THE old image of snooker is of seedy, smoky, dimly-lit halls filled with sallow-complexioned men, pint in one hand, cigarette in the other as they wait their turn at the table. It's hard to think of a sport which is less associated with fitness, exercise and good health - unless it's darts.

Certainly, some of the top professionals of yesteryear did their bit to foster the image of snooker as the anti-sportsman's sport.

Canadian Bill Werbernuik's ability to knock back the pints - not to mention the size of his beer belly - was legendary. And there could have been few sportsmen so consistently wreathed in cigarette smoke as the great Alex Hurricane Higgins.

Snooker, like everything, is changing, however. A new breed of professionals are beginning to dominate the game - fit young men, who work out regularly, play football and even go jogging.

Reigning world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, in action at the UK Championships in York today, spoke at the weekend of the importance of keeping fit. "If you have a certain amount of fitness, you keep your concentration much better," he said.

Fellow players Ken Docherty and Mark King are both keen footballers - and a number of younger players have no objection to working up a sweat down at the gym.

One of them is Joe Perry, the 27-year-old from Cambridgeshire who was the beaten finalist in the recent European Open in Malta and has just been knocked out of the UK Championships in York by Paul Hunter.

Joe makes no apologies for betraying snooker's time-honoured image.

The modern professional game is changing, he says. There is a lot more qualifying than there used to be - and it is not uncommon to play four or five matches a week. "Now you have to be match sharp every day," he says.

So the modern snooker pro's life is a gruelling one - more so, perhaps, than ever before.

"It can be hard on the body," Joe admits. "For long periods of time you're bending over a table. There's a lot of back strain. And snooker takes up a lot of mental energy. Three to four hours concentration can really take it out of you."

Keeping in shape, he believes, gives him a real edge over less fit opponents - both mentally and physically.

"It's a case of fit body, fit mind. Being fit does help that other factor, in your mind. It helps you think clearly. If you feel fit and keep yourself in shape, it gives you an edge towards the end of a match."

Joe's exercise regime is fairly simple, and involves heading down to the gym three to four times a week, for an hour or 90 minutes workout.

Nothing flashy like weight-training. He doesn't want to develop Arnold Schwarzenegger biceps or a six-pack torso.

"I'm keeping fit so I can think clearly and have long concentration power," he says. "So I don't do any weights, but the cardio-vascular stuff. I run on the treadmill: and I row, because that's good for my back."

He tries to live a reasonably healthy lifestyle out of the gym, too. He acknowledges that diet is important, but relies on his mum - he lives with his parents - to feed him properly. When he's on tour he tends to eat at restaurants a lot: but still tries to keep his diet reasonably balanced.

More importantly - and this would have been almost sacrilegious for one of the old-style snooker pros - he doesn't drink much, and doesn't smoke.

"I don't really drink unless I'm in between tournaments. If there is a two to three week gap I might go out for a drink with mates, but nothing too heavy," he says. "And I don't smoke. I never have done."

With young players like Joe Perry coming through the ranks, the world of snooker is never going to be the same again.

Updated: 09:01 Tuesday, December 11, 2001