Could young star Stan Moody be the 'Luke Littler of snooker?' - 'We are crying out for one'
Published 03/05/2026 at 20:34 GMT+1
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Barry Hawkins is hopeful Stan Moody could do for snooker what Luke Littler has done for darts, and also called for investment at grass-roots level to keep the supply chain moving.
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Darts was a sport on the up for years, but the emergence of Littler propelled it into the stratosphere after he won the world title as a 17-year-old in 2025.
Snooker and darts have a close relationship, but the former has lagged behind since its heyday in the 1980s.
There have been calls from people associated with the sport for investment to be made to lure youngsters into the game, with Alan McManus saying on TNT Sports that there would be an appetite for snooker if the conditions were right.
”Let’s take the UK, do we have a problem [getting youngsters interested in the game]? The answer is yes," said McManus.
”The most important demographic in snooker is the grass roots, and it has been neglected for far too long.
”Yes I am biased, other sports get funding, they get this and that, and they have no success on a global level. 'If you build it they will come,' is that old saying, and it is true.
"If you get the youngsters involved at grass roots they discover very quickly ‘this is wonderful, this game is great, it’s fun, I make friends, I travel the country’.
”It has been neglected for too long. I know the government funding and all that is a different issue. It would not be anywhere near as expensive as you might think.
”One of the problems is the cost of just going into a club and playing snooker, it is far too expensive.
”We need funding for academies, and then the talent will come on the back of it. Guaranteed.”
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Moody is one of those players to come through the youth system, and made his Crucible debut this year at the age of 19.
That is four years on from when he won a huge army of fans by making it to the second round of the Shoot-Out in 2022.
He has made steady progress and pushed 2024 Crucible champion Kyren Wilson extremely hard in this year’s World Championship before falling to a 10-7 defeat.
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Moody has a long way to go before challenging for the top honours in the sport, but world No. 11 Hawkins feels it would be a huge boost to snooker if he made the leap.
”We are crying out for one,” Hawkins told TNT Sports when asked if snooker needed a Littler-type figure. ”Look what Luke has done for the game of darts.
”Someone like Stan Moody could do that. He has all the talent in the world, is exciting to watch, and if he went on to win the World Championship I think it would be a massive boost to the game. So fingers crossed.”
Mark Allen is not sure if a teenager could come through in snooker and make the impact Littler has in darts.
”Darts fans out there won't like me for this answer but I don’t think you will see someone come through so young to do what Littler has in darts," Allen said. "I just think snooker is a much harder game.
”There are some bright prospects, you have seen Stan Moody and Liam Pullen in this event. I think there will be a few more coming through.”
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Hawkins also mirrored McManus’ calls for more investment in the game at entry level.
”We need more investment in grass roots,” Hawkins said. ”When I was a youngster there were so many clubs about, and so many youngsters in there.
”It drove you on and it would be nice to go back to those sort of days with more investment and more clubs.”
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