Dene O’Kane’s untimely death has seen a wave of tributes from the snooker world, including from Neil Robertson who remembers his fellow Australasian star of the baize very fondly.
The two-time World Championship quarter-finalist was very supportive of Robertson as the Australian faced the same obstacles of making it in the British-based game from the other side of the world.
The Thunder from Down Under remembers a rousing call for support that O’Kane made on his behalf even after a defeat on the table.
‘I dropped off tour in 2002, then won the World Under-21s and got my tour card back, then had a really good season,’ Robertson told Metro. ‘I came back home and played in a really big tournament which Dene was playing in as well. The Fred Osborne, the biggest tournament in Australia, it’s a great tournament.
‘He was really keen to see me play and congratulate me on having a really good season. He wanted to know how I was settling in and make sure I had a good established base. Back then there weren’t academies like there are now in Sheffield, there wasn’t anything like that then.
‘Dene knew the importance of a base, especially for people from that far overseas, to the point where you need to uproot to move to the UK. He wanted to make sure I had that base, good practice facilities because he knew the uphill struggle I would be facing.
‘I played him in the final of that tournament, I won and he gave this really nice runner-up speech. There was a really good crowd there, he did the speech in front of a lot of people and he put all the emphasis of the speech on me, trying to get everyone to get behind me, saying everyone in Australia should get behind this kid because it’s really tough. “He needs it, he needs everyone’s support if he’s going to do great things in the game.”
‘It was really, really nice to hear that. He put so much emphasis on the potential I had but I needed that support, it was just really nice.’
Robertson recalls being excited to meet one of the few stars of Australasian snooker for the first time, with O’Kane leaving a brilliant impression on him.
‘The first time I met Dene, he was one of the Australasian superstars,’ said Robertson. ‘There weren’t many. Warren King, John Campbell, Robby Foldvari. I was very pleased to meet him and have really good chats.
‘He was a really good guy, really well-liked, very classy kind of guy. He had a really eloquent way about him, a real gentleman. He was a really nice guy.’
The 2010 world champion has had incredible success on the snooker table, swapping life in Australia for England to pursue it and he says this huge change in lifestyle creates a bond between overseas plays.
‘I met Dene a few times either at tournaments back in Australia or over here. The overseas players tend to have a really good connection with each other because we know how hard it is,’ said the 42-year-old. ‘Players from this country will never in a million years understand how hard it is.
‘Dene understood it, he was a professional for a long time and lived here when it was even harder to. He would have been writing letters back home to New Zealand and the odd incredibly expensive phone call.
‘I remember what it was like even in 2001/02 when I was in Leicester for six months. Internet cafes were kind of dotted around here and there and that was my communication with my family, sending emails and then gong to check a few days later. Back then it would have been incredibly difficult and probably why there haven’t been so many overseas players.’
O’Kane reached a peak of number 18 in the world rankings, comfortably the most successful player ever to emerge from New Zealand.
Robertson points out that there have been other fine cueists from the country, but the lack of professional success illustrates how difficult it is for players from the other side of the world to make it on tour.
‘They’ve had some really good players,’ Robertson said of New Zealand. ‘Chris McBreen was a really good player. There was a father and son Daniel Haenga and Harry Haenga, they were both brilliant players.
‘There have been one or two that have given it a go but it’s just tough, it’s so difficult. People having to uproot their whole lives to move here and give it a go, it’s always going to be a struggle to get more players from places like Australia, New Zealand, the Americas.
‘I hope more people can come through from New Zealand and Australia. Dene passed on some experience to me, hopefully I can do that for others and we can keep that going.’
MORE : Snooker icon Dene O’Kane dies after tragic accident at New Zealand home
MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan embarks on globe-trotting exhibition tour after Crucible disappointment
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