WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BUM’S THE WORD

Williams: Kick me up the backside if I ever mention retirement again

MARK WILLIAMS has asked for a kick up the backside the next time he threatens to retire.

The three-time world champion, who surged into a shock 6-2 lead against Ronnie O’sullivan in the Betfred World Championship quarter-final, was close to packing it in before his third Crucible success two years ago and was again considering hanging up his cue this season.

But seeing his livelihood of 28 years briefly taken away during lockdown gave the 45-year-old some much-needed perspective.

And it also reminded him of being taken down a coal mine by his father as a child and told to make the most of his snooker abilities.

Williams (above) said: “If you ever hear me say I am retiring again, you can kick me up the backside. I’ve made my mind up – retirement is out of the window.

“During lockdown I had months without even looking at my cue and I started missing it. I really wanted to practise.

“We don’t know how lucky we are playing snooker for a living. My father was in a mine working 12-hour shifts for 20-30 years.

“So I said to myself, ‘You don’t know how lucky you are given what is going on in the world. It’s snooker – get off your a**e and stop acting like a big baby’.”

Williams, O’sullivan and John Higgins make up the famous ‘Class of 1992’ who all turned professional the same summer.

But Williams’ record against five-time Crucible king O’sullivan is simply shocking – just one victory in a ranking event in 18 years, and four losses at the Crucible cauldron.

He added: “I love playing Ronnie and John – the fact there is another World Championship quarterfinal between us is unthinkable.

“It makes me laugh, though, when people say he’s my bogeyman. He’s everyone’s bogeyman!”

O’sullivan’s recent criticism of young, lower-ranked players has triggered an angry backlash.

O’sullivan (above) said after reaching the quarter-finals: “If you look at me, Mark and John, and the younger players coming through... they’re not that good.

“Most of them might do OK as amateurs. They are so bad, a lot of them. You’d have to lose an arm and a leg to fall outside the top 50.”

But first-year tour rookie and world No.87 Louis Heathcote, from the snooker hotbed of Leicester, hit back at the Rocket. “It’s harsh, what he said,” the 23-year-old said.

“He’s forgetting he lost to an amateur at the Crucible last year so the standard isn’t that bad down the bottom of the rankings.

“For children who want to get into the game, for those who idolise him, it’s not good for them to hear that.”

And 16-year-old Jamie Wilson, who joins the tour next season, said: “I would love to play Ronnie.

“And it would be even better to beat him because of all the stuff he says about amateurs. I’m more of a Judd Trump fan now.”