World Grand Prix snooker 2020: 'Are you sure that’s the rule?' – Ronnie O’Sullivan questions referee

ByBen Snowball

Published 17/12/2020 at 15:46 GMT

"Are you sure that’s the rule?" queried Ronnie O’Sullivan during his match with Barry Hawkins at the World Grand Prix. And he didn’t accept yes for an answer… O’Sullivan put the furore behind him to reach the quarter-finals in the familiar setting of Milton Keynes, playing host to a spree of snooker tournaments due to the Covid-19 situation.

Ronnie O’Sullivan had to be reminded of the rules during his second round match with Barry Hawkins at the World Grand Prix on Wednesday.

O’Sullivan faced conceding the third frame for three consecutive misses, with the SPOTY nominee querying whether the rule should apply given he couldn’t see both sides of any red left on the table.

However, the referee insisted that O’Sullivan could see one full ball red – activating the three miss rule – even though he couldn’t hit both sides.

World Championship

'Nowhere near right!' - O'Sullivan and ref in re-spot confusion over correct mark

00:02:27

|

11 hours ago

It all unfolded in a hilarious exchange:

Ref: "If you fail to hit the ball on this occasion you’ll give the frame to your opponent."

O’Sullivan: "What do you mean?"

Ref: "It’s a bit hard to understand. But because the red is the ball on, you can’t be snookered by another red... You don’t need to hit both sides, it’s just full ball contact."

O'Sullivan: "It’s just full ball?"

Ref: "Yeah."

O'Sullivan: "Really, is that the rule?"

Ref: "Yes."

O'Sullivan (to Hawkins): "Did you know that?", before adding to the ref: "Are you sure that’s the rule?"

Ref: "Yeah."

O'Sullivan: "What, full ball?"

Ref: "Yeah."

O'Sullivan: "Has that always been the rule?"

Ref: "Yep, as long as I’ve been refereeing."

O'Sullivan: "Interesting…"

‘That is just careless!’ – O’Sullivan misses easy red to hand Selby route to win

Still unconvinced, O’Sullivan asked match marker Leo Scullion, who refereed the 2019 World Championship final, for confirmation. Scullion concurred with his colleague.

Despite knowing another miss would see him concede the frame, O’Sullivan elected to go off two cushions to hit a safe red at the bottom of the table, rather than charging into the bunch. He made no mistake.

O’Sullivan went on to take the frame before seeing out a 4-1 win over Hawkins to book his spot in the quarter-finals in Milton Keynes.

World Championship

O'Sullivan opens up commanding lead over Page to close in on second round

6 hours ago

World Championship

'Flying up in the air!' - O'Sullivan somehow still pots with bizarre shot

00:00:57

|

13 hours ago

World Championship

World Championship as it happened – Higgins leads Jones as Day comeback stuns Hawkins

7 hours ago