Hamilton fury over Crucible fans
THEY’VE ALL BEEN GR-EIGHT BOSSES
ANTHONY HAMILTON has blasted the decision to allow fans into the Crucible, saying it is “ridiculous”, an “absolute risk” and that he resents being “part of an experiment”.
He is furious that there will be about 300 spectators at every session of the Betfred World Championship.
World Snooker Tour and supremo Barry Hearn have installed a range of safety measures and it has been
■ designated as the only indoor sporting ‘pilot’ event by the Government. But world No.48 Hamilton (left) said: “Three hundred people indoors for 17 days is an absolute risk. “I understand Goodwood and The Oval, they’re outside, but what’s the chances here of somebody not having it?
“The word ‘pilot’ means an experiment. I don’t want to be part of an experiment.
“If one person gets ill and dies, it’s one person who died for no reason at all, just for entertainment.
“On a personal note I’ve got asthma so I’ve been shielding, basically.
“I haven’t been seeing anyone and I’ve been practising on my own.”
Hearn said: “The crowd have only been allowed in subject to very strict social distancing measures.
“There will be no food, no betting stand and no merchandise stand.”
ST HELENS have had a fairly constant turnaround of coaches in Jonny Lomax’s 11-year career at the club but he believes he has learned from all eight.
He said: “I will always be thankful to Mick Potter because he gave me my first chance in the team and to Royce Simmons who gave me my chance at halfback.”
Those two were followed by another Aussie in Nathan Brown before home-grown favourite Keiron Cunningham took over.
Current chief executive Mike Rush and Kiwi Jamahl Lolesi also had spells in temporary charge, with Justin Holbrook (inset) bringing the good times back in 2018 and 2019.
Lomax said: “Keiron Cunningham was a legend at the club and I held him in such high esteem and from Lolesi I learned a lot about playing full-back.
“Under Justin we had such a great time in terms of winning and now we’ve got Kristian Woolf in charge who’s bringing new things.
“He’s big into looking after the person as well as the player. “We’ve also got Paul Wellens as assistant and he was an idol for me growing up, so it’s great to have him on the coaching staff.
“It’s quite difficult to pick out one above the others because they all offer you a different perspective.
“The important thing is to keep learning off them all.”