Joe Perry feels 33-year career is ending after losing love for playing snooker

Joe Perry feels his epic three-decade snooker career is coming to an end this year after falling out of love with playing the game. The 50-year-old turned professional in 1992 alongside the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams, remaining on the main tour ever since.

The Gentleman has won two ranking titles, reached a Masters final and a Crucible semi-final, remaining impressively consistent in the upper echelons of the sport. However, the enthusiasm for the game has waned over the last 18 months and results have deteriorated with it. After three decades of dedication, the sport has become a chore.

As Perry does more work in the media, in mentoring Neil Robertson and in running his own club in Chatteris, he has realised he enjoys every part of snooker other than picking up his own cue. ‘I’ve completely fallen out of love with snooker on the playing side,’ Perry told Metro. ‘I was at the Welsh Open last week doing the commentary and really enjoyed it. The stuff I’m doing with Neil I’m really enjoying. The club I really enjoy. I just don’t want to play!’.

The Gentleman has fallen down the rankings as a result of his snooker malaise and may drop off the pro circuit for the first time at the end of the season. However, whether he keeps tour card or not, he feels like retirement is the likeliest move. ‘I think it’s inevitable that this will be the last season on the pro tour,’ he said. ‘Whether I keep my card or not, I think I’ve decided that enough is enough.

‘I don’t feel like I’m doing myself any justice, I’m embarrassing myself. I’m not preparing like I have been for the last 32-33 years. Regardless of how I’ve played at events, I always felt like I’d done everything in my power to have the chance of playing well. But the last 18 months I’ve just gone from tournament to tournament and only played an hour here or there in between.

‘I just don’t enjoy the day-to-day graft anymore, the work to make yourself a successful snooker player. ‘I’ve been 50-50 on it but the percentages are drifting. I’m not quite 100 per cent yet. If a miracle happens and I wake up one day wanting to practice for 4-5 hours then great. I’m not completely ruling it out, but I’m 90 per cent giving up now.

‘And there’ll be no trying to get back on. No Q School or anything. My thoughts on this being my last year are the same whether I retain my card or not, it’s just my outlook towards snooker. It’s not befitting of a professional snooker player.

‘It’s time to move aside and do something different. Which will always be snooker related, because it’s my life. ‘It would be nicer to get to the Crucible and choose to not play anymore as opposed to not being eligible to play, but we’ll see.’.

It is not just reaching his sixth decade that has drained Perry’s passion for the game, but also the mental strain of being caught up in the match-fixing investigation into Mark King. Perry beat King 4-0 at the Welsh Open in March 2023, which led to King being suspended by the WPBSA due to suspicious betting patterns.

An investigation was carried out, but it was not until November 2024 that King was given a five-year ban from the sport after being found guilty of match-fixing. Perry had nothing to do with King throwing the match, but he too became part of the investigation and feeling like the finger was being pointed at him led to significant stress, frustration and anger, ultimately pushing him closer to retirement.

‘I am disappointed the way it’s all turned out. I feel like it’s been forced upon me and accelerated by the whole debacle surrounding the Mark King incident,’ he said. ‘I fell out of love with snooker during that episode. I just felt angry about everything. It went on for months and months. I felt let down by the powers that be.

‘I was made to feel guilty. I’ve read the report and it’s embarrassing. The amount of times they use my name, it’s embarrassing. They know 100 per cent that I had absolutely nothing to do with it, but they took months and months to tell me that.

‘I got zero support and was made to feel guilty. I didn’t sleep for so many nights, worrying that I was going to be suspended. I didn’t want my name tarnished with being involved in match-fixing. That was how it looked it was going to be. It dragged on and on and on. I couldn’t say anything because it might affect the case. It was just a horrible time.

‘That was when I put my cue down, downed tools, and I’ve never picked it up again really. ‘I was 28 in the world at that point. 18 months later I’m signing off. It definitely had an impact on my snooker career and I think it accelerated my decision to call it a day.’.

There is still snooker to play before any final decision on retirement, with the World Open in Yushan next week and then the World Championship qualifiers in April. Perry intends to put in the hours before Sheffield and give it his best shot, much more so than he has for any other events of late, but whether it goes well or not he expects to be hanging up his cue at the end of the season.