World Snooker Championship 2024: Dominic Dale backs Ronnie O'Sullivan over Crucible

Dominic Dale has backed Ronnie O'Sullivan's call for snooker bosses to consider moving the World Championship away from Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.

The Crucible has hosted the World Championship since 1977, but the venue's contract to host the tournament expires in 2027.

Dale says alternative venues should be considered when the deal runs out.

"I personally would like to see it move around to different countries or different parts of the UK," he said.

"There's no point being stuck in your ways."

Seven-time champion O'Sullivan has said he would like to see the tournament moved to Saudi Arabia - which has signed him up on a three-year ambassadorial agreement - or China.

Dale is relishing the chance to play at the Crucible for the first time since 2014 having come through qualifying.

The tournament begins on Saturday, with live coverage across the BBC.

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At 52, Dale - who faces Kyren Wilson in round one - is the oldest qualifier since Steve Davis in 2010.

He is joined in the tournament by five other Welsh players - Mark Williams, Jak Jones, Ryan Day, Jamie Jones and Jackson Page, with the latter facing O'Sullivan in round one.

While Dale says the Crucible is an "amazing" place to play, he thinks World Snooker should at least explore alternative venues.

The theatre, which is in Sheffield city centre, can only accommodate 980 spectators, which creates an intimate atmosphere but severely limits potential ticket sales.

"There isn't really a comparable venue to the Crucible with the audience being so close to you, starting at eye level and going right to the rafters of the ceiling," said Dale, a World Championship quarter-finalist in 2000 and 2014.

"It's an incredible atmosphere and the audiences in Sheffield love their snooker.

"But capacity is less than 1,000 and you wonder whether you could go somewhere else and have 3,000 or 4,000 people watching you."

Dale agrees with O'Sullivan that Saudi Arabia and China are potential hosts for the World Championship.

"Or wouldn't it be amazing to go to America?" he added. "Snooker has never done that, not in my lifetime anyway.

"If there was a consensus among the players that it was a bad move to try different venues, you could always go back to the Crucible, but give it a go."

Dale said he had almost given up on qualifying for the World Championship again.

But he is in good form this season having reached the quarter-finals of two ranking events, including the Welsh Open in Llandudno, and sealed a place in Sheffield with a 10-8 qualifying triumph against China's He Guoqiang.

"I wasn't sure if I was capable at the age of 52, or playing good enough snooker consistently over a best-of-19 frames to win enough matches to get to the Crucible," he said.

"I haven't been practising as much as I used to - maybe an hour, an hour and a half each day for the past four or five seasons. But I've had such a good season. I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to experience it again."

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