover the hotel up until you get beat. So if you’ve booked a flight to be out there a week or ten days and you get beat early, you’ve either got to change your flight or pay for the rest of your nights yourself.”
It perhaps explains why some western professionals turn down the chance to enter tournaments in the Far East.
“It’s tough, it’s really tough,” he continued. “I’ve got a sponsor, Frames Academy. (Without them) it would be very difficult. I’ve have to remortgage my house or something.
“Even the top-32, it’s not like it was. You’re not guaranteed any money at all. It’s only the top-16 that are guaranteed any money.
“They’re already at The Crucible, the Shanghai tournament is the same, the Masters as well. If you can get in the top-16 for anywhere between five and ten years, you should be able to make a few quid.
“It’s really tough because you’ve got so many good players. The standard is increasing.”
Maflin presented the silverware and played exhibition frames during the Cuestars end-of-season finale.
He said the event brought back happy memories of his youth but expressed concerns about the grass-roots game in general.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “I’ve always liked Jesters as a club. I’ve been here probably ten times as a youngster. I played the Under-15 Championship final here. I actually qualified for the pro-tour through playing on the UK Tour here. I was only 16 at the time.
“It’s just good to see kids having a go, playing and competing, because you don’t see it as much anymore. I’m a little bit worried about the youth coming through from Great Britain.
“It would be good to see a few of these boys do well. It took me back to when I started playing at about eight. I hope it continues and I hope it still grows.
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