Northern Ireland Open: Shaun Murphy says players have a ‘long’ list of potential changes

Professional snooker players have “a list as long as your arm” of potential changes they would like to see after a new body was created to represent their interests, says Shaun Murphy.

The formation of the independent Professional Snooker Players’ Association (PSPA) was announced in August, with the stated aim of giving players a “stronger voice” to “champion the sport”.

Four-time world champion John Higgins is president of the PSPA, with a number of high-profile players – including world number one Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Murphy, Mark Allen and Mark Selby – on the player panel.

The association claims snooker management “should take more player views into account”.

It pledged to foster a “co-operative relationship” with the sport’s authorities, including the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the existing WPBSA Players Council and the World Snooker Tour (WST) to “promote the future of the sport, while protecting player welfare and commercial interests”.

The WPBSA’s Players’ Body was formed in 2020, and the governing body says it has a “specific mandate to act in the collective interest of members in relation to the welfare and issues affecting the professional game”.

Former world champion Murphy stepped down as president of the WPBSA Players team in February to focus more on his playing career and other interests that are not on the table.

The 43-year-old now believes the PSPA represents the best way forward for players to have an input into decisions that affect the sport.

“The new body has a long way to go, but one of the big things it has is that it is completely independent,” Murphy told BBC Sport after beating David Lilley 4-0 in the first round of the Northern Irish Open at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall.

“The way the game is funded — the way the WPBSA makes its money and the way it gets passed on to WPBSA players — can never be truly independent of the people you are trying to negotiate with and make the game better for the players.”

Murphy previously served on the WPBSA Main Board – the governing body that works alongside the commercial WST – from 2017 to 2019 and was elected to the WPBSA Players Council in December 2023, becoming Chairman in May 2024.

He also joined the WPBSA Board of Directors in February 2024 as a non-executive player director.