Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White are broadcast colleagues of Steven Hallworth (Image: Getty)
The commentary box has traditionally the domain of players coming towards or at the end of their careers. Shaun Murphy, now a regular part of the team, is an exception but the expert insights are usually provided by legends whose own careers are in the rear view mirror.
Steven Hallworth is bucking that trend. Following two stints on the World Snooker Tour, the 28-year-old from Lincoln hopes his best days on the table are still in front of him. This season though Hallworth has become a familiar voice on Eurosport’s coverage as well as working with ITV, winning plaudits from fans as a result.
Hallworth’s commentary career actually began while he was still on the tour when players were asked if they were up for calling games in the Championship League, broadcast by Matchroom’s own online platform. He was one of the few to put their hand up and took to it like a duck to water.
“I did a couple of games because not many other players volunteered so they kept asking me back. I fell in love with it straight away,” recalls Hallworth, who dropped off the tour for a second time in 2022, in an interview for
“I was nervous the first time but I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did. Now they can’t get rid of me!”
After three years commentating on the Championship League for Matchroom, Eurosport head-hunted Hallworth for the Shanghai Masters, which has led to further opportunities, including at the new Saudi Arabia Masters. He also worked for ITV at the British Open amid his own tournaments on the amateur circuit.
As well as carving out an enjoyable new career, Hallworth believes working alongside legends like Jimmy White, Ken Doherty and Alan McManus will help his chances of getting back on the tour.
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“They’re people I’ve grown up admiring and wanting to be like on the table,” he says. “You learn a lot listening to people like that.
“They’ve got so much knowledge that me just being in the commentary box is helping my own snooker because I’m starting to see the game in a different light. As a snooker player, you reach a point in your career where you feel like there’s not much else to learn. That’s quite ignorant really. The game becomes quite easy to play, but in a match situation it’s different.
“In the commentary box, you see the game differently. Listening to these guys talking about these high-pressure moments in finals, calling the shots at the right time, it improves your own shot selection. When I’m playing myself and I’m in a big moment in a match, I now ask myself, ‘what would I say on commentary?’
“From a bird’s eye view, you can see the whole environment a lot better than when you’re down at the table. It’s certainly helped my vision of the game.”
Steven Hallworth has had two stints on the World Snooker Tour and is hoping to regain his spot next (Image: Getty)
Hallworth also hopes his comparative youth gives the coverage a fresh perspective. He says: “That was my aim from the start. For a number of years before I commentated, and I don’t like to use the phrase, but I was a little tired of hearing the same old voices.
“They’d obviously commented on snooker for so long but the game has progressed a lot. I felt like some of them were still commentating on the game as if it was still the 80s or the 90s. And it very much isn’t that anymore.
“Some of the older commentators would say, ‘what was a bad shot’. But why was it a bad shot? Explain why it was a bad shot.
“The players have moved on. What I can offer is, because I still play and because I know the players on a personal level, I can appreciate what they’re going through and hopefully make that relatable to the public, giving a different insight.”
While Hallworth’s priority remains playing himself and regaining his tour card, he hopes to be a commentator for a long time to come. He says: “At the end of the day, I’m a snooker player and I still practice full-time. It’s what I want to do, it’s what I love doing.
“Being a professional snooker player is still the goal but there’s no reason why I can’t continue doing the commentary because it kind of works hand in hand with playing at the minute because I haven’t got that many events to go at.
“Looking long term – and it’s very difficult to do that in a game like snooker – it [commentary] could potentially be a job for life if I keep it up. It keeps me involved in the game.
“I’ve played snooker all my life. I want to be involved in snooker, whether it’s coaching, commentating, playing. Anything involved with the game, I love it.”