Well, since the past couple of months are filled with job hunting and doing an occasional tweak on Fantasy Premier League, a countdown I think is slightly overdue. Here it is. You got this far, so you might as well carry on until the end anyway.
We already had a few controversial moments this season. The Shanghai Masters, one of the most popular tournaments on the circuit and one of the very few to have a tiered qualifying format is erased from the calendar, for example. The WPBSA and the IBSF boards fighting it out until hopefully, they won’t bicker and argue about who killed who. And lastly, which country does Eden Sharav represent?
What makes an event controversial is when it causes disagreement, an argument and discussion. Ronnie O’Sullivan’s concession against Stephen Hendry in the UK Championships was probably one of the greatest shocks in modern snooker history, but there wasn’t much controversy to it. There is a difference between a shock and a controversy. Hopefully, these things will make you grumble over a cup of tea over, which is probably a very good thing, to be honest. And no, Ronnie O’Sullivan playing snooker in his socks isn’t shocking nor a damn controversy! That’s just silly.
6. Ronnie O’Sullivan’s Maximum Refusal
Of course, Ronnie will be mentioned here! It was at the 2016 Welsh Open when he was in the process of scoring yet another 147 against Barry Pinches. On 40 he asked what the prize was for completing the maximum. It was £10,000. In the past, it was £147,000 but it was abolished in favour of the “rolling 147 prize” during the 2010/2011 season, whereby if a maximum is not made then the prize rolls over to the next event until somebody wins it. In protest to “only” £10,000, Ronnie carried on until he reached 104, where he potted the red to get on position of the pink instead, drawing in a couple of boos from the crowd. What was wonderful was that a shot before the commentators was lauded him for being a genius and then he does that!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqcpSb1aNnA
Barry Hearn as you can imagine, was not a happy bunny. He criticised Ronnie for being “unacceptable and disrespectful to the paying public” for refusing the maximum and not giving his best to entertain, especially to those who have not seen a maximum before. Which is fair enough. I always waive my opportunities to score a maximum, but usually around the second red. Ahem.
@Relmo_21 @ronnieo147 @Huwm888 Its up to Ronnie as I don't play his shots for him ! If 10 k doesn't mean anything then I'm sorry for him.
— Barry Hearn (@BarryHearn) February 15, 2016
Ronnie, on the other hand, felt that the prize wasn’t worthy of a 147, saying that “certain things have value, and a 147 is a special moment. I want it to feel special all round,” so the next 147 can be more special. So this drew controversy as to whether he was right because it was too cheap and the coverage was blown completely out of proportion, while others called him selfish, petulant and arrogant, especially in the sense that most people would kill for £10,000. Finally, I had to put this quote from FactFiend in about the controversy, because I find this quite funny:
“The snooker governing body went ape shit despite the fact O’Sullivan’s antics and their overblown reactions to them were getting them more column inches than if he’d whipped his dick out mid-game and tried to pot with that.”
I’m sorry.
5. Alain Robidoux’s Accusation of Showboating
This is quite an interesting one, to be honest.
Ronnie O’Sullivan was sky high in the 11th frame, on course of leading 9-2 in his first round match in the 1996 World Championship (ROS would eventually win 10-3). Then he started playing with his opposite hand on the colours for a bit of exhibitionism, or as John Virgo said “taking the mickey.” But opponent Alain Robidoux was having none of it. Despite Ronnie eventually missing the brown, Robidoux made his point perfectly clear by carrying on with the frame, despite being 75-22 behind, even when he accidentally fouled himself. Clearly feeling as if he wasn’t being treated with the respect he thought he deserved, Alain extended the frame by eight more minutes, mainly helped by Ronnie refusing the pink a couple of time just to make his own point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs-nUiRq_GE
Alain argued that his ‘showboating’ was unnecessary and should be reserved for an exhibition but not for a professional match and was only playing left-handed just to “rub it in” as he left without shaking Ronnie’s hand in disgust. The unapologetic Ronnie, of course, wasn’t bothered by his antics, claiming that he plays left handed in practice anyway and that it would be boring if everyone acted in the same ‘professional’ manner. Legend Ray Reardon saw no problem about the left-handed business but criticised both players for not attempting to shake hands at the start and at the end of the match, while Virgo described both players as being childish.
So who was in the wrong then? Alain was more wrong here simply because he had every right to speak out his grievances during his interview but to ‘protest play’ for 8 minutes and not shake Ronnie’s hand is unacceptable. Ronnie was wrong for playing his game in retaliation and not either attempting to shake Alain’s hand either. It is, however, amazing how unanimous everyone is in Ronnie’s favour now, probably because we accepted what a great player he has become to such an extent that some simply denounced the Canadian as simply a sore loser.
