The quarter-finals at the 2024 World Snooker Championship yielded a very unexpected semi-finals line-up as the all big “favourites” bowed out. Indeed, for the first time since the World Championship is played at the Crucible in 1977, three of the semi-finalists are “qualifiers”, although, one of them, Stuart Bingham, is a former World Champion. Kyren Wilson is the only seed still standing.
Judd Trump’s dreams of winning a second Cazoo World Championship crown were smashed by world number 44 Jak Jones who won 13-9 to record the biggest ever quarter-final shock at the Crucible.
World number two Trump arrived in Sheffield on the crest of a wave having won five ranking titles this season and was rated second favourite for the title after Ronnie O’Sullivan, but struggled to find any fluency against gritty Jones and made too many unforced errors. From 8-7 ahead, Trump lost six of the last seven frames, and his highest break in the concluding session was just 22.
Welshman Jones, age 30, was playing in only the fourth ranking event quarter-final of a pro career which dates back to 2010. He clearly loves the Crucible as he reached the last eight here last year, knocking out Neil Robertson before losing to Mark Allen. Calm under pressure with an excellent safety game, Jones also made several high quality breaks in the closing stages and finished with a century.
He is into his second ranking event semi-final, the only previous one coming at the 2022 Gibraltar Open, and will face O’Sullivan or Stuart Bingham over 33 frames on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Jones is already guaranteed £100,000, by far his biggest pay day, and if he reaches the final he’ll be into the world’s top 16.
Trump led 27-15 in the opening frame today when he missed the pink to a top corner, and Jones punished him with 40 to go 9-8 ahead. A scrappy 18th frame went Trump’s way, but it was Jones who grew in confidence as a break of 87 put him 10-9 ahead. In frame 20, Trump trailed 10-24 when he missed the pink off its spot, and again his opponent took advantage with 61.
Another clear scoring chance went begging for Trump in the 21st as, trailing 18-7, he overcut a short range yellow to a baulk corner. The frame came down to the last red and Jones, leading 53-21, slotted in a mid range pot for 12-9. Yet another error from Trump early in the next, going in-off after potting the blue on 21, proved his last shot as Jones finished in style with a 106.
“Judd struggled – from 4-4 he seemed to go into his shell and I picked up on that,” said Jones, who won the European Under-19 title during a promising junior career before turning pro aged 16. “He made a century in the first frame and that seemed to motivate me as I knew I would need to play well. Maybe it was pressure, but Judd didn’t seem to play the way he usually does. I just tried to keep calm and I have learned that from previous matches here. And something I have learned from Judd is not to get down on myself if I make a mistake.
“I only slept for two hours last night, but the adrenaline of this event keeps you going. I don’t know how I would feel if I play Ronnie next, but I am trying to just play snooker rather than thinking about the whole situation. My dad is here with me and he is a very calming influence. He has been there with me since my junior days and he never gets too down when I lose or excited when I win. We don’t even talk much about snooker!“
Trump said: “I struggled. I had chances but I couldn’t get rhythm. Every time I came to the table, it felt like I had been away from it for ages and I wasn’t able to get into that flow. Maybe I should have been more attacking in the first couple of sessions. Maybe I played it into his hands. I was slower than I would have liked.
“I had more than enough chances today to win so I only have myself to blame. Every time is tough coming here. It’s a gruelling schedule, playing last night and then again the following morning. But it’s the same for both players and Jak dealt with it a lot better than I did. I missed too many easy balls.”
David Gilbert, who was struggling for motivation to even play snooker a few weeks ago, is into the semi-finals of the Cazoo World Championship for the second time after a 13-8 victory over Stephen Maguire.
Having built a 7-1 lead in the opening session on Tuesday, Gilbert was able to nurse his advantage through to the finish line and can now look forward to a huge occasion on Thursday, Friday and Saturday when he faces John Higgins or Kyren Wilson over 33 frames.
Gilbert’s previous appearance in the last four at the Crucible came in 2019 when he battled Higgins all the way before an agonising 17-16 defeat. This time the 42-year-old will hope to go further and, inspired by a new fitness and practice regime arranged by fellow player Andy Lee, clearly believes he can go all the way.
“Five weeks I go I couldn’t even be bothered to play in the qualifiers,” admitted world number 31 Gilbert, who knocked out Luca Brecel and Robert Milkins in the first two rounds. “This would have seemed impossible so it has been an incredible turn around and I feel it’s a massive achievement. I am more confident than ever, for whatever reason, I truly believe in myself. I have proved to myself that I can still play.
“I miss being a top 16 player. I have had times in my career where I have pressed the self destruct button. But the motivation is back now. If I am sitting here on Monday night with the trophy, no one could be more proud.
“I would love to play John Higgins again in the semis. He’s a class act. We had a fantastic game here five years ago and I have thought about it many times. I never thought I would get another chance to walk out there in the one table set up. But I also admire Kyren and the way he turns up at tournaments to win, if I had his belief then I might have won ten titles.“
Tamworth’s Gilbert is into the eighth ranking event semi-final of his career and is chasing his second title, the only other coming at the 2021 Championship League. With Jak Jones already into the last four, this is the first time since 2016 that two qualifiers have reached the semi-finals, and Stuart Bingham could make it three if he beats Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Having led 10-6 overnight, Gilbert had a chance to snatch the opening frame today from 56-0 behind but missed a tough pot on the penultimate red with the rest on 33, and Glasgow’s Maguire took advantage to close the gap. Gilbert dominated frame 18 before Maguire’s 64 in the 19th made it 11-8. Three scoring visits helped Gilbert to win frame 20 to go four up with five to play. After the interval, the Englishman took control of frame 21 with runs of 19 and 20, and after he potted the last red to go 31 points ahead, the handshake soon followed.
