THIS IS A TEST AND WE ARE THE LAB RATS
O’Sullivan’s Crucible fears
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN says the players will be “lab rats” at the Crucible this year.
Veteran qualifier Anthony Hamilton launched a fierce attack this week on World Snooker Tour’s decision to allow fans into the Betfred World Championship.
The 17-day tournament in Sheffield that starts tomorrow has been designated the only Government indoor sports pilot event permitting a reduced-capacity crowd during the pandemic.
There will be about 300 instead of 980 fans for each session but Hamilton said it was “too soon”, “ridiculous” and that he “didn’t want to be part of an experiment”.
And with fans not wearing masks in the arena, five-times world champion O’Sullivan said: “If you or anybody had been doing everything possible to keep their distance for four months and then tell them to go into a room full of people…
“Unless you had a death wish – and some people seem to, they just don’t care in many ways – but if you care about your health, I know exactly how he feels.
“I feel strange at the moment walking into a room with 10 people that I don’t know. No one is going to feel comfortable if people were coughing near them so, of course, I’m not. But I have decided to play and that’s it.
“If a fan starts coughing, what can you do? They are not wearing masks in the arena, so there you go. They’re treating this tournament like a test and we’re like lab rats, really.
“As far as players wearing masks – and we don’t have to – I thought the idea was to protect other people. So if I wear one, I’m protecting them, but they are not protecting me. Unless I wore a whole lot of other stuff – and how would you play snooker like that?
“I have had a person I know die from Covid-19 so I am going to take it seriously if people close to you have gone through it. Nurses have said to me people come in with it and think they are going to be all right…until they can’t breathe, asking, ‘Please don’t let me die’. Those stories affect you.
“And I have taken it seriously – as Anthony Hamilton clearly has, too. So I know where he is coming from, but also know where those trying to get us back to normal are coming from.
“The bottom line is, he has a choice, I have a choice.We are all running a bit of a risk.
“I don’t really see why for 200-300 fans – if it was 5,000 fans you see there is a big income to lose. But 200 fans, personally I don’t see it.
“They’ve got to start somewhere, start with snooker players! Less insurance to pay out for Anthony Hamilton than Lewis Hamilton.”
A spokesman for the World Snooker Tour said: “There will be independent and Government advisors on site supporting WST and Sheffield Theatres, observing and assisting in ensuring that the measures which we have put in place are effective.”