BY banning tobacco advertising, the European Union has attempted to cut the number of its citizens lighting up. But, while the policy has clear health benefits, it also threatens to claim a high-profile casualty. While the rest of the world is being turned off cigarettes, world snooker is in grave danger of going up in smoke.

With the new season breaking off in Preston last week, there should have been an air of optimism and opportunity hanging over the snooker community. Instead, like the fog of an old-fashioned snug, the sport finds itself clouded in strife.

"Snooker is a great game but I see a lot of things that aren't happening," roared Ronnie O'Sullivan, the sport's biggest star. "I see a sinking ship and I don't want to be a part of that."

A cursory glance at snooker's current tour schedule is enough to confirm his point. So far, there are only five more tournaments - the UK Championships, the Masters, the China Open, the Malta Open and the Welsh Open - scheduled for this season.

There is also, of course, the World Championships, but snooker no longer boasts a season - with a bit of inspired planning, it could be over and done with in three or four weeks.

The root of the problem lies with tobacco. Or, to be more precise, with a lack of it.

Last July, an EU directive came into force banning all tobacco sponsorship. Prior to that ruling, tobacco companies had ploughed more than £100m into British sport, much of that investment targeted at snooker.

As a result, the game now finds itself struggling to attract sponsors. Of the season's five remaining tournaments, only one - the UK Championships - will have a backer's name attached. No sponsors means no new tournaments and, eventually, could even mean that existing ones go to the wall.

In such an insecure environment it is no surprise to learn that snooker's biggest stars are already looking elsewhere. O'Sullivan and Jimmy White have already signed up for the new pool tour, a series of events with guaranteed prize money of more than $5m a year, and former world champion Stephen Hendry is close to following suit.

"It will be fun and it will be exciting," explained O'Sullivan. "There is a different mentality from snooker to pool. Snooker wants to keep 128 players all happy and they want the top players to carry dead meat. In America, if you are a loser and can't cut it you get out."

The sport needs to adapt to survive and the current situation is not dissimilar to the one that faced darts in the 1990s. Back then, a player-led revolt led to the formation of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), a body that created its own tour and was forced to be self-sufficient.

The success of the PDC provides a viable blueprint for the future. By breaking away they have maximised their own earnings and now run a far more streamlined ship. The bloated snooker world could certainly do with separating the wheat from the chaff.

Upon its formation, the PDC also courted Sky TV and signed a lucrative deal that guaranteed both investment and exposure.

World Snooker already receives £5m from the BBC, but that money has led to complacency and paralysis. The current television deal, which expires next year, represents the vast majority of World Snooker's income and a new round of negotiations should look to involve other broadcasters and spread the cash wider than a couple of flagship events.

Finally, the darts world recognised that, to survive, it had to become more global, developing a world circuit of televised tournaments, something that snooker, despite events in Malta and China, has struggled to do.

Ironically, it is snooker's global reach that could yet be the sport's saving grace. A barely believable 100 million people watched live coverage of last year's China Open final, in which Ding Junhui came from 4-1 down to beat Hendry 9-5.

Tapping into that market will secure snooker's future. The traditionalists might not like it, but the battle against pool will not be won in the Western world.

Rugby league is another sport that has had to change to survive, but the success of that alteration was evident in last weekend's Grand Final between Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos.

More than 65,000 fans sold out Old Trafford to crown a season that has seen average Super League attendances scale new heights.

Leeds regularly attract crowds of 18,000 to Headingley and this winter's Tri-Nations games between Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand were sold out months in advance.

The sport's rulers took a massive gamble when they turned rugby league into a summer sport in 1996 but their boldness has been rewarded handsomely.

The first controversy of the 2012 Olympics is already brewing - should morris dancing be included in the opening ceremony?

Lord Redesdale, a Liberal Democrat peer, says yes. Given the Olympic stadium's location in London's East End, perhaps the Lambeth Walk would be more appropriate?