Maguire, who missed out on a third semi-final having reached that stage in 2007 and 2012, said: “I felt I just handed it to him, which I hate doing. I don’t know what happened in the first session and it was a long way back from there. I lost all the close frames. I don’t feel I played any quality snooker, I just battled through. Good luck to Dave, he’s a nice kid and we go back a long way. He’ll have to improve. He was there for taking last night and I was disappointed to finish 10-6 because it could have been 9-7.”
Kyren Wilson is through to the fourth Crucible semi-final of his career, after an impressive display saw him overpower John Higgins 13-8 at the Cazoo World Championship.
As he so often does, Wilson has timed his form to hit its peak here at the sport’s biggest event. Despite having only made one prior semi-final appearance this season, at the German Masters, the Warrior has produced his very best to blitz a path to the Crucible semis. So far he has defeated Dominic Dale and Joe O’Connor, as well as Higgins, and he is the last seed left in the event.
Wilson has a tremendous record at the Theatre of Dreams. He first made the semi-finals in 2018, when he lost out to Higgins. The Englishman returned to the last four in 2020, scoring an epic 17-16 win over Anthony McGill to make the final, before being denied snooker’s grandest prize by Ronnie O’Sullivan. Wilson was also a beaten semi-finalist when he faced Shaun Murphy here in 2021. However, the 32-year-old is still hunting an elusive maiden Crucible crown.
To gain a place in this year’s semis he had to overcome a player who he has struggled against in recent times. Tonight’s victory is Wilson’s first against Higgins in four years, since the 2020 World Grand Prix. In the intervening period Higgins won all of their five meetings, including a 13-2 win over Wilson here last year.
Despite suffering defeat, Higgins remains in a strong position to retain his place in the world’s top 16. The four-time World Champion has been in that elite group since 1995 and his stunning 13-12 win over Mark Allen acted as a huge boost to his hopes to stay there.
For much of this encounter, it was Higgins clinging to Wilson’s coattails. The Scot won the last two frames of the opening session to end 5-3 behind and came from 9-4 down to finish the second session trailing 9-7.
When this evening’s play got underway, it was 48-year-old Higgins who cranked up the heat by taking the opener to pull within one at 9-8. However, that would prove to be the last frame won by the Glaswegian in this year’s tournament.
Wilson limited his opponent to just 12 points in the next three frames as he swept to a 12-8 advantage, compiling a superb 101 break in the 20th. Higgins had opportunities in the 21st, but a break of 61 from Wilson got him over the line for a momentous win.
He now faces qualifier David Gilbert in the last four. It will be a repeat of the 2019 German Masters final, which was won by Wilson.
“To come off the back of absolute annihilation from John here last year, I had to put that to one side. There is nothing I can do about the past. I just focussed on what was in front of me. All aspects of my game were really strong. My safety was strong, my long potting was good, I scored when I had to and I made some good clearances. I’m really pleased with where my game is at.”
Kyren Wilson
World Number 12
Wilson added: “The key word, which I keep bringing up, is resilience. If you can keep being resilient, then you can destroy a player’s resolve. That is something I managed to do against John. I lost four frames on the bounce between 9-4 and 9-8 then kicked on with four of my own.
“I think all four players that are left in have a chance. It will be a fascinating watch. It is four players that you wouldn’t necessarily have put in at this stage at the start of the tournament. It is great to see new faces and it is an amazing semi-final lineup.”
Higgins said: “He was too powerful for me. That is the best he’s ever hit the ball continuously against me. He had a couple of little wobbles in the first and second session, but he was far too powerful for me. He played great.”
Just as he did in 2015 on his way to the title, Stuart Bingham floored Ronnie O’Sullivan at the quarter-final stage at the Crucible, winning 13-10 to reach the last four of the Cazoo World Championship.
O’Sullivan’s chances of an eighth title, which would move him one ahead of Stephen Hendry’s total, are over for another year, as he lost seven of the last nine frames having led 8-6. Earlier in the day, Jak Jones registered a seismic shock when he knocked out Judd Trump, and Bingham created another huge upset with victory over snooker’s all-time greatest player.
O’Sullivan had been on course for a career-best season, having won five titles including the UK Championship and the Masters. But his hopes of landing all three Triple Crown events in the same season for the first time are over, and he also loses the world number one ranking which he had held since April 2022. Mark Allen will climb to the top of the official list for the first time in his career and become the 12th player ever to hold that status.
World number 29 Bingham is through to his third Crucible semi-final and is aiming to become only the seventh player to lift the trophy in Sheffield more than once, following Steve Davis, Hendry, Mark Williams, O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Selby. The 47-year-old from Basildon, who beat Shaun Murphy in the 2015 final, will be up against Jones over 33 frames over the next three days. It’s some turnaround for Bingham who has suffered from loss of form and problems with his eyesight in recent seasons and had not previously reached a ranking event semi-final since the 2021 World Grand Prix.
