On Wednesday in the World Snooker Championship, Ronnie O’Sullivan severely let himself down. In the process, he did no favours for the sport.
To be honest, O’Sullivan acted in a really inappropriate manner when he faced Stuart Bingham in the Crucible quarterfinal.
It began during the second session of the match in the afternoon when he insisted on asking Desislava Bozhilova, one of the best referees in the game, to keep respotting the black after he had potted it, even though it looked like the ball was rolling off its place.
The minor difference, in his opinion, meant that he was no longer on a red that ought to have been potable.
The red eventually came on and the ball did hold on the spot, but an uneasy O’Sullivan decided to play it safe rather than go for the pot.
Although some people praised this as a wonderful example of sportsmanship, the jury is still out on this one, so they won’t be back for a definitive decision very soon.
This was only a preamble. The major tantrums from O’Sullivan happened in the evening.
Shortly before play started for the final session, with the match tied 8–8, he first made an appearance in an interview with Eurosport.
When pressed to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding that sighting, he didn’t hold back.
“To tell the truth, I feel like some of the referees are biassed against me.” Thus, he remarked, “I just wanted to show (to) her that she got it wrong.”
And I realised that after that, I didn’t feel good about having to pot the ball. I simply wanted to get my message out. It was made clear.
“I don’t really want to win that way.” I’m more of a person of principles. After the concept is understood, I’ll be able to go to sleep.
The famous Groucho Marx quote, “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them, well, I have others,” immediately sprung to mind.
It should be mentioned that Bozhilova responded appropriately during the incident, according to the World Snooker Tour.
We most definitely didn’t have a peaceful, harmonious evening as suggested by Sheffield’s theme music.
O’Sullivan was at the table, well in the line of fire for his shot, when spectators began to stream through the red door of the Crucible with the scores tied at 10-10.
This is, for the most part, just part of the normal flow of World Championship life here. The fans had come back to watch John Higgins and Kyren Wilson play again at the other table.
O’Sullivan pulled over and took a few minutes to sit down, which made sense given the situation.
However, as the chaos subsided and the door finally closed, referee Bozhilova asked him to continue.
We might wait twenty minutes, she countered, observing that he seemed hesitant.
The despicable aspect of O’Sullivan’s actions then surfaced. He gave Bozhilova a condescending hand gesture while telling her to “chill.”
The official, who conducted himself with outstanding dignity the entire time, only said, “I’m chilled.”
As it happened, the door did open again for a short while, but the problem was resolved quickly, and everything returned to normal.
And that’s enough from me regarding the door. Really, it has nothing to do with the door.
