Day 6 at the Crucible is the day when the first round finishes and the second round starts. The last two first round matches were played to a conclusion, with wins for Ronnie and John Higgins.
John Higgins, ever present in the top 16 for a record 29 years, maintained his hopes of keeping that elite status with a hard fought 10-6 win over Jamie Jones in the first round of the Cazoo World Championship.
Higgins first climbed into the top 16 at the end of the 1994/95 season and, incredibly, has been there ever since. But after a lean two years, he could drop out at the end of this Championship. Having knocked out Jones, he must still win one more match to have a chance of keeping his place in the top bracket of the rankings, and the 48-year-old Scot faces a tough test against world number three Mark Allen over 25 frames on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The pair have met five times already this season, Allen winning three of those.
The result means that the record for the most seeds falling in the first round – eight – has been equalled but not beaten.
Leading 5-4 overnight Higgins took the first two frames today to extend his lead to 7-4. In frame 12, he led 39-18 when a routine pink to a centre pocket hit the far jaw, and Jones responded with a 49 clearance to pull one back. Higgins regained control as breaks of 59 and 64 helped make it 9-5. Frame 15 came down to the colours and Higgins, trailing 58-38, missed a long pot on the yellow, which allowed Jones to narrow the gap. Both players had chances in the 16th, but Higgins got the better of an exchange on the last red and cleared to get over the line.
“Jamie still fancied it at 9-5, you could see by his body language,” said four-time champion Higgins, who has not landed a ranking title since the 2021 Players Championship. “He probably came into the match feeling he could beat me because he knocked out Neil Robertson in qualifying and he has beaten me a couple of times before. The draws are tough but you just have to roll with it and try to play your best. I felt my game was pretty good tonight.
“I’m really looking forward to playing Mark Allen over 25 frames, I have beaten him twice here before so I’ll have to draw on those memories. Mark is a fantastic player and competitor. I’m not thinking about the top 16, I’m just focussed on the next match. Tonight was a great win for me because you don’t know how many more times you’re going to play here, and it’s the the best place ever to play snooker.“
Jones said: “From 9-5 I was trying to battle as hard as I could. I could see John was trying a bit too hard and I tried to just stick in there. If it had gone 9-7 then who knows? I enjoyed the occasion, it’s always an amazing experience to play here.”
I didn’t watch any of it. After what happened in 2010, I will never again watch John Higgins unless I have to. I already explained why I feel that way, so I won’t bore you repeating it. Let’s just say this, if it had happened in 2024, and if John was Chinese, he would have been banned for many years, not just for a few months (most of it in the summer when nothing happened back then). His opponent Jamie Jones was banned for longer and fell off the tour merely for failing to report a corrupt approach, although he was cleared of match-fixing. He wasn’t even the one being approached, it was one of his mates and Jamie found it too difficult to denounce/report him. So, I dearly wanted Jamie Jones to win but it wasn’t to be. Don’t get me wrong, John is a great great player, with immense skills and a shrewd mind. But, even before the 2010 affair, for some reason I can’t understand myself, I never enjoyed watching him, he bores me.
Other than that there were some really interesting quotes by Barry Hearn reported in the press yesterday.
The Crucible Theatre has staged the World Championship since 1977, but former World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn has cast doubt over the future of the sport’s biggest event in Sheffield beyond its current agreement in 2027. Hearn, speaking to Eurosport, said: “There is no point in saying: ‘Oh, think of the history’. You can’t eat history.”
Barry Hearn has been on a career-defining journey over the past 43 years when it comes to the ongoing subject of the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield being a suitable host venue for the World Snooker Championship, the sport’s landmark and most lucrative tournament.
When the former World Snooker Tour chairman was manager of Steve Davis in the 1980s and 1990s, he famously bounded down the stairs of the venue to greet Davis after the first of the Romford player’s six world title wins against Doug Mountjoy in 1981.
While it could be argued the Crucible was the scene of Hearn’s greatest moments in snooker overseeing the growth, development and dominance of Davis during the halcyon days of saturated TV coverage, sentiment will not get in the way of forward thinking when it comes to finalising the future direction of travel for the green baize’s blue-chip competition.
As president of Matchroom Sport, majority shareholders in WST, the Essex businessman has appeared to cast doubt over the future of the event being staged by the Crucible when the venue’s current agreement with Sheffield City Council expires in 2027 – the year that will mark 50 years of the World Championship in Sheffield.