With Kyren Wilson up against David Gilbert in the other semi-final, this is the first time that three qualifiers have made the last four since 1977 (which was the first year at the Crucible, when there were only eight seeds). Bingham is the only man among the quartet who has lifted the trophy before and, with his game slotting into gear, is drawing on memories of his triumph nine years ago.
“I enjoyed going toe to toe with the best player ever, and I can’t believe I came out on top,” said Bingham. “Something clicked at 10-10, I felt great and went for my shots. This place brings the best out of me and I played with a smile on my face, just like I did in 2015.
“I am the only one left who has held that trophy but that doesn’t count for much. Everyone left will think they have a chance. Jak has just knocked out Judd and he obviously loves it out there. I played him in Gibraltar a few years ago and he hammered me 4-0 so I know what he can do. I need a good night’s sleep to be ready for tomorrow.“
O’Sullivan said: “I enjoyed it, and the number one thing for me is to enjoy the game. For the first time in two years I feel like I want to play. I look forward to getting my cue out and the sound of the balls. That’s nothing to do with winning titles. You can’t win them all.“
Here are the scores of that match:
Stuart Bingham played really, really well and Ronnie was never at the top of his game. He hasn’t been for most of the season despite winning five titles. It’s been hard work and he didn’t enjoy it most of the time, but he was surprisingly positive yesterday evening despite the defeat… amongst other things here are the key quotes:
“I’ve had a bit of a worrying couple of years. For me, it’s not the win I’d have liked to have had. But it’s snooker; that’s the way it goes.
“Good luck to Stuart, he played a fantastic match and he deserved his victory. I’m just pleased that I competed and I felt like I was cueing okay. Just a few errors here and there but on the whole, not too bad.”
And before anyone comes here with “it’s a disaster, it’s terrible, it’s awful …” no it’s not, it’s not the result we wanted but that’s sport. Nobody has a divine right to win and nobody can win them all. Ronnie tried hard, it wasn’t to be and the better player on the day won. Am I disappointed? Yes, I am. Is it the end of the world? Absolutely not.
I’m a fan of snooker, just as much as I’m a fan of Ronnie and I think that this unexpected semi-final line-up makes for a very interesting and intriguing final part of the championship.
34 thoughts on “At the 2024 Crucible – Days 11 and 12 – The QFs as Ronnie Bows Out”
Oh well. I think Grump is right, this tournament has been rather underwhelming. In a way it feels the season was too long and those who had a good season, were tired and lost early, those who are still in contention did nothing before. Yes, everyone was waxing lyrical about Higgins’ last clearance, but Allen should have never missed. He was one of the favourites and he is correct to say this one just got away. Ronnie can say the same, considering how the draw opened up, but he never really played well and things were just getting worse.
In fact, I never really felt he was going to win: he talked about taking the SWC to Saudi Arabia(!!!) or Shanghai: these are distractions, he was doing well when all his talking was about cue action instead. Btw I don’t have much to add to the debate about sitting down, insulting the referee, only that he was not so upset when the sheiks were walking around having dinner during frames. Of course that thing dwarfed in significance compared to the Worlds, and besides that it was wrong to tell the ref to chill, it also shows he wad probably too anxiously seeing things weren’t going the right direction for him
Also, it feels that this whole tournament is being played in the shadow of some unidentified breakaway tour everyone talks about, while nobody really knows what it is, only they say itq is wrong, or that please approach them with a big money offer.
If Gilbert could somehow win it, it could be a nice emotional finish. Otherwise probably it will continue to underwhelm.
I reconsider. Jak Jones is growing on me. 🙂
Let us be honest: the performance from Ronnie in this year WCS was simply not good enough. For me in round 1 he played his B game, and in round 2 and 3 his C game. That is not a complaint from, just the facts. Everybody knows that Ronnie plays always at least 1 great session in a 3 or 4 session match. But from Sunday till Wednesday he played 6 sessions, and not 1 was up to his usual(high) standard. The maximum was 2 good frames, and then he started to miss pots or lose position. His cue ball control was for some reason not there . Let us hope it will come back again next season, and that he will think also about us supporters in Europe. Because I understand he can make more money in China and Saudi Arabië. But if these matches are not available on Eurosport, and he does not enter the tournaments that are available on Eurosport, then we will not see him much… And he is not going to be around for everything off course.
for ever not everything 😃
Well, the Chinese events and the Saudi event were all on the Eurosport App this season and I expect that to be the same next season. The chinese events have been on ES app for years.
I am absolutely sickened. Not because he lost, that happens, but because I had a ticket for the Ronnie-Trump semi, now it’s Bingham-Jones, probably the single worst semifinal ever. How can I be so unlucky…
Commiserations, but it was not that bad after all. Be happy, you did not have tix to the final…
It wasn’t meant to be for Ronnie.
Bingham played very well and we can’t say he stole his victory, but it could have gone the other way. He had the run of the ball when it mattered most.
