Professional Players Contract

The Professional Players Contract is a contractual agreement between the governing body of snooker (the WPBSA) and professional snooker players. It was introduced for the 1984/85 season, due to issues with tournament congestion and unauthorised exhibition matches being held during WPBSA tournaments.

The contract is currently offered to the top 112 of the 128 tour players, and includes rules and regulations on participation in tournaments, dress code, rules and etiquette, press conferences, social media, betting regulations, authorisation and unauthorisation of non-WPBSA tournaments, the ranking system and sponsorship among other things. Intentionally disregarding the contractual agreement may result in disciplinary proceedings, as decided by the WPBSA board.

Notable incidents

 * Alex Higgins refused to sign the first Professional Players Contract by March 1 1984. However, he was allowed to play during the 1984/85 season after signing it in August, which brought widespread criticism from fellow professional players and claims that Higgins was receiving "special treatment". However, the WPBSA denied these claims, and said that Higgins did not understand originally that the contract was compulsory.
 * Alex Higgins was banned from five professional tournaments and fined £12,000 for headbutting a tournament official in 1986, which was in clear breach of regulations.
 * Jimmy White was fined £8,000 for being in breach of the contracted betting regulations in 1986. However, this was described by the WPBSA as not being an "intentional breach of regulations," and was refunded the money.
 * Tony Knowles was fined £5,000 for bringing "snooker into disrepute" in 1987 after appearing on a Page Three newspaper shoot for The Sun.
 * Alex Higgins was banned for the entirety of the 1990/91 season after punching tournament official Colin Randle at the 1990 World Championship, as well as threatening to have fellow Northern Irishman and 1985 World Champion Dennis Taylor "shot." He was also fined £17,000.
 * Stephen Hendry was fined £3,000 for failing to engage in his press duties after losing 11-13 to Steve James in the 1991 World Championship.
 * Tony Meo was fined £3,000 after failing to attend the WPBSA Awards Dinner in May 1992. He said he was unaware that the dinner was compulsory.
 * Ronnie O'Sullivan was fined £10,000 and docked ranking points for failing a drugs test after winning the 1997 Irish Open. The title was subsequently awarded to his opponent, Ken Doherty.
 * Ronnie O'Sullivan was fined £7,500 for failing to attend his last 32 match at the 1998 UK Championship. However, the fine was dropped after O'Sullivan presented a doctors note to the WPBSA, citing depression.
 * Mark Williams was fined £2,000 after swearing in a press conference after his 2000 World Championship win. The fine drew criticism from his peers, who urged the WPBSA to show discretion.
 * Australian snooker player Quentin Hann was fined £5,000 by the WPBSA for "ungentlemanly conduct" after his last 16 match against Peter Ebdon at the 2001 Grand Prix.
 * Ronnie O'Sullivan was fined £6,000 for "unsportsmanlike behaviour" after directing derogatory comments at fellow player Stephen Hendry at the 2002 World Championship. He has since apologised, and O'Sullivan has since referred to Hendry as his "idol."
 * Quentin Hann was fined £7,000 after allegedly bringing snooker into disrepute for comments and mannerisms during his first round match against Andy Hicks at the 2004 World Championship. Andy Hicks was subsequently reprimanded for his involvement, but not fined.
 * Ronnie O'Sullivan was given a "formal reprimand" during the 2004 World Championship for gestures made at the crowd during the tournament. He also struck the table on more than one occasion, which drew criticism from some members of the snooker world. He was not fined.
 * Ronnie O'Sullivan was fined £20,000 for his forfeiture of his quarter-final match at the 2006 UK Championship. He was only trailing 1-4 at the time in a best of 17 frame match.
 * Ronnie O'Sullivan was docked all ranking points accumulated from the 2008 China Open after making "lewd comments" in his post-match press conference. He was not fined, but lost the £8,000 appearance money he had earned.
 * John Higgins was fined £75,000 and banned for nine months after the 2010 News of the World Match Fixing Scandal. He was found guilty by the WPBSA on two counts: of "failing to report an approach to pervert the integrity of a snooker match" and of "bringing the sport into disrepute". He was found not-guilty of match fixing.
 * In 2011, Stephen Maguire was fined £10,000 for "failing to report an approach to pervert the integrity of a snooker match" after allegations of match fixing arose after the 2011 Welsh Open.
 * Stephen Lee was fined £80,000 and banned from snooker by the WPBSA until 2024 after being found guilty by an independent tribunal in September 2013 of "influencing the outcome of seven matches in 2008 and 2009."