Ronnie O'Sullivan threatens to quit snooker for good if rule change that fans have asked for is introduced

Ronnie O'Sullivan says he would "probably definitely retire" from snooker if chiefs decided to introduce one of the most popular aspects of darts to the cue sport.

The 48-year-old world number five, who has won 41 ranking titles in his trophy-laden 32-year professional career, including seven world titles, is never one to hold back with his opinions.

And in a recent interview with talkSPORT, he was asked to give his thoughts on the current state of snooker and whether they should take a leaf out of darts' book.

The leaf? The introduction of walk-ons, with players having their own music as they walked to the table. "I'd probably definitely retire," O'Sullivan laughed. "I'd be like, 'You know what? I'm out of here now."

O'Sullivan did, however, acknowledge that the UK has a problem with young people getting involved in snooker compared to other countries.

"In the UK it is an older crowd, but in China and Saudi Arabia, they have a very young crowd watching it, I don't know why that is," he added.

"I think it's always been that in the UK, a lot of the older people just love snooker, but I don't know why that is, I really don't have a clue.

"I think when snooker is up against football and tennis and golf, when you're a parent, you're looking at, 'What shall I get my kid involved in?'

"Snooker is going to come really down at the bottom of the list I would imagine."

Last month, a frustrated O'Sullivan ruled himself out of winning next year's World Championship, and even threatened to quit snooker for good.

Image credit: Getty

It came after he suffered an "embarrassing" defeat by world No 64 He Guoqiang in the last 64 of the English Open.

When asked to explain his unconventional approach to the match, the 48-year-old replied: "I'm absolutely useless, that's why. I'm awful, it's embarrassing."

He added: "I miss so many balls. I can't get away from it, poor, but there's nothing I can do about it. I've been missing balls for the last four or five years and every now and then I'll miss a few less, maybe, and get a couple of results.

"I'm absolutely useless. Forget about the Worlds. I'm not even bothered to be honest with you, if I'm going to play rubbish I might as well play left-handed.

"Play left-handed and enjoy it, but be useless, or play right-handed, be useless and not enjoy it.

"I haven't got long, I'm not going to deny it, I'm not playing well enough, there's no point in even worrying about it. I've just accepted it now which is quite a nice place to be really."