In frame 18 Ronnie went in-off, and after that Bingham pots a red, is very lucky to get perfect position on the black and clears up. Otherwise he had to play safe. In frame 21 if Ronnie lands a fraction/a few centimeters better on the last red the pot would have been straight with the rest and therefore easier and who knows for Ronnie. The same for the black he tried to force in frame 22 to get position, a fraction better on that black and he could have played a nice shot in the pack for position, instead he misses the black and leaves a red on for ballrun Bingham who clears up. In frame 23 Bingham shows signs of weakness when he misses a straightforward pink, Ronnie makes a fantastic break potting a difficult last red on the side cushion but is a fraction short of good position on the pink to play position on the yellow. He gives it all on the pink, but lands straight on the yellow, bad luck again, he forces the pot on the yellow but misses, the yellow could have gone safe but
stays in an easy position for ballrun Bingham to clear up and take the match. Otherwise Bingham would have felt the pressure of a Ronnie comeback after his bad miss on the pink and who knows…Ronnie could still have won 13-12.
And then i haven’t even mentioned the incident with the black in frame 12 where Ronnie could have gone 7-5 up.
It’s small margins, luck plays a big role in a close match.
Sometimes it’s meant to be, sometimes it isn’t in snooker.
That’s life, there are no certainties.
Yesterday it was ballrun Bingham’s day. The guy loves snooker, as we do.
The defeat of Ronnie is not the end of the world, of course not, it just wasn’t meant to be yesterday.
Let’s stay positive, we Ronnie fans, he has had a great season, he’s still in good shape… who knows next year?
Everything is possible!
Meanwhile let’s enjoy the semis.
After the 136 he had the pace of the table and was away to 12-8 for me, but one can’t fully control the split.
Why was and is nearly nobody commenting on this site during the WSC?
Interesting question. I can’t speak for others, obviously, but I’d say the whole thing is somehow lacking in energy. The one to conquer the place and run away with the trophy, there isn’t. I, for one, am underwhelmed. Sure, there is some solid snooker, but no more than that, as far as I have seen. The best, so far, was Higgins’ clearance to win the decider, and even that felt more like escaping the chopping block than a storm to victory. So, what is there to say, really?
I am, however, quite happy that further barking at, and attempts at bossing around, the (female) referee and other such loutish behavior likely won’t further disgrace the place, and the competition.
Good comment. I actually agree on most of this. Only, when the “controversy” came around, apart from not supporting it, I was somehow relieved, because I can’t remember a year really where there hasn’t been one. And with just 1 out of 4 remaining players having won it one time before, it seems that there could be a nice story available to write for the press at the end.
Just one thing Grump, Ronnie handled it badly but Desi should not have pressed him to start playing whilst people were coming still down the stairs, right in the player’s eye line. He was perfectly within his rights to wait until they were sat and the mouvement had stopped. I’m not sure what she was thinking doing that.
The most likely is that she didn’t want to have Stuart having a disadvantage, because that’s what she has to ensure, Monique.
What kind of disadvantage should Stuart have got? He wouldn’t want to play with people moving in his eye line either.
I know, I was just saying she might have thought that she has to ensure there is no delay for a player because of the behaviour of another player. She literally said “we can’t wait for 20 minutes” or so. Or was that at the respot incident? She has ensure the game continues. But Ronnie sat down and didn’t look at the scene really, in a manerism like he wanted to wait like 2 minutes or so to make absolutely sure there is absolutely no one moving anymore and that is probably not correct. He can’t dictate how long he wants to delay a match, it must always stay in the hands of the referee and she thought it was time to come back to the table.
It’s not the call of the player to dictate the length of the match, but there were still people coming down. It’s clear from commentary from both BBC and Eurosport. One commentator even said “what is there that they don’t understand in “close the doors please”. Ronnie was right to stay sat, he was wrong in the way he answered the referee. There was no need to be rude.
Yeah, that was John Parrot. I think he is a massive Ronnie fan as well…
Maybe, but more importantly he was a top player for many years and he would know how off-putting it is to have people moving in ones eye line.
Yes, my point was: Had Ronnie actually stayedat the table an waited there, I’m pretty sure the warning would have come much later. But the sitting down really has some kind of a provocative nature.
Absolutely not. That’s what they are supposed to do when there is a delay or an interruption. If he had stayed standing, she would likely have told him to sit down.
I disagree. It wasn’t a major incident, “delay or interruption”. She couldn’t know that the security had problems executing her order to close the door. And it is definitely not a “delay or interruption” when Ronnie sits down when a colour can’t go on it’s own spot. Ronnie said that he thinks that some referees take a hard line against him, but but he is responsible for that. I will absolutely stick to it that she got it right to urge him to come back to the table.
But every former or active player in commentary disagreed with you. She should not have pressed him to play whilst people were still coming down. That’s just not on. That was no reason to be rude – Ronnie was wrong with that – but she was wrong in trying to rush him when people were still coming down.
Cool. But the referee decides, she knows the rules best, not the snooker tour, which admires Ronnie. Dave Hendon said in his podcast, what I felt as well, Ronnie was very nervous, might thought after Judd going out that he had a very big chance to win the title. And to me, and I very much suspect to the referee as well, it looked like he wanted to take just too much extra time to calm down, and I think that’s not allowed in general. Ronnie might have cried wolf here. Sitting down every time when the colour can’t go on it’s spot has definitely a provocative nature attached to it and this time, Desislava Bozhilova might have felt the same as me, that he can’t dictate the length of his waiting. It wasn’t a major incident. Ronnie told her to chill out. She said she was chilled, and she was. He wasn’t.
