Snooker: O'Sullivan's big fee upsets rivals

O'Sullivan was paid, a fee of around £25,000 to play at the recent Power Snooker tournament in Manchester (Getty Images)

Ronnie O'Sullivan has triggered an appearance-money row on the eve of the UK Championship which starts on Saturday.

O'Sullivan demanded, and was paid, a fee of around £25,000 to play at the recent Power Snooker tournament in Manchester. The other top-16 players took part for prize money only and a guaranteed minimum of £3,000.

World No 4 Neil Robertson said: "If a tournament needs one player for it to happen, [it] shouldn't be on at all... I wouldn't want to see this happening in ranking events because you could see players holding the game to ransom."