Amid several media reports suggesting Saudi Arabia and China could be new destinations for the World Championship, Hearn – who once described the Crucible as “one of the world’s most iconic sporting venues” – told Eurosport: “Look, I can’t be more honest, my hand on my heart, I want to stay at the Crucible.
“I want to stay in Sheffield. Obviously, money talks and we are getting inundated with offers around the world.
“And there’s a certain argument that says we should actually take the World Championships around the world to a different venue every year. Some of the venues want to pay money I’ve never experienced, others just want to show their love and support for snooker.
“We’ve been very consistent. Broadcasters that we’ve worked with and have done a good job for us and have been part of our history, we’re going to stay with as much as we can if they want to stay with us.
“Venues that we’ve used and people that we’ve relied on to be the fans, have been good to us, we want to stay with them as long as they want us.
“Common sense says I have a fiduciary duty to the players to provide the biggest prize money because they’re professional athletes.
“And there is no point in saying: ‘Oh, think of the history’. You can’t eat history.
“Sport, to be progressive, has got to provide bigger and bigger prize funds or it is not going to be competitive in today’s world, and will no longer be aspirational to young people that we want to see come into the sport.“
As a celebrated sports promoter, Hearn traditionally uses the annual World Championship to deliver a state of the nation address on his plans for snooker, with the subject of the Crucible never far from his thoughts.
There was also this, reported by Phil Haigh about Hearn’s stance on players wanting to play in events “outside” the main tour:
Barry Hearn: ‘If people want to leave for a quick buck then I wish them well’
Phil Haigh
Barry Hearn has warned players of the ‘temptations for a one-off quickie’ (Picture: Getty Images)
As some players remain at odds with World Snooker Tour over what events they can and cannot play in, Barry Hearn says he will wish anyone well who leaves to chase a ‘quick buck’.
There is disquiet among professionals after the Macau Five situation this season, which saw John Higgins, Mark Selby, Luca Brecel, Ali Carter and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh sign up for a lucrative exhibition in China which was set to be held during the Northern Ireland Open.
WST were not happy about it and told the five in question that they would be in breach of their players’ contract if they took part in the exhibition while the ranking event was being played in Belfast.
The exhibition was eventually moved to December to avoid the clash, but the five men had already pulled out of Northern Ireland so they didn’t play in anything during that week in October.
Shaun Murphy told the BBC during the coverage of the UK Championship that he was ‘offered the same amount of money to go to that event in the Far East as I would have had for getting to the final of the Northern Ireland Open.’ Ronnie O’Sullivan has also spoken out on the subject, saying it is very hard to turn down the huge sums of cash being offered in China.
‘I get paid so much more for going to do that,’ the Rocket said of the Chinese events. ‘It’s really hard for me to turn them down, I can’t. I’ve got to think of my family and all that sort of stuff.
‘It’s all right if you win all of these tournaments, great. But if you get beat first round you’re struggling to pay your bills and stuff.’
Ronnie O’Sullivan picked up the £250,000 top prize at last week’s UK Championship (Picture: Getty Images)
WST say players are free to take part in exhibitions when professional events aren’t being staged, but Hearn, the president of Matchroom Sport, says that if there is a clash then players will have to choose between being part of the tour or exploring other opportunities.
‘Everyone has a choice in what they want to play in and whether they want to be a part of our tour,’ Hearn told Metro.co.uk.
‘I think the game’s in really good hands. There’s always going to be temptations for a one-off quickie, but we don’t do one-off quickies. We are a sustainable business that’s growing very well, with some great news that’s coming in the next month or so, we’ve got a big month coming up.
‘Look, you’ll always get someone who wants to do something for a quick buck, but that’s just not the way that I run businesses, nor will it ever be.
‘If people want to leave for a quick buck then I wish them well, they’ve got their own lives to run, they make their own decisions.
‘I won’t be unreasonable with anybody, but we have rules, contracts in place and we’re always happy to sit down and talk to them, but in a professional dialogue.
‘I don’t think there’s going to be any real issues, to be honest with you, I think Ronnie in particular is in demand in China. They offer him a lot of money and he wants to take advantage of that, I understand that.
‘But he can’t do anything that’s harmful to the players’ contract. He has the choice not to sign the players contract, that’s his call, not mine.’