*or rather 5 minutes or so, just for a long time to make
“Just one thing Grump, Ronnie handled it badly but Desi should not have pressed him to start playing whilst people were coming still down the stairs, right in the player’s eye line. He was perfectly within his rights to wait until they were sat and the mouvement had stopped. I’m not sure what she was thinking doing that.”
I defer to your knowledge of the rules, of course, but here’s my take:
Once the ref orders the play resumed, you move to the table. There are no two ways about it. Otherwise the other player has a valid complaint that his opponent takes a pause and recovers while he should be playing.
What Bozhilova may have thought was, once the player is positioned at the table, spectators realize the game is on, and they are in the line of sight, and are supposed to freeze. With no one at the table, there is no fault in moving.
Remaining seated when the ref had ordered the resumption of the game may well have been interpreted as “frame conceded”.
When the player is at the table and folks are still moving, the player is actually within his rights to point it out to the ref, and refuse the shot. That’s how to do it, with proper respect for the ref, and her authority. It’s not the O’Sullivan way, though.
Ordering the ref to “chill” is insulting, demonstrating a serious lack of sportsmanship, to put it mildly. In a sport that routinely boasts about “sportsmanship”, that should have resulted in a docked frame just as smashing the cue on the table. This may be acceptable in some backwater snooker hole, but not at the Crucible – in my view. I find it all thoroughly disappointing.
I have never heard a ref “order” a player to play … until that incident. Not even when players were clearly abusing the situation which wasn’t the case here. I won’t name names but I remember one instance in particular at the World qualifiers last round where a player was clearly trying to unnerve his opponent with time wasting behaviour and it worked eventually. Point 3 is nonsense, I have seen plenty of players taking their time to get out of their seat. Even taking more time to sip some water once they were up. That’s gamesmanship but none of them was ever even warned. I will say it again: Ronnie was wrong to talk to the ref the way he did. No question he was wrong on that. She was wrong to insist he should play when there was still a lot of mouvement on the stairs, the stairs Ronnie was facing to take the shot he wanted to take. I have NEVER seen or heard of a player docked a frame for smashing their cue in frustration. They have all been there at some point of their career. At the Crucible, with what is at stake, the emotions run even higher, the tension is immense and they are human. And I will add this: when they smash their cue, they are at risk of damaging it, it happened. Not often but it happened. Do you seriously think they would deliberately do that at the Crucible? It’s an emotional reaction, unwise and not great, but nothing made on purpose.
Exactly, Grump (regarding point 2). As I said, he should have stayed at the table, because it was just a minor incident. With sitting down he undermines the ref’s authority and takes control of the game himself somehow and that’s not on. If a player in a break is not happy with something talking with the referee at the table is on, not sitting down for as long as you want.
Point 3 is nonsense, I have seen plenty of players taking their time to get out of their seat.
Possibly applicable snooker rules:
1. Unsporting Conduct (a) In the event of […] (iv) any player refusing to continue the current frame; the referee shall Warn the player that in the event of any further Unsporting Conduct the frame will be awarded to their opponent. (b) If the referee has Warned the player under (a) above, in the event of any further Unsporting Conduct, the referee shall award the frame to their opponent
3. Time Wasting (a) In the event of a player taking an abnormal amount of time over a stroke, or the selection of a stroke, the referee shall Warn the player that in the event of any further Time Wasting during the game, the frame will be awarded to their opponent.
(b) If the referee has Warned the player for Time Wasting under (a) above, in the event of any further Time Wasting by that player, the referee shall award the frame to their opponent.
O’Sullivan has been warned. The frame should have gone to the opponent since he insisted not to play despite that warning.
I’m glad we agree on the misbehavior. As to smashing cues, shall we wait until the first cue disintegrates and a splinter takes out the other player’s (or anybody else’s) eye? They are “human” doesn’t excuse that behavior in any way, shape or form – in my view. Since that behavior (as you rightly insist) is not routinely punished, it is therefore further encouraged. I find that state of affairs deplorable, not to mention “unsporting”.
The thing is she was wrong to insist he should play whilst people were still coming down the stairs, people who would likely not look at ROS and Bingham’s table as they were heading to the other table post MSI and therefore were not going to “freeze”. Why was it so important that she couldn’t wait until they were settled? Because the ref is in a position of authority doesn’t mean they are always right. When Olivier warned Ronnie about the “lewd gesture” in 2022, the review of the footages proved he had been mistaken. They are human like the rest of us. And I write “footages” plural deliberately. There are at least 4 of them at the Crucible when one table is in operation: two normal cameras on wheels, on the floor, one handheld camera on the floor and one overhead camera operated from above the commentary box. I will say it again Ronnie was WRONG to be rude to her, but he was totally within his rights refusing to play until the movement has stopped on the stairs that were right in the line of the shot he was about to take. As for smashing cues, it’s not great and if it splits then the player who smashed it will certainly find themselves in an unfavourable position. I have never seen anybody even remotely at risk because of a smashed cue, even if it’s theoretically possible. On the other hand I have seen a significant number of near accidents – including some that could have been very serious indeed – because balls flying off the table. Should the table be placed inside a cage, with the ref and opponent not at the table outside to make it safe?
