O’Sullivan calls for cool heads as match- fixing scandal rumbles on
WORLD champion Ronnie O’Sullivan urged caution when it comes to sanctioning the players involved in the the biggest match- fixing scandal the sport has ever seen.
The Rocket broke his silence on the ongoing saga which is currently rocking snooker after the record seven- time winner roared into a 24th Masters quarter- final with a convincing 6- 1 win over Luca Brecel.
Ten Chinese players have been suspended due to “allegations of manipulating the outcome of matches for betting purposes” and the investigation has overshadowed this week’s Masters. Last season’s UK champion Zhao Xintong and 2021 Masters winner Yan Bingtao are both missing from the elite event at Ally Pally due to their suspensions.
There are reports that claim there has been bullying of young players and that organised crime is involved but O’Sullivan was wary of jumping to conclusions.
“I don’t know what’s going on if I’m honest,” insisted the world No. 1.
“Before you start criticising the guys involved you have to put yourself in other people’s shoes. When you go down from 40th in the world and lower a lot of those guys aren’t even making a living. Maybe they are forced into desperation and that’s not a good situation either.
“I think World Snooker could help support them rather than being hard on them and maybe change their structure and maybe not put these players in that situation.”
The scandal is undoubtedly damaging for the sport, but O’Sullivan believes even if the worst happens and multiple bans are dished out that the sport will recover.
“I’m sure it’s happened in football and it hasn’t harmed football,” added O’Sullivan. “I’m sure it’s happened in
tennis and it hasn’t done tennis any harm. I’m sure some golfer down the line has done something, it doesn’t seem to have affected that sport.
“I know we have to sit here and talk about this, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not as important as other things happening in the world. We’re talking about a sport. It’s just a game, you’ve got to try and get to the bottom of it and try to support these people.”
A spokesperson for snooker’s governing bodies said: “WST and WPBSA provide support both in guaranteed income and the opportunity to earn significant sums of prize money, available on the World Snooker Tour. Our structure includes a Players’ Board, and providing welfare and support to our players is extremely important to us.”