6 thoughts on “2024 At the Crucible – Day 6 and Barry Hearn’s Announcements”
I agree the damage done to the sport was bigger than in most other cases. However, I don’t agree on John being mostly responsible for it (or even equally to Pat Mooney). From what the findings of the investigation and all newspaper reports indicate he never had any intention of loosing any matches or accepting any money. How you can claim that he did not seem scared based on the footage is beyond me, as the full version never got published by NOTW, but only accessible to the WPBSA investigation body. I remember the version that got published very well and it never showed the full conversation and hardly full sentences at all, but mostly fractions. If it indeed had shown John clearly agreeing without any hesitation or fear, why would the NOTW only publish the heavily edited and shortended version? Clearly, it would have been much more damaging evidence and therefore an even bigger story for them? Seems more likely that the full unedited version must have painted a somewhat different (and less shocking) picture which would explain the ‘mild’ fine…
The footage I saw that night was showing John drinking and laughing during that meeting. He certainly didn’t look scared. He was also heard apparently discussing how to use his properties in Spain to “hide” the paiement. John claimed that he never would actually fix a match ok, but what was he intending to do then? The best course of action would have been to immediately contact WPBSA as soon as he was safely back in the UK. He didn’t. Why? John’s fine was hefty, but his ban ran mostly over a rather idle period of the year, the summer. He was back playing mid-autumn, didn’t miss any of the majors. Never-mind … In comparison, Jamie Jones never intended to fix a match, never even discussed fixing a match all he did was fortuity being made aware that his mate David John had been approached and not reporting him. Yet he got a much longer ban, one that effectively forced him to re-qualify for the main tour.
Did Terry Camillieri referee in another tournament (including qualifiers) already this season?
I can’t remember seeing him but I’m not sure.
It is amazing to read some people still seem to think that John Higgins got away lightly with what happened in 2010 and compare it to what Yan Bingtao and other chinese players where found guilty of in recent years… Just a few days ago a new article was published that covers the NOTW’s approach to John and Pat Mooney: Why Higgins should start his 30th world championship with no stain on his name (substack.com)
Those who followed the WPBSA investigation at the time would already know most of it but unfortunately many people prefer to judge based on their own bias… Of course WST has taken a stearner stance on match fixing in recent years but that still doesn’t make different players’ charges more comparable…
I saw that article and I don’t buy it. Mooney was banned for life for a reason, John should have been too. I was at an exhibition in Berlin in the early spring of 2010. The late Brandon Parker was there as well with Shaun Murphy who played in that exhibition. After the show everyone had a few drinks and maybe he shouldn’t have shared this but Brandon had told us about Barry Hearn’s plans regarding the PTCS. He, Brandon would be in charge of promoting the west European “leg”, Mooney was in charge of Eastern Europe, i.e Russia and its “satellites” included. Mooney and John had previously tried to launch a series of exhibition tournaments: the “World Series”. It was a great idea especially as there weren’t that many main tour tournaments at the time. Some legs were even shown on television (Eurosport) They went all over Europe, including Moscow But it didn’t earn them the money they had hoped for, and they had huge debts. Most notably the players who had performed in those events had not been paid or not been paid in full. I have no doubts that they were set up (Quinten Hahn was too … for the record) but I also have no doubts that they needed money – badly – and that fixing those “minor” events (likely Eastern Europe PTCs rather than exhibitions) was very tempting and they even discussed how to bring more players on board.. Higgins was still the reigning World Champion when this story emerged. It was as bad as it could possibly have been for the image of the sport. When the news emerged, Steve Davis was in tears in the media room, convinced that no sponsor would want to touch snooker ever again. When asked about it after his SF finished Graeme Dott was absolutely horrified and immediately distanced himself from Mooney. I have no doubts that this whole affair affected him and impacted his performance in the Final. I have it from reliable sources the the NOTW was “tipped”. It never emerged who tipped them and what were their motives. I’m also convinced the the whole operation wasn’t so much about getting Mooney and Higgins in trouble but instead about weakening Hearn’s position as WST chairman (Mooney was a member of his board remember). Higgins said he agreed to everything because he was scared. I saw the video as it was originally published. He was laughing, drinking and discussing how to “wash” this money using his properties in Spain as a cover. If he was scared I’m the Queen of Prussia. That or he missed out on a great career in acting and, all the same, that doesn’t explain why he didn’t report the approach once safely in Britain. Jamie Jones was effectively banned for over a year for failing to report an approach on one of his mates, a low ranked player, he fell off the tour as a result. You compare what they both did, what the consequences for snooker as a sport could have been and their respective punishments… and try to explain to me how this is right. Good luck.