World Snooker Championship star banned for 12 years speaks out after end of suspension

Stephen Lee, the disgraced snooker star who was slapped with a 12-year suspension for match-fixing, has spoken about a return to the sport. The ban, which started in 2013 when he was initially suspended, followed an investigation by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) into multiple instances of match-fixing, including one at the World Championship.

Now that his ban is over, Lee is eligible to compete in WPBSA-sanctioned events, such as Q-School, which he would need to go through to rejoin the main World Snooker Tour (WST). However, in a rare interview, the 51-year-old, now based in Thailand, stated that he had no plans to return to top-level competition.

Speaking to The Hindu, Lee said: "I'm still able to enjoy playing snooker at a certain level. But I'm not silly enough to think I'm going back after 12 years.

"Twelve years is too long. I'm not prepared to waste any time battling it out in Q School. And working again for WPBSA does not appeal to me one bit. WPBSA never did anything for me as an association; they don't help players.

"I lost my wife two years ago. She never wanted me to go back and play professional snooker. I've got zero interest in the World Snooker Tour, I'm going to do other things."

Should Lee wish to make a comeback, he would need to clear a £125,000 debt owed to the WPBSA stemming from legal proceedings and failed appeals. The governing body told SnookerHQ: "Stephen Lee would need to reach a satisfactory agreement with the WPBSA over settlement of his costs before he could play."

Lee climbed as high as fifth in the world rankings prior to his suspension. He made it to a World Championship semi-final and reached the Masters final in 2008, where he was defeated by Mark Selby, before his career collapsed spectacularly.

A tribunal determined he intentionally threw matches against Ken Doherty and Marco Fu at the 2008 Malta Cup and conspired to lose the opening frame against both Stephen Hendry and Mark King at the 2008 UK Championship.

Furthermore, Lee deliberately lost matches by pre-arranged scorelines to Neil Robertson at the 2008 Malta Cup and to Selby at the 2009 China Open. Lee was also found to have plotted to throw his 2009 World Championship first-round encounter against Ryan Day. He lost 10-4. There has been no suggestion that any opposing player was aware of Lee's involvement.

When delivering his punishment, the WPBSA said: "The WPBSA has a zero tolerance approach to match fixing and this is further evidence of our uncompromising approach to dealing with such issues."

His ban was the harshest penalty imposed on a player in the sport's history until the Chinese match-fixing scandal resulted in Liang Wenbo and Li Hang receiving lifetime bans from the game in 2023. Eight other players, including current world champion Zhao Xintong, were handed substantial suspensions.