O’Sullivan has been warned. The frame should have gone to the opponent since he insisted not to play despite that warning.
It definitely would have looked better. By the time the frame had been re-racked all spectators would have taken their seats.
Let’s not quibble endlessly over this.
Maybe Bozhilova should have been more patient and not called for the game to resume before all had found their seats. But, once she made the call, the game was on, and the rules apply – to all, surprising as that may seem to some.
Balls flying off the table is mishap – cue smashing is misbehavior. The former is a risk all knowingly take, the latter is not, and it is entirely avoidable, not to mention unnecessary. They should therefore be looked upon differently.
Glad to find agreement with Christian, and also with Csilla (as so often). And, as usual, with Monique, albeit with some remaining differences in nuances, also as usual.
The biggest positive surprise to me is Jak Jones, who seems to have found some steely resolve and consistency I haven’t seen in him before. Maybe, just maybe, he is the one further to establish the “Generation Trump” (early thirties) firmly at the top of the snooker pile, so as to give the earlier generation a resolute and well-deserved send-off.
I totally agree about Jak Jones. He’s the nice surprise of this championship and it would be a great story if he went on to win it. And, although I’m Belgian, I will say that – should this happen – Jak would be a far better World Champion than Luca has been. He’s from a big closely knit family, he’s grounded and has no big ego. Snooker used to be a “working class” game. The great Welsh Champions, Ray Reardon and Mark Williams were working class boys. Jak, like them is a proud Welsh. He’s typically the type of player who could inspire youngsters by showing them that, yes, it is possible for kids with a modest background to climb to the top of their sport of choice through hard work, dedication and faith in themselves.
If Judd actually wanted to win, then, for the first time I think, the word “shock” can be used here, especially considering the shot on the yellow. But not so much a shock defeat, more of a shock performance.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Oh well. I think Grump is right, this tournament has been rather underwhelming. In a way it feels the season was too long and those who had a good season, were tired and lost early, those who are still in contention did nothing before. Yes, everyone was waxing lyrical about Higgins’ last clearance, but Allen should have never missed. He was one of the favourites and he is correct to say this one just got away. Ronnie can say the same, considering how the draw opened up, but he never really played well and things were just getting worse.
In fact, I never really felt he was going to win: he talked about taking the SWC to Saudi Arabia(!!!) or Shanghai: these are distractions, he was doing well when all his talking was about cue action instead. Btw I don’t have much to add to the debate about sitting down, insulting the referee, only that he was not so upset when the sheiks were walking around having dinner during frames. Of course that thing dwarfed in significance compared to the Worlds, and besides that it was wrong to tell the ref to chill, it also shows he wad probably too anxiously seeing things weren’t going the right direction for him
Also, it feels that this whole tournament is being played in the shadow of some unidentified breakaway tour everyone talks about, while nobody really knows what it is, only they say itq is wrong, or that please approach them with a big money offer.
If Gilbert could somehow win it, it could be a nice emotional finish. Otherwise probably it will continue to underwhelm.
I reconsider. Jak Jones is growing on me. 🙂
Let us be honest: the performance from Ronnie in this year WCS was simply not good enough. For me in round 1 he played his B game, and in round 2 and 3 his C game. That is not a complaint from, just the facts. Everybody knows that Ronnie plays always at least 1 great session in a 3 or 4 session match. But from Sunday till Wednesday he played 6 sessions, and not 1 was up to his usual(high) standard. The maximum was 2 good frames, and then he started to miss pots or lose position. His cue ball control was for some reason not there . Let us hope it will come back again next season, and that he will think also about us supporters in Europe. Because I understand he can make more money in China and Saudi Arabië. But if these matches are not available on Eurosport, and he does not enter the tournaments that are available on Eurosport, then we will not see him much… And he is not going to be around for everything off course.
for ever not everything 😃
Well, the Chinese events and the Saudi event were all on the Eurosport App this season and I expect that to be the same next season. The chinese events have been on ES app for years.
I am absolutely sickened. Not because he lost, that happens, but because I had a ticket for the Ronnie-Trump semi, now it’s Bingham-Jones, probably the single worst semifinal ever. How can I be so unlucky…
Commiserations, but it was not that bad after all. Be happy, you did not have tix to the final…
It wasn’t meant to be for Ronnie.
Bingham played very well and we can’t say he stole his victory, but it could have gone the other way. He had the run of the ball when it mattered most.
In frame 18 Ronnie went in-off, and after that Bingham pots a red, is very lucky to get perfect position on the black and clears up. Otherwise he had to play safe. In frame 21 if Ronnie lands a fraction/a few centimeters better on the last red the pot would have been straight with the rest and therefore easier and who knows for Ronnie. The same for the black he tried to force in frame 22 to get position, a fraction better on that black and he could have played a nice shot in the pack for position, instead he misses the black and leaves a red on for ballrun Bingham who clears up. In frame 23 Bingham shows signs of weakness when he misses a straightforward pink, Ronnie makes a fantastic break potting a difficult last red on the side cushion but is a fraction short of good position on the pink to play position on the yellow. He gives it all on the pink, but lands straight on the yellow, bad luck again, he forces the pot on the yellow but misses, the yellow could have gone safe but
stays in an easy position for ballrun Bingham to clear up and take the match. Otherwise Bingham would have felt the pressure of a Ronnie comeback after his bad miss on the pink and who knows…Ronnie could still have won 13-12.
