I see your point and am not going to specifically defend him but I think there are other ways to see it. When he initially chose not to pot the black that time to leave 140 he said later that he had done similar in practice/exhibition (?) matches with people like Hendry and they loved the audacity of it. This time I suspect he didn't want to do that because it may end with him getting urged to just pot the black again. This time he maybe wanted to fulfill his desire to essentially show he was willing and capable of passing up a 147. Even the greats would not dream of doing that so he probably thinks it is a way of setting himself apart from everyone else.

I see a parallel to the recent penalty from Messi/Suarez for Barcelona, or even the rainbow flick thing from Neymar. It is showboating and something that arguably no one else is likely to do. Yes it shows arrogance but also provides the crowd with a unique sight. I remember thinking with the 140 potential break that while there have been plenty of 147s that would have been something no one had ever seen in a big match. I completely understand the criticism but showboating always can be criticized.

Saying it is about money seems a bit lame as it suggests he really cares about that side. I am not sure how true that is but it hardly sounds good. Obviously the money has decreased because while it is not easier to do it, it is certainly much more common so they have had to take that into account. Maybe the prize seems a bit low but I don't know how much they could sensibly award if it is possible people will bang loads in.

Sponsors wouldn't get insurance to underwrite maximums if they were huge pots of money now, so unless it came out of the World Snooker coffers, which would be financial suicide, there's no way a maximum is going to be rewarded with anything like a six figure sum.

Exactly what I thought. The man a complete pr@tt - but sadly a popular one, and one that for some fans can do no wrong. Personally I would like to see him fined £10K, though the consummate businessman that Hearn undoubtedly is, he wouldn't dare allow such a penalty to be imposed in case Ronnie walked!

I suppose the problem with the 147, versus the 9 dart finish is that a nine darter can win a match - a 147 merely a frame - the frame being won one past the 74 point mark in most cases.

Eh? A nine darter in dart merely wins one leg, that doesnt win a match either

Look, there's an easy way to sort this out, just make it £100k for the maximum but you need to get it twice in the tournament.

An easy way to