World Snooker Championship - 'Put sweet wrappers away!' - Ref ticks off fans after Mark Selby break

ByDan Quarrell

Updated 29/04/2021 at 14:20 GMT

Referees at the World Snooker Championship have to deal with all kinds of things, from player antics to fans who have enjoyed the hospitality at the Crucible Theatre a bit too much. On Thursday afternoon, the referee in the semi-final between Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham had to step in with a stern word for fans over... noisy sweet wrappers, of all things.

The match referee officiating the huge World Snooker Championship semi-final between Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham had to tell off fans over sweet wrappers on Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, there was an incident involving a noisy set of commentators in a booth inside the Crucible Theatre, which forced the referee in Judd Trump's defeat to Shaun Murphy to step in.

A day later, it was the fans who forced the referee in Selby's clash with Bingham to halt play momentarily and make his feelings abundantly clear.

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The issue? Noisy sweet wrappers.

Selby broke off at the start of the fourth frame with a 2-1 lead over his fellow former world champion when the referee decided he had heard enough from the noise in the audience.

"Quiet please!" yelled the referee in the famous old venue in Sheffield.

Can you put your sweet wrappers away please?! Thank you!

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The match continued after a brief pause, with Selby's break-off not having been notably affected by the noisy wrappers.

As Eurosport commentator David Hendon explained, it is far from a new issue for players and officials at the Crucible.

"Ah, the demon sweet wrappers! The bane of a referee's life at the Crucible."

Wednesday's interruption involving the commentators was dealt with in similarly swift fashion. World number one Trump had fired down a break-off when the interruption occurred.

Both players looked up in frustration at the commentary box in question, and the referee subsequently had to intervene in order to ensure that the noise would be addressed.

'We can hear you' - Commentators delay Trump and Murphy match

"We can hear the commentary in the commentary box," shouted the match referee after a quick discussion with the unhappy players.

Can you ask them to be a bit quieter please?

Phil Yates, on commentary for Eurosport at the time, explained: "The referee is asking for those commentators to be quieter. That's not myself and Dominic [Dale]; we're not to blame!"

Dale added: "Sometimes the commentary boxes are very warm and the door at the back is just left open and the commentators can be heard by the players.

"It's not the biggest auditorium this, the Crucible Theatre. So everything is rather close for the players."

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You can watch every match of the World Snooker Championship live and ad-free on the Eurosport App and eurosport.co.uk. Download the Eurosport app now for iOS and Android.

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