4. Mark Allen’s Chinese Jibe
This was during the 2012 World Championships, whereby half of the Top 16 got knocked out of the first round. One of which was Mark Allen who lost 10-6 to unknown outsider Cao Yupeng. This was a shock result in itself as he was No. 83 in the rankings and it was also the first time that he even qualified for the televised stage of a ranking event.
There was one incident though that certainly touched the nerve of the Pistol.
Cao was leading 6-5 when Allen claimed Cao pushed the cue ball and failed to declare a foul on himself when Paul Collier supposedly missed a “blatant” push. Video footage proved inconclusive and Cao claimed he was so focused on playing he didn’t notice, though commentators Terry Griffiths and John Virgo seem to agree that it was a push shot. Allen then blasted this behaviour as “disgusting” and even went on to say that “it’s very sad the state of snooker if it has to go down to that, but it’s not the first time. Marco Fu and Liang Wenbo have been known for it in the past so maybe it’s just the Chinese players.” Even Steve Davis butted in with this claim that he doesn’t think Chinese players are prone to cheating, but it is mainly the question of whether the outburst was actually justified. See for yourself and tell me what you think:
Neither Fu nor Liang have been found guilty of cheating to this day, though Liang has been criticised for several instances of unsporting behaviour during matches. This wasn’t a happy season for Allen, as he severely chastised Barry Hearn for changing the UK Championship format and that the island of Hainan, which staged the World Open, as “horrendous” and its people as “ignorant,” which led to many, many fines.
3. Steve Davis’s Comment of Women’s Inferiority
Steve Davis was criticised in 2014 for saying that the reason why men are more superior and better at snooker than women currently are is because “The male of the species has got a single-minded, obsessional type of brain that I don’t think so many females have…that single minded determination in something that must be said is a complete waste of time – trying to put snooker balls into pockets with a pointed stick.” He went one to say that a woman would never compete in the latter stages of the World Championship.
Steve Davis is never one involved with controversy. He is the polar opposite to rival Alex Higgins. But this is at the point where Women’s Snooker was finally getting the coverage it deserved, where it was finally gaining momentum and more women and girls were taking up the sport. He received a lot of condemnation from women in the media for suggesting that women lack determination and “obsessiveness” in sport, especially one that has, after all, no major physical limitations. Vice-Chairman of West Ham United FC Karren Brady claimed his comments are from the “dinosaur age,” while legendary Paralympian Lady Grey-Thompson described his comments as “a shame” and cited her experiences as evidence that she had to be single-minded when she was back into training a week after having a caesarean.
There are comments from Lady Grey-Thompson that I agree with. She mentioned that the reasons why women are so far behind in the snooker world compared to women are because of discrimination in sexist snooker clubs, the lack of opportunity to make a career out of the sport and the lack of financial backing. Even today that is the case, according to David Horrix (see reference below). It was only a few of years ago when the prize money to win the Women’s World Championship was the same as the highest break prize in the Men’s World Championship. Reanne Evans agreed to an extend “maybe men find it easier to focus on one thing at one time,” because she was looking after her daughter and worried about the lack of money in the game.
As with Davis, who even received criticism from Jason Ferguson, said that they are driving to improve equality in the game. Victoria Coren supported Davis in saying that his comments weren’t sexist at all but were self-depreciating. Personally, the women’s game was a long way to go, and even when playing with and against women everyone has been respectful to one another. I think simply because men played the game a lot longer than women, learning from male coaches and having more opportunity certainly had something to do with men being better at snooker at the moment.
2. Peter Ebdon’s Slow Play in You-Know-That-Match
The 2005 World Championship match between Peter Ebdon and Ronnie O’Sullivan is famous for being infamous. Two completely different characters with two completely different styles of play. One that waltzes across the green baize and another who sweats a pint of blood with every shot. Ronnie O’Sullivan: look away now.
This is where all the arguments and suggestions about shot clocks, accusations of cheating via slow play came from. It also brings up the idea of whether flashy, attractive and attacking play should be given up at the expense of playing ugly to win. Ebdon taking three minutes over a shot and taking more than 5 minutes constructing a break of 12 is not pretty reading by any imagination, especially when Ronnie described it as “the most painful experience of my snooker career.”
But that wasn’t why it was controversial. It was because this match was split into two camps. One where fans appreciated how Ebdon diffused the Rocket with his tactics and his determination to fight back from 8-2 down to win 13-11. Then there were those viewers who complained about how slow he was, as well as columnist Matthew Syed who accused the Force of cheating by playing deliberately slowly. I cannot believe that Ebdon would ever cheat as he is probably one of the most principled men on the circuit but it does make one wonder: are further restrictions necessary or are people unable to fathom that Ronnie lost without his playing fast-paced snooker?
