Ramona Dragomir is the Romanian Eric Willemsen. She started a snookerblog four years ago and writes with al lot of passion about snooker. Therefor the blog is called: “Snooker, my love“. Last year she interviewed me and Paul Swanenburg about snooker in The Netherlands. From that moment on, I started to follow her and her blog. Because she writes in a very personal way about snooker and her love for the snookersport, I wanted you to get to now this young and talented snookerjournalist.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where you’re from, what you do for a living, etc?
Well, that’s a tough one 
. Mainly because I don’t like talking about myself. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like talking, but not when it’s about me 
Here I go then: I’m 30 years old and I live in Bucharest, Romania. At the present time, I work as a multitasking creative monkey at an advertising firm (I say monkey because I do all sorts of things from keeping in touch with clients, to copywriting, making advertising campaigns etc.).
In my free time I like to write, to read (I’m a real book worm), to play squash and to travel. I’m actually planning a trip to the Netherlands next summer.
When did you get interested in snooker? And how? What’s it about snooker that you like?
To be perfectly honest with you my love affair with snooker started pretty recently, in 2010. Of course that I’ve already heard about snooker and seen some matches, but it wasn’t until 2010 that I got really hooked on it. I remember being very depressed because my right hand was in a cast (a Pilate’s incident left me wearing a cast for two weeks) and browsing the programmes on the telly. And there it was, on EuroSport – the mighty World Championship.
It was 2010 so John Higgins was playing against Steve Davis, Higgins being the reigning champion at that time. I had no idea who Steve Davis was (shame on me, I know), but Higgins’ face seemed quite familiar. As we all know, Davis won that match, which was an historical moment in the snooker book and I remember getting very emotional (although as I said I wasn’t aware of the magnitude of the match) and thinking: Wow, this man (Steve Davis) is really cool! No one expected him to win, but he did it and in such a grand way!
I guess it was like a wakening call for me personally. No matter what others think, you must follow your dream. So I started googling more about snooker and with every match I saw my passion for it grew stronger and stronger.
I said it before, but for me every snooker match is a lesson of life: you can start brilliantly and get lost along the way, or you can have a really poor start and go and win the bloody tournament! It’s life! That what I love about snooker!
Can you tell us a bit about snooker in Romania?
Sad subject this one. We do have a lot of snooker fans and we also have a Snooker Federation. Actually we have staged two EBSA tournaments in Bucharest (one in 2010 and one this year), but unfortunately, as in other countries, one needs a lot of money to get going and to practice. We also have a few snooker clubs around the country that are struggling to promote snooker and organise various mini-tournaments, but for that you need sponsors and money and not many people are interested in lending a helping hand for snooker.
So, the bottom line is: we do have potential, but not enough interest and money to make it work. We do take pride in having referees who are taking part in ranking tournaments like the UK Championship, though.
What keeps you going? You’ve been writing for four years now, what makes it so interesting that you keep writing?
I think the answer would be passion. Also, the blog has been my rock and whenever I’m dealing with something rough in my life, I’m turning back to it for comfort. Actually, when I’m upset I write my best articles haha
Throughout the years I have also developed this sense of duty towards my readers. I know my blog is small, but I do have readers and those people have helped me to make the blog known, so I feel like I owe them to keep writing.
And of course there is snooker J I really love this colourful sport and I’m hoping that through my writing I’m helping to promote it all across the planet. The World Wide Web is such a fascinating place and the information so easy to access that is the perfect place to promote snooker.
Who would you like to interview for your blog, and why?
Tons of players haha Well, I guess there is one person who I would love to interview, the one I used to have no idea who he was – Steve Davis. Hehe
Personally I don’t have favourites when watching a match of a tournament, but I admit I do have a soft spot for Steve Davis, because in my opinion he holds the perfect recipe for what one calls “a snooker player”. He’s very talented, very calculated, very sharp, very competitive and off-table he’s always been a genuine gentleman living up to being a veritable ambassador for snooker.
Also, I would live to interview Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson … all the gang.
What are your dreams and hopes for the future? In life, but also with your blog?
Crazy enough my dreams and hopes for the future include my blog because there’s nothing I would like more than to write about snooker on a daily basis and become a snooker journalist in the UK. I admire Hazel Irvine very much and I think she does such a wonderful job when she covers snooker for the BBC, as well as David Hendon for what he’s achieved and for practicing what I call genuine journalism.
I hope that one day I would be able to do all these and even more for the sport I love, because that’s my thing you know … writing; and when snooker becomes part of the equation the result must be something really amazing, right? At least that’s what I like to think J
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