Barry Hearn OBE : Sports Promoter | Full Q&A at The Oxford Union

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Barry Hearn is the founder and President of promotions company Matchroom Sport and Chairperson of the Professional Darts Corporation.
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[@johnparr6111]

Great to hear Barry's story. Shame more people couldn't be bothered to turn up.

[@michaelmorley6522]

Incredible the lack of audience. I thought University was a place to learn. There is a lot that Barry Hearn can teach you. Really enjoyed listening to him.

[@bannisterable]

Barry Hearn is a legend!

[@hector_5946]

I wonder why the union turned off the comments on the previous debate, it speaks of the rot running rampant through the institution.

[@samirkotecha9481]

Barry will always be the king of Snooker. He made snooker players more famous then football players in the 80s & the sport was also as big as football if not more.

[@krishnan-resurrection714]

..shame no one watches now . .. . .Hearns destroyed it .

[@WangPaste]

As big as football if not more? I love snooker but I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my entire life. If you calculated the attendances and viewing figures of snooker, darts, boxing, rugby, golf and cricket and added them all together, you'd still get nowhere near the level of support and popularity of football. . This is definitely the most delusional comment I've ever read on KZbin

[@STEVO-hn5su]

Barry Hearn is a very interesting character. He has a great story to tell. He was invited to appear. He took time out of his busy schedule to appear. The interviewer looks like he wanted to yawn after asking every question. What was the point?

[@nicks4489]

It's interesting regarding the size of the audience. There's definately this waft of disdain that eminates from a certain "class" of people when viewing those who have become a success via a different route. It's the same guffaw of dismissal when you suggest to the average active Conservative Party member that Alan Sugar might be a good MP as he has real life experience and has also been a successful businessman. I don't really know how to further describe it other than to say, in rather harsh terms, that such success is often regarded as somewhat dirty by the aforementioned "class". Maybe it's some Oxbridge self-preservation mechanism. Yet, they will pack the room for a pop star, probably because they regard it as edgy. All credit to Barry Hearn for turning up. He has much more to teach them than they themselves realise.

[@tarabreen-kf6kq]

Soz Baz but Dagenham was still in Essex when you were born mate. GLC grabbed it 1965. They tried to grab Watford as well but they refused the offer. I Like Barry very much, top bloke. Seems to have installed great work ethic in his son Eddie 👍

[@redouanepeche]

It is nice to hear a story from Huda, thank you

[@krag3r]

Black Book Barry Hearn

[@tomkmb4120]

Bit sad that there is hardly anyone there, these things are usually packed.

[@jamesbondiv4072]

Most of the "sophisticated" students were probably far too busy listening to a pregnant man or something.

[@User-ei7eo]

That cricket idea was absolutely horrendous 😂😂

[@victors3803]

Holy shit! I would fire all the staff who was in charge for advertising this event among students!

[@jamesadcock5235]

Those students knew it wasn't for them

[@kapilpatel2897]

🙏

[@peterdixon7734]

Everybody debatin', nobody studyin'.

[@matthewmcconnell3011]

A shame there weren't more there. Barry takes everything in his stride but he must've been disappointed with the turnout

[@BB49.]

As a promoter he must have been livid at this turnout. Disgraceful for a man who has achieved what he has. In regards the interviewer he is everything he hates in a person a snob.

[@sundeeprana]

First the worst, 2nd the best

[@JamesJohnAgar]

The sports that will struggle in the next 10yrs will be the Olympic sports, Golf, Tennis, Motorsport, Cricket, Boxing(health issues), UFC(health issues) because they are all to expensive to get into from the outset. Even football at grassroot levels is struggling to attract younger talent because kids are more interested in gaming and online/E-gaming now. Their will also be a star player or superstar the main stream media looks to, to turn into a role model/celebrity to help captivate people into starting to take up the sport and learn it though!

[@chexfactor]

Blue collar fighting sports of boxing and UFC will have participation at grass-roots - apart from a gym membership, should be accessible to a huge part of the modern world - the North of England has a huge fighting culture, especially in the martial arts. Football will always be attractive - especially to younger children when a class athlete + a personality may actually earn more through endorsements and sponsorship vs. a class athlete. Young kids are more interested in e-sports with alive atmospheres for big events where big personalities are playing - but hard to predict when the next big event will come around. Promoters like Hearn will always keep an eye on where the next big area of growth is, eSports is growing but hard to predict, its only natural that established sports with flagship events - Premier League, Wimbledon, Silverstone, Heavyweight Title Fights, will continue to be marquee sports that people with deep pockets will pay big money to watch.

[@krishnan-resurrection714]

Hearns is only interested in raping the sport for what he can make out of it ...then leave a hollow husk ..- like he did with snooker (no one watches now ) ..and soon to follow ...darts .

[@User-ei7eo]

No chance Cricket will never struggle while private schools are still around.

[@xplaybwoix]

39.45- this aged badly

[@swisspinkystyle3709]

First

[@NorthWalesKid]

His son is the reason fury and Joshua never happened