Snooker

Match for the ages that one
Mark cannot be too disappointed, he battled to the bitter end

Yeah that was great, shame MW is out, at least I get my bank holiday back

Am I the only one psyched by a Judd Ronnie final?

Perfect outcome in my view.

Well, not quite perfect. Last night's semi being the final would have been perfection.

It seems to often be the case that the semi finals are better matches than the final.

Last year was the archetypal example of this.

I'd have liked to have seem a Williams/O'Sullivan final. I just can't warm to Judd Trump as good a player as he is, I find it very hard to root for him

Sad for Mark, as he didn't complete the Miracle Comback. Glad for Ronnie as I think Judd will be a easier to beat than Mark, I'd like to Ronnie to be World Champion again.

I do wonder if it's good for the future of snooker that 3/4 of the Semi Finalists were over 40.

I'd like to Ronnie to be World Champion again

He won it two years ago.

Re-spotted black trickshot

Ronnie bullying Olivier Marteel at the beginning of frame three, over the cue ball replacement was disgraceful. He has such form for it.

Easy to say from the sofa but I was shouting at Olivier to tell him that the consultation period was over, the rules are clear and he'd be happy to discuss it after the session.

(Once both players have agreed to the replacement, that's it. Done.)

Made worse by the fact that Olivier is a good player. He has a 133 break in practice and a 78 in competition.

And then more beef.

Pretty sure the ref heard Ronnie swear so had to give him a warning, in response to which he took the hump and tried to get Judd involved. Then wouldn't shake hands with the ref at the end of the session. Wally.

He's a wind up merchant. Did you see the bit in the previous match where Ronnie said to the ref "my arse is wet" and made him towel the seat down (which clearly wasn't wet!).

I love Ronnie but he doesn't do himself any favours with these antics. Whereas the sportsmanship in the Trump - Williams match was exemplary.

If he’s like that when he’s winning…..

Glad the delay/disruption didn’t prevent Trump knocking in the yellow and going on to win the frame.

I really can't decide whether I would be excited about reffing him for the first time or really dreading it. Apparently he is miles worse with new guys he doesn't know.

Doesn’t sound like he will mellow into generous and genial presences like Davis and Hendry.

Nah, he's getting worse as he gets older. His interviews are utter self absorbed drivel. It's so odd. If anyone else was so self deprecating it would be modesty, but with him it just sounds like he's being an arrogant cockwomble.

I obviously wouldn’t impugne your professionalism but, when you do referee him, I’d hope a situation would arise that would cause him to lose his shit

And again. And again!

The World Snooker Tour confirmed the incident in a statement which read: “Ronnie O’Sullivan received a formal warning from the referee following a gesture he made in the eighth frame.”

O’Sullivan denied any offence in an interview with Eurosport, saying: “I just think he [Marteel] seems to be looking for trouble. I just get that vibe from the guy. They’ve got hundreds of cameras out there and they can go and check them all. I’m not going to have any of it because I think he’s just trying to create something. He needs to deal with it, not me.”

TL;DR Chat shit, get banged

Believe me, for Olivier to issue an actual formal warning (if another is given in the match Ronnie will forfeit a frame, one more and the match) then he would have been 100 percent convinced that Ronnie had behaved in a manner that merited it.

To issue a warning in the WC final? The first you've ever reffed? Yeah, he'd be sure.

Will be interesting if the gesture (what was it, calling himself a wanker for making a mistake?) will impact on his popularity with the crowd.

On which point, can their phones be confiscated? Same at Wimbledon with constant chatter, on social media etc - don’t want to watch, go outside!

More info

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Anyone else think the banner with the names and score on the BBC is really intrusive?

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yes, i have been thinking exactly that.

I hadn't but now it is all I can see.