1. John Higgins’s Fateful Night in Kiev
Every man and his dog knew this was going to come up. This had to be the top because it is one of the very few controversies that is split down the middle whether Higgins was innocent and caught in a very unfortunate time or whether he’s a fraud, a charlatan and a rogue for accepting bribe money to fix matches and that he should’ve had a ban the size of Stephen Lee’s for his match-fixing. People still bring it up to debate, even today. I’ve seen far worse comments than below, to be honest.
Totally agree Neil. Similar situation to John Higgins, should've received a lifetime ban! #cheat
— Alasdair Gamble (@alasdairgamble) August 6, 2017
This is a complicated case and hard to explain simply. I had to use The Crucible’s Greatest Moments by Hector Nunns for help on this one since this controversy is worth having an article by itself. After Higgins lost to Steve Davis 13-11 in the 2010 World Championships, he and former manager Pat Mooney went to Ukraine under the pretence of organising a series of events linked to the World Series of Snooker. However, both men were filmed by undercover reporters from the now-defunct News of the World and the newspaper released a video claiming evidence of them discussing the possibility of losing frames for money. Higgins claimed that he hadn’t done anything wrong and would never fix a frame and was “playing along” while in fear of his safety. In the end, two serious charges of match-fixing and corruption were dropped after the full footage was seen, but Higgins was still suspended for 6 months and fined due to failing to report the meeting to the board, as well as giving the impression that he might breach the betting rules, something that has been dogging the sport for years. Below is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln85qbCRI6w&feature=youtu.be
So what do you think? I still don’t know and of course, would like to have the rose-tinted glasses to say that Higgins was innocent. Certainly, his case was strengthened due to News of the World folding due to illegal and unethical practices, phone-hacking scandals and links to police corruption. But what is so controversial is that it has happened to someone so uncontroversial until that point and it is the sort of scandal that will never go away. During the 2011 World Championships, Higgins was heckled by an audience member during his semi-final match against Mark Williams, shouting “How do you swallow that three hundred thousand, John? You’re a disgrace to snooker!” He went on to win the title that your and reached the final in 2017. Sadly, when he does retire, you know this scandal will crop up again. So. What do you think?
References:
- Cooney, G., “Head Of World Snooker Responds To Ronnie O’Sullivan’s ‘Disrespectful’ 147 Refusal.” Balls.IE Accessed on: 7th May 2014. Accessed from:
https://www.balls.ie/snooker/head-of-world-snooker-responds-to-ronnie-osullivans-disrespectful-147-refusal-324723 - Ellis-Petersen, H., “Steve Davis comments about women in snooker draw condemnation.” The Guardian. Published on: 4th May 2014. Accessed on: 2nd August 2017. Accessed from: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/04/steve-davis-comments-women-snooker-condemnation
- Goulding, N., “Snooker: Allen cries ‘cheat’ after shock defeat to Chinese qualifier.” The Independent. Published on: 22nd April 2012. Accessed on: 7th August 2017. Accessed from: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/snooker-allen-cries-cheat-after-shock-defeat-to-chinese-qualifier-7669052.html.
- Horrix, D., “WOMAN NOT ALLOWED INTO THE SNOOKER ROOM.” Complete Snooker By David Horrix. Published on: 4th August 2017. Accessed on: 7th August 2017. Accessed from:
https://www.completesnooker.co.uk/blogs/news/woman-not-allowed-into-the-snooker-room - Nunns, H., “The Crucible’s Greatest Moments.” Pitch Publishing. 2017.
- Rigby, C., “World Snooker: Steve Davis says women will never match top men.” BBC. Published on: 2nd May 2014. Accessed on: 2nd August 2017. Accessed from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/27253279
- Smallwood, K., “Snooker Has the Most Adorable Controversies” FactFiend. Published on: 17th January 2017. Accessed on: 7th May 2014. Accessed from:
http://www.factfiend.com/snooker-adorable-controversies/ - Sporting Intelligence., “REVEALED: WHY JOHN HIGGINS WAS CLEARED OF MATCH-FIXING (BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE, INCLUDING A STATEMENT FROM MAZHER MAHMOOD, TOLD THE FULL STORY).” Published on: 21st September 2010. Accessed on:7th May 2017. Accessed from: http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2010/09/21/revealed-why-john-higgins-was-cleared-of-match-fixing-because-the-evidence-including-a-statement-from-mazher-mahmood-told-the-full-story-210901/
