Sad tragedy: lots of opinions! Ronnie O’Sullivan publicly facing another verbal disgrace” from bitter rival for publicly saying the truth” that could be a worst nightmare coming out of this same rival who has almost..
Shaun Murphy is at the centre of a row with snooker rival Mark Allen 12 months after calling out Ronnie O’Sullivan. Murphy was upset with The Rocket a year ago for “airing dirty laundry” regarding the condition of professional snooker.
O’Sullivan has been vocal in his criticisms of the standard of snooker, its venues and authorities. But Murphy felt that the 48-year-old had not bothered to discuss his issues with the World Snooker Tour (WST) or the players’ board
He said at the time: “It’s a shame that not just Ronnie but other players won’t come to the table and talk with WST and WPBSA players’ board. I was always taught not to air your dirty laundry in public, and all of the things Ronnie refers to…none of them are made any easier by him speaking so publicly about them.
“I don’t see how players can’t understand that. This isn’t about gagging orders or restricting free speech. It’s having the sense to realise some of these things are sensitive, and need dealing with in-house.
We need to be a unified voice in snooker to grow the game and make it bigger and better – and there is very little of that going around at the moment. In simple mathematical terms, for prize money and number of tournaments, he is incorrect to say it is the worst it is ever been.”
However, Allen responded in a post on social media platform X: “Actually getting a bit boring reading [Murphy’s] recent views. This is someone who is meant to represent the players at board level but openly criticising the current world champ and others. Baffling behaviour or is it just attention-seeking from the yes man?”
It comes following a war-of-words between Murphy and Allen over the state of the facilities at the British Open. Murphy said criticism from “fellow professionals” was “rude and amateurish”, to which Allen responded: “Anyone taking [his] opinions seriously, I seriously question their judgement or quite possibly their sanity, not gonna lie. Anyway, maybe I’ll take three cues to my next match.”