And then i haven’t even mentioned the incident with the black in frame 12 where Ronnie could have gone 7-5 up.
It’s small margins, luck plays a big role in a close match.
Sometimes it’s meant to be, sometimes it isn’t in snooker.
That’s life, there are no certainties.
Yesterday it was ballrun Bingham’s day. The guy loves snooker, as we do.
The defeat of Ronnie is not the end of the world, of course not, it just wasn’t meant to be yesterday.
Let’s stay positive, we Ronnie fans, he has had a great season, he’s still in good shape… who knows next year?
Everything is possible!
Meanwhile let’s enjoy the semis.
After the 136 he had the pace of the table and was away to 12-8 for me, but one can’t fully control the split.
Why was and is nearly nobody commenting on this site during the WSC?
Interesting question. I can’t speak for others, obviously, but I’d say the whole thing is somehow lacking in energy. The one to conquer the place and run away with the trophy, there isn’t. I, for one, am underwhelmed. Sure, there is some solid snooker, but no more than that, as far as I have seen. The best, so far, was Higgins’ clearance to win the decider, and even that felt more like escaping the chopping block than a storm to victory. So, what is there to say, really?
I am, however, quite happy that further barking at, and attempts at bossing around, the (female) referee and other such loutish behavior likely won’t further disgrace the place, and the competition.
Good comment. I actually agree on most of this. Only, when the “controversy” came around, apart from not supporting it, I was somehow relieved, because I can’t remember a year really where there hasn’t been one. And with just 1 out of 4 remaining players having won it one time before, it seems that there could be a nice story available to write for the press at the end.
Just one thing Grump, Ronnie handled it badly but Desi should not have pressed him to start playing whilst people were coming still down the stairs, right in the player’s eye line. He was perfectly within his rights to wait until they were sat and the mouvement had stopped. I’m not sure what she was thinking doing that.
The most likely is that she didn’t want to have Stuart having a disadvantage, because that’s what she has to ensure, Monique.
What kind of disadvantage should Stuart have got? He wouldn’t want to play with people moving in his eye line either.
I know, I was just saying she might have thought that she has to ensure there is no delay for a player because of the behaviour of another player. She literally said “we can’t wait for 20 minutes” or so. Or was that at the respot incident? She has ensure the game continues. But Ronnie sat down and didn’t look at the scene really, in a manerism like he wanted to wait like 2 minutes or so to make absolutely sure there is absolutely no one moving anymore and that is probably not correct. He can’t dictate how long he wants to delay a match, it must always stay in the hands of the referee and she thought it was time to come back to the table.
It’s not the call of the player to dictate the length of the match, but there were still people coming down. It’s clear from commentary from both BBC and Eurosport. One commentator even said “what is there that they don’t understand in “close the doors please”. Ronnie was right to stay sat, he was wrong in the way he answered the referee. There was no need to be rude.
Yeah, that was John Parrot. I think he is a massive Ronnie fan as well…
Maybe, but more importantly he was a top player for many years and he would know how off-putting it is to have people moving in ones eye line.
Yes, my point was: Had Ronnie actually stayed at the table an waited there, I’m pretty sure the warning would have come much later. But the sitting down really has some kind of a provocative nature.
Absolutely not. That’s what they are supposed to do when there is a delay or an interruption. If he had stayed standing, she would likely have told him to sit down.
I disagree. It wasn’t a major incident, “delay or interruption”. She couldn’t know that the security had problems executing her order to close the door. And it is definitely not a “delay or interruption” when Ronnie sits down when a colour can’t go on it’s own spot. Ronnie said that he thinks that some referees take a hard line against him, but but he is responsible for that. I will absolutely stick to it that she got it right to urge him to come back to the table.
But every former or active player in commentary disagreed with you. She should not have pressed him to play whilst people were still coming down. That’s just not on. That was no reason to be rude – Ronnie was wrong with that – but she was wrong in trying to rush him when people were still coming down.
Cool. But the referee decides, she knows the rules best, not the snooker tour, which admires Ronnie. Dave Hendon said in his podcast, what I felt as well, Ronnie was very nervous, might thought after Judd going out that he had a very big chance to win the title. And to me, and I very much suspect to the referee as well, it looked like he wanted to take just too much extra time to calm down, and I think that’s not allowed in general. Ronnie might have cried wolf here. Sitting down every time when the colour can’t go on it’s spot has definitely a provocative nature attached to it and this time, Desislava Bozhilova might have felt the same as me, that he can’t dictate the length of his waiting. It wasn’t a major incident. Ronnie told her to chill out. She said she was chilled, and she was. He wasn’t.
*or rather 5 minutes or so, just for a long time to make
“Just one thing Grump, Ronnie handled it badly but Desi should not have pressed him to start playing whilst people were coming still down the stairs, right in the player’s eye line. He was perfectly within his rights to wait until they were sat and the mouvement had stopped. I’m not sure what she was thinking doing that.”