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I agree the damage done to the sport was bigger than in most other cases. However, I don’t agree on John being mostly responsible for it (or even equally to Pat Mooney). From what the findings of the investigation and all newspaper reports indicate he never had any intention of loosing any matches or accepting any money. How you can claim that he did not seem scared based on the footage is beyond me, as the full version never got published by NOTW, but only accessible to the WPBSA investigation body. I remember the version that got published very well and it never showed the full conversation and hardly full sentences at all, but mostly fractions. If it indeed had shown John clearly agreeing without any hesitation or fear, why would the NOTW only publish the heavily edited and shortended version? Clearly, it would have been much more damaging evidence and therefore an even bigger story for them? Seems more likely that the full unedited version must have painted a somewhat different (and less shocking) picture which would explain the ‘mild’ fine…
The footage I saw that night was showing John drinking and laughing during that meeting. He certainly didn’t look scared. He was also heard apparently discussing how to use his properties in Spain to “hide” the paiement. John claimed that he never would actually fix a match ok, but what was he intending to do then? The best course of action would have been to immediately contact WPBSA as soon as he was safely back in the UK. He didn’t. Why? John’s fine was hefty, but his ban ran mostly over a rather idle period of the year, the summer. He was back playing mid-autumn, didn’t miss any of the majors. Never-mind … In comparison, Jamie Jones never intended to fix a match, never even discussed fixing a match all he did was fortuity being made aware that his mate David John had been approached and not reporting him. Yet he got a much longer ban, one that effectively forced him to re-qualify for the main tour.
Did Terry Camillieri referee in another tournament (including qualifiers) already this season?
I can’t remember seeing him but I’m not sure.
It is amazing to read some people still seem to think that John Higgins got away lightly with what happened in 2010 and compare it to what Yan Bingtao and other chinese players where found guilty of in recent years… Just a few days ago a new article was published that covers the NOTW’s approach to John and Pat Mooney: Why Higgins should start his 30th world championship with no stain on his name (substack.com)
Those who followed the WPBSA investigation at the time would already know most of it but unfortunately many people prefer to judge based on their own bias… Of course WST has taken a stearner stance on match fixing in recent years but that still doesn’t make different players’ charges more comparable…
I saw that article and I don’t buy it. Mooney was banned for life for a reason, John should have been too. I was at an exhibition in Berlin in the early spring of 2010. The late Brandon Parker was there as well with Shaun Murphy who played in that exhibition. After the show everyone had a few drinks and maybe he shouldn’t have shared this but Brandon had told us about Barry Hearn’s plans regarding the PTCS. He, Brandon would be in charge of promoting the west European “leg”, Mooney was in charge of Eastern Europe, i.e Russia and its “satellites” included. Mooney and John had previously tried to launch a series of exhibition tournaments: the “World Series”. It was a great idea especially as there weren’t that many main tour tournaments at the time. Some legs were even shown on television (Eurosport) They went all over Europe, including Moscow But it didn’t earn them the money they had hoped for, and they had huge debts. Most notably the players who had performed in those events had not been paid or not been paid in full. I have no doubts that they were set up (Quinten Hahn was too … for the record) but I also have no doubts that they needed money – badly – and that fixing those “minor” events (likely Eastern Europe PTCs rather than exhibitions) was very tempting and they even discussed how to bring more players on board.. Higgins was still the reigning World Champion when this story emerged. It was as bad as it could possibly have been for the image of the sport. When the news emerged, Steve Davis was in tears in the media room, convinced that no sponsor would want to touch snooker ever again. When asked about it after his SF finished Graeme Dott was absolutely horrified and immediately distanced himself from Mooney. I have no doubts that this whole affair affected him and impacted his performance in the Final. I have it from reliable sources the the NOTW was “tipped”. It never emerged who tipped them and what were their motives. I’m also convinced the the whole operation wasn’t so much about getting Mooney and Higgins in trouble but instead about weakening Hearn’s position as WST chairman (Mooney was a member of his board remember). Higgins said he agreed to everything because he was scared. I saw the video as it was originally published. He was laughing, drinking and discussing how to “wash” this money using his properties in Spain as a cover. If he was scared I’m the Queen of Prussia. That or he missed out on a great career in acting and, all the same, that doesn’t explain why he didn’t report the approach once safely in Britain. Jamie Jones was effectively banned for over a year for failing to report an approach on one of his mates, a low ranked player, he fell off the tour as a result. You compare what they both did, what the consequences for snooker as a sport could have been and their respective punishments… and try to explain to me how this is right. Good luck.