I haven’t done a countdown in a good while, so here’s a fun one! Every sport has a few stupid controversies. It could be something that we can laugh about and surprised that this has even happened. It could be a story of such minuscule importance, yet was blown completely out of proportion by World Snooker, the player or the media.

These stories happened over the past few years or so. If anyone has such stories like these that are much better than what I suggested, then I would love to hear it. Stories like these in the 80s or 90s are hard to find to be honest. With the media being ubiquitous, quick and more opinionated in the world of snooker, recent stories are easier to find. Here it is!

5. Ronnie O’Sullivan and ‘Chalkgate’

Here’s a forgotten gem. In the 2015 World Championship, Ronnie O’Sullivan was was checking to see if a ball goes past another ball. He uses his chalk to measure. Little did most people know that it was illegal. According to the WPBSA Rules of Snooker, under Rule 10 d) ii):

In this instance, Ronnie would have been fouled 7 points. Both Ronnie and his opponent Stuart Bingham were unaware of the rule. Though I think both players should have known this rule considering how long they’ve been professionals for, referee Terry Camilleri took no action and should’ve known this. Unfortunately, because this involves O’Sullivan and the BBC seems to think he’s the only player in the competition (I hate it when this happens), this went slightly over the top. Camilleri was reprimanded and that should be the end of it.

This follows a few of his antics in the same tournament, such as banging his cue and playing a match without shoes on. On the one hand, people criticise Ronnie for being disrespectful and bring the game into disrepute. Others say it’s good to have a maverick that puts snooker in the papers. As one put it, O’Sullivan’s antics were getting snooker “more column inches than if he’d whipped his dick out mid-game and tried to pot with that.”

Even calling it ‘Chalkgate’ is stupid but it quickly died down, hence why it takes the Number 5 spot. Sometimes you just have to love this game…..

https://twitter.com/C_J_Benton/status/593108187823394816

4. John Virgo and Match Of The Day

This is more funny than stupid. Unlike most of the stories on this list, this is one where we can look back on and chuckle. It was the 2016 World Championship semi-final, where Mark Selby and Marco Fu. The gaffe happened during what turned out to be the longest frame in Crucible history, which ran to one hour and 16 minutes. Somehow, during a live broadcast, John Virgo was caught saying: “I wanted to watch a bit of racing this afternoon. I’ll be lucky to watch some fucking Match of the Day.”

It was later said that John Virgo was very embarrassed and apologetic. It was stupid coming from Virgo. For someone who has a good reputation as a player and a commentator during the World Championships is absolutely moronic.  Some people even called him to not commentate for the rest of the event if I remember rightly. Considering Stoke City drew against Sunderland 1-1 that day, I highly doubt he missed much.

3. Ali Carter and his shoulder barge with the Rocket

Ali Carter played Ronnie O’Sullivan in the Last 16 of the 2018 World Championships. Carter had never beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan before in professional competition, excluding Championship League. The Captain was a regular critic over the Rocket’s antics over the years, adding fuel to the fire in this match. Anyway, Ali was leading 10-8 in the match and Ronnie played an unintentional snooker, THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE WITH FISTS AND GUNS AND EVERYTHING. Or maybe it was just a shoulder barge. Same thing I guess.

Straight after this altercation, Ronnie accused Ali of constantly shoulder barging him, accusing Ali of being “Mr. Angry”. Referee Paul Collier had to intervene and Ronnie saying stating he’s looking “cool as a cucumber”. While looking obviously and comically pissed off.

I can understand why this made headlines. Physical contact like this is almost unheard of snooker, a sport that takes pride in its high levels of sportsmanship. Unfortunately because of this, it was blown completely out of proportion. The media and World Snooker were over it like a tramp on chips. Even going through Google now you find “bitter clash,” “tempers flare” and “street fight” relating to the altercation and wouldn’t shut up about it. Ali may be the aggressor but since it involved Ronnie, this becomes more of a story.

In their interviews, both players passed it off as nothing and something that just happened in the heat of the moment with no malice involved. It didn’t stop Ronnie criticising the media for making a story out of it in the first place! Either way, it didn’t matter much – Ali Carter won the match 13-9. But that’s not what people remember the match for!

2. Ronnie O’Sullivan and his blue trainers

It is the 2017 English Open. We saw the likes of Anthony McGill, Alexander Ursenbacher, Jack Lisowski reached the quarter-final stages. In the second round, then-defending champion Liang Wenbo made his first maximum break against Tom Ford. A great number of stories here!

6 of the 8 players left in the English Open are aged 26 or under.

— Michael Day ⚪🔴🎱🎯 (@ViewCue) October 19, 2017

Unfortunately, Ronnie O’Sullivan dominated the headlines early into the tournament and it wasn’t due to his performances. It was to do with him wearing blue trainers. That is quite a sole-less story to hear (I’m not even sorry).

Ronnie sprained his ankle before the event and was resorted to wearing blue trainers. Wearing these trainers doesn’t apply to the professional dress code and he was told that he needs black ones. Ronnie then took to Twitter to threaten to pull out of the event because of the lack of black footwear. This led to an outpour of generosity by his fans offering to travel to Barnsley to hand him a black pair to support his sprained ankle. Ronnie received them and he went on to win the event.

This is stupid for many reasons.  All of the players are perfectly aware of the rules regarding the dress code. World Snooker was lenient enough to give him permission to wear blue trainers for the first match due to his injury.

The main reason was that this entire debacle and the Twitter storm was unnecessary. Ronnie had a similar injury before the 2014 UK Championships (which he went on to win) and obtained black shoes with supports without a problem. Why didn’t he have a pair available and why couldn’t he get one himself when he managed it so easily? It just felt like the Ronnie O’Sullivan show and that was enough for everyone to forget about Liang Wenbo’s maximum.

Looks like I’ll have to pull out of the English open cause someone’s not happy I’m wearing a trainer due to a sprained ankle

— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) October 17, 2017

1. Rory McLeod and ISIS

I’ll be honest, this is one of my favourite stories in snooker. Simply because it was so ridiculous that it is even a story at all. It’s only pure desperation.

Basically, Rory McLeod was playing against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2015 Welsh Open and many eagle-eyed viewers (unfortunately from Twitter) noticed that he is sponsored by ISIS on his waistcoat in front of the BBC cameras. This allowed many people to jump to conclusions: McLeod, a black devout Muslim + ISIS, a terrorist organisation = McLeod is supporting terrorism and is being sponsored by ISIS! Typical Muslim eh? What are they like? That is all absolute codswallop and bile.

Clarification on logo for the last 14yearshttp://t.co/BbpLcfeqXe

— Rory McLeod (@Rory_McLeod147) February 17, 2015

Of course, this is not the case. The 2015 Ruhr Open champion defended himself by explaining that the ISIS refers to ISIS Business Solutions. By that stage, the company had been sponsoring him for 14 years. You would, of course, think that this was not mentioned again? Nope, the Daily Mail thought to create an article during the 2017 World Championships to clarify the issue with the headline: “Why Rory McLeod wears ‘ISIS’ on his waistcoat: Muslim snooker player’s badge is for his sponsor – NOT the Islamic terror group.” Just in case morons are that stupid to believe otherwise.

Why bring that the sponsor isn’t an Islamic terrorist group up again at all? Common sense would dictate that his sponsor has got nothing to do with Islamic State. The company aren’t going their change their name because of a few idiots who associate them incorrectly. Even a quick Google search would put matters at rest. Unfortunately, all these articles are demonising people through the use of superficial associations. He shouldn’t have to defend himself over a legitimate logo.