I defer to your knowledge of the rules, of course, but here’s my take:
I have never heard a ref “order” a player to play … until that incident. Not even when players were clearly abusing the situation which wasn’t the case here. I won’t name names but I remember one instance in particular at the World qualifiers last round where a player was clearly trying to unnerve his opponent with time wasting behaviour and it worked eventually. Point 3 is nonsense, I have seen plenty of players taking their time to get out of their seat. Even taking more time to sip some water once they were up. That’s gamesmanship but none of them was ever even warned. I will say it again: Ronnie was wrong to talk to the ref the way he did. No question he was wrong on that. She was wrong to insist he should play when there was still a lot of mouvement on the stairs, the stairs Ronnie was facing to take the shot he wanted to take. I have NEVER seen or heard of a player docked a frame for smashing their cue in frustration. They have all been there at some point of their career. At the Crucible, with what is at stake, the emotions run even higher, the tension is immense and they are human. And I will add this: when they smash their cue, they are at risk of damaging it, it happened. Not often but it happened. Do you seriously think they would deliberately do that at the Crucible? It’s an emotional reaction, unwise and not great, but nothing made on purpose.
Exactly, Grump (regarding point 2). As I said, he should have stayed at the table, because it was just a minor incident. With sitting down he undermines the ref’s authority and takes control of the game himself somehow and that’s not on. If a player in a break is not happy with something talking with the referee at the table is on, not sitting down for as long as you want.
Possibly applicable snooker rules:
1. Unsporting Conduct
(a) In the event of […]
(iv) any player refusing to continue the current frame; the referee shall Warn the player that in the event of any further Unsporting Conduct the frame will be awarded to their opponent.
(b) If the referee has Warned the player under (a) above, in the event of any further Unsporting Conduct, the referee shall award the frame to their opponent
3. Time Wasting
(a) In the event of a player taking an abnormal amount of time over a stroke, or the selection of a stroke, the referee shall Warn the player that in the event of any further Time Wasting during the game, the frame will be awarded to their opponent.
(b) If the referee has Warned the player for Time Wasting under (a) above, in the event of any further Time Wasting by that player, the referee shall award the frame to their opponent.
O’Sullivan has been warned. The frame should have gone to the opponent since he insisted not to play despite that warning.
I’m glad we agree on the misbehavior. As to smashing cues, shall we wait until the first cue disintegrates and a splinter takes out the other player’s (or anybody else’s) eye? They are “human” doesn’t excuse that behavior in any way, shape or form – in my view. Since that behavior (as you rightly insist) is not routinely punished, it is therefore further encouraged. I find that state of affairs deplorable, not to mention “unsporting”.
The thing is she was wrong to insist he should play whilst people were still coming down the stairs, people who would likely not look at ROS and Bingham’s table as they were heading to the other table post MSI and therefore were not going to “freeze”. Why was it so important that she couldn’t wait until they were settled? Because the ref is in a position of authority doesn’t mean they are always right. When Olivier warned Ronnie about the “lewd gesture” in 2022, the review of the footages proved he had been mistaken. They are human like the rest of us. And I write “footages” plural deliberately. There are at least 4 of them at the Crucible when one table is in operation: two normal cameras on wheels, on the floor, one handheld camera on the floor and one overhead camera operated from above the commentary box. I will say it again Ronnie was WRONG to be rude to her, but he was totally within his rights refusing to play until the movement has stopped on the stairs that were right in the line of the shot he was about to take. As for smashing cues, it’s not great and if it splits then the player who smashed it will certainly find themselves in an unfavourable position. I have never seen anybody even remotely at risk because of a smashed cue, even if it’s theoretically possible. On the other hand I have seen a significant number of near accidents – including some that could have been very serious indeed – because balls flying off the table. Should the table be placed inside a cage, with the ref and opponent not at the table outside to make it safe?
It definitely would have looked better. By the time the frame had been re-racked all spectators would have taken their seats.
Let’s not quibble endlessly over this.
Maybe Bozhilova should have been more patient and not called for the game to resume before all had found their seats. But, once she made the call, the game was on, and the rules apply – to all, surprising as that may seem to some.
Balls flying off the table is mishap – cue smashing is misbehavior. The former is a risk all knowingly take, the latter is not, and it is entirely avoidable, not to mention unnecessary. They should therefore be looked upon differently.
Glad to find agreement with Christian, and also with Csilla (as so often). And, as usual, with Monique, albeit with some remaining differences in nuances, also as usual.
The biggest positive surprise to me is Jak Jones, who seems to have found some steely resolve and consistency I haven’t seen in him before. Maybe, just maybe, he is the one further to establish the “Generation Trump” (early thirties) firmly at the top of the snooker pile, so as to give the earlier generation a resolute and well-deserved send-off.
I totally agree about Jak Jones. He’s the nice surprise of this championship and it would be a great story if he went on to win it. And, although I’m Belgian, I will say that – should this happen – Jak would be a far better World Champion than Luca has been. He’s from a big closely knit family, he’s grounded and has no big ego. Snooker used to be a “working class” game. The great Welsh Champions, Ray Reardon and Mark Williams were working class boys. Jak, like them is a proud Welsh. He’s typically the type of player who could inspire youngsters by showing them that, yes, it is possible for kids with a modest background to climb to the top of their sport of choice through hard work, dedication and faith in themselves.
If Judd actually wanted to win, then, for the first time I think, the word “shock” can be used here, especially considering the shot on the yellow. But not so much a shock defeat, more of a shock performance.