Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals his father predicted to Paul Gascoigne his son would become a world champion

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed that he was just 10-years-old when his father began confidently predicting he would grow up to become a world champion, even telling England football star Paul Gascoigne that his son was destined for the top.

O’Sullivan was only eight when he picked up a snooker cue for the first time, to play his cousin on a miniature table. His father, Ronald, noticed Ronnie’s talent and bought him a pool table for Christmas, to encourage his newfound interest.

From there, he didn’t look back. The family eventually moved house in Chigwell, Essex so that they could purchase a full size snooker table, with O’Sullivan going on to win numerous junior championships. And he was just 15 when he made his first maximum break at the 1991 English Amateur Championship, to become the youngest player ever to do so in a recognised tournament.

But his father had been confident in his son’s ability long before he began making waves at tournaments, with none other than Gascoigne revealing to O’Sullivan that his old man had made a number of ultimately prescient predictions long before any of his five World Championship victories.

“He was telling everyone even when I was only 10 that I was going to be World Champion,” O’Sullivan said on the third episode of Eurosport’s new Vodcast series, which charts his rise through the professional ranks.

“He even said it to Paul Gascoigne. When I first met Paul Gascoigne he said to me “we met your dad – he told us you were going to be World Champion!” And I was like “really?” and he was like “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me and Paul Allen we were sitting in the hotel room and you came on the TV and we went that geezer was right!”

“So, it was quite funny yeah. He used to tell everyone and everybody.”

O’Sullivan made good on his early promise by becoming one of the most successful players in the history of the sport. He became a world champion for the first time in 2001, defeating John Higgins 18–14 at the Crucible in Sheffield. He went on to win a further four World Championships, most recently in 2013 when he beat Barry Hawkins.

O’Sullivan also holds the record total of 19 titles in Triple Crown tournaments and has admitted that, even in the formative years of his career, he was able to cope with the pressure of big matches and events.

“I don’t know really. I didn’t really feel the pressure. I was just excited, I used to love playing, I loved competing,” he added of his early days.

“So, it wasn’t pressure. Sometimes when you’re playing a challenge match against another kid my age that was a horrible type of pressure because you never wanted to lose to someone in a big challenge match and he ended up beating me. I remember his name – Craig Stockford – he’d come all the way down from Leeds. But most of the time I was playing just amateurs that were older than me or juniors so I had nothing to lose.

“I just enjoyed playing and then once you start to win and compete and win tournaments if anything the pressure made you play better really.”

Watch The Snooker Vodcast with Ronnie O’Sullivan Friday at 2pm on Eurosport and Eurosport Player