'Looking for the holy grail' – O'Sullivan's master cue craftsman

Ronnie O'Sullivan has had his snooker cues designed by John Parris since the 1980s Footballers wear brand new boots most weekends. Tennis players pull out fresh rackets during matches. And darts players are often happy to toss their flights away into the crowd after wins. Nowhere in elite level sport is the bond between player and equipment more profound than in snooker, where once a player finds what they consider the perfect cue, they aim to treasure it for as long as possible. A lifelong alliance is considered the dream scenario. But during the ongoing World Championship in Sheffield this week, the game's most illustrious star Ronnie O'Sullivan has been ill at ease with his cue, labelling it "awful" and claiming it is causing "carnage" in his game despite a hitherto straightforward run to the semi-finals. O'Sullivan is using temporary replacements from the workshop of world-renowned master cue craftsman John Parris, after snapping his previous long-serving design from the same manufacturer following a frustrating defeat in the Champions League in January. "He is not settled," Parris tells the BBC at his South East London workshop, which has been producing top-of-the-line cues for more than 40 years. "I'm not sure what cue he's coming out with every time he comes through the curtain. It could be a different one every day. He's not happy with it but he's managing. We'll get there - we'll get the perfect one in the end." With one of Parris' creations taking almost a year to produce, costing up to £3,000, and customers facing an eight-year waiting list in some cases, John told BBC Sport about why his cues are so special, what working with O'Sullivan is like, and why finding the perfect match is such a tough ask. John Parris personally inspects and selects every block of wood his workshop turns into high-end snooker cues Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan made a late decision to enter this year's tournament, having not played competitively for four months, and called Parris with a last-minute request for new equipment. "It was a bit heart breaking when Ronnie broke that last one," Parris says. "It was just a tantrum, a rush of blood. It happens I guess. It takes a lot for Ronnie to do that. He has got a lot of pressure on him. Everybody wants a piece of him. "Sometimes if it's a clean break you can put it back together again. But this was a real job! It was never going to work. So you just have to say 'oh well, here we go again'." Parris first designed a cue for O'Sullivan when the upcoming prodigy was just 11 years old, and he and his 14 staff members are now partway through the nine-month process of crafting what they hope will be O'Sullivan's next long-term cue. "He doesn't change cues very often but he is always saying 'well make me another one just to see if it could be that little bit better'," Parris explains. "So we normally have one or two on the go somewhere in the background. As I'm going through shafts I'll think 'Ronnie might like this one' and I'll put it to one side for him." The cue which is currently being manufactured for O'Sullivan features the same classic design with an ebony splice Parris travels to timber yards across the country and searches through stockpiles of wood looking for high-quality pieces of ash and maple. Over the following months the wood is cut, settled, rounded, spliced, planed, fitted with a brass tip and leather pad, sanded in nine different ways, oiled, and finally waxed, before being complete. "It sounds a bit big-headed but yeah it is art", Parris says. "I won't be in the Louvre with a cue but a lot of pride goes into each one. "We've got sizes that we know Ronnie likes. He is quite fussy! People go 'oh Ronnie could play with anything' and he could, but not to the level that he wants. He is just looking for that little flick here and there, the feel, and I think just wants to get back to what he had before… if the old one was still in one piece!" Parris took a few cues to O'Sullivan before the World Championship to "glean what he's looking for". "He's really tuned in," adds Parris. "It's genius really. He's not going to say 'well I might be able to grow into this', he wants something that feels right from the start. Finding one that ticks all the boxes for that. That's when you'll see me skipping up the road! "His new one is a work in progress - he is trying them, liking some, not liking others, but still looking for the ultimate. It is like the holy grail, really. It's that pursuit. Hopefully we'll get there eventually." John Parris' cues take around nine months to produce, and the company has a waiting list of up to eight-years on some bespoke orders O'Sullivan's natural showmanship and compelling character have made him one of the most popular sportspeople since he won the UK Championship as a 17-year-old in 1993. His maverick qualities form part of Parris' willingness to work with O'Sullivan, even after the destruction of one of his workshop's fine creations. "People just love to watch him," Parris says. "He is a little bit naughty sometimes. He is his own man. He does what he wants to do. So I guess people relate to that and love him for it. "We're mates, I suppose. He knows I'm there if he wants something. He doesn't really need to ask for favours because I'll always do it." When Parris is working with players like O'Sullivan, or fellow big-name clients Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor and Judd Trump, he is aiming to help them feel the kind of intrinsic trust sports stars must have in their equipment to succeed at the top level. "You need to forget about the cue," Parris insists. "When you're playing, you don't want to be thinking 'oh I wish it was longer or wider'. You just want to pick it up and go 'this is my cue and I know I can win with it', and hopefully it gives people that sort of confidence. The old cliche about it becoming part of your arm is probably true." O'Sullivan's semi-final pits him against China's Zhao Xintong while favourite Trump faces Mark Williams in a high-quality final four. For Parris, the thrill of victory is the reason he has no desire to stop offering his craft to the world's best players now that he is into his 70s. "You get a buzz," he says. "That's what it's all about - seeing something we've created win. I'm never going to lift a trophy, but I just think 'that's little bit we've done for that player there'. "The way Ronnie is playing at the moment, I don't think he believes he can win it. But he pulls out some special things sometimes, doesn't he? So never say never."