Reanne Evans, 12-time world snooker champion: 'It's frustrating to barely be earning a living at the top of my sport'

A quiz question. Name the modern-day snooker player who has been world champion as many times as Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan put together?

That so few people will know the answer provides the first clue as to the size of a gender gap in professional snooker which remains shamefully wide.

An hour in conversation with Reanne Evans, the reigning 12-times champion, who will on Monday get the rare chance to appear on terrestrial television in a main tour event against the men, and you also begin to appreciate both the everyday sexism and the vast practical obstacles that she has overcome in pursuit of her dream.

There was the time that she was asked to leave a snooker club for the crime of being female and wanting to watch her brothers play in a local league match. There was the referee in New Zealand, who was officiating at a women’s tournament, but still openly saying that they should not be playing. And then there are the comments on social media which, while often positive and genuinely uplifting, are predictably also poisoned by trolls with nothing better to do than knock a genuine trailblazer.

Aged 34, Evans will not be discouraged but she does worry about the impact these attitudes could have on other girls and women who aspire to follow her.

“Growing up, playing in clubs with my brothers, I have been hardened to the comments – it just goes over my head,” she says. “It’s rare now but there are still a few [snooker] places who don’t allow women. I just think, ‘Shame on you, let me play, I’ll beat you and then I’ll leave’.

“It can be intimidating being a female, walking into a place and picking up a cue. You do get stares, looks and comments. Social media you are going to get it. That’s why I do feel sorry for some of the girls. My advice? Do what you want. If you want to play then play. Let them get on with their sad lives and we will carry on.”

It is an outlook that Evans has lived by with huge daily commitment despite limited reward. When Hendry last played in the World Championships in 2012, he lost in the quarter-final but still pocketed £74,050 after also recording the tournament’s highest break. O’Sullivan himself collected £250,000 as the winner. Evans became the most successful player in women’s snooker history in 2012 by surpassing Allison Fisher’s tally of seven world titles. Her prize money? £450.

It had improved to £6,000 for this year’s World Championship victory against Thailand’s Nutcharut Wongharuthai, even if that still hardly kept pace with a further £250,000 rise in the men’s first prize since 2012 to £500,000.

Evans has a 13-year-old daughter and, with none of the National Lottery funding that an elite Olympic athlete in, say skateboarding, fencing or climbing would enjoy, she has already been considering part-time jobs to supplement her income.

The set-up in the United Kingdom is also completely different than for her main women’s competitor, Hong Kong’s three-times world champion Ng On-yee, who has received a state scholarship to play and practice full-time since 2010.

“All our expenses come out of our prize money – so you are barely earning a living and yet they want you to perform,” says Evans.  “It’s Catch-22. I’m not saying we should be millionaires but I think you should be earning a living if you are at the top of your sport. It’s frustrating but then I think that if I pack in that will discourage others and we will never get anywhere.”

Evans will face world No8 Shaun Murphy in front of a big crowd on Monday in the Champion of Champions event at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Following previous invitations, Evans has won matches against relatively highly ranked male players – she beat Robin Hull in qualification for the 2017 World Championships and only lost 10-8 two years earlier in the same tournament against former Crucible champion Ken Doherty.

Playing regularly with the likes of O’Sullivan, White and Hendry on the Snooker Legends exhibition circuit has also been hugely beneficial. “It’s nerve-racking but exciting,” she says. “You learn a lot and up close you realise how good they are. They do make mistakes – not as often – and you have to jump on them. It can intimidate but also spur you.

“Ronnie has been really supportive. He tells me not to give up. He says, ‘You are the best, make the most of your opportunities but do have back-ups as well’.”

Evans has also recently become aware of how much she is inspiring young female players across the world especially where snooker is growing most rapidly in Asia. “I just turned up and played for me but then you travel and get told that you make people want to play which is fantastic.” She then pauses before adding: “It actually makes it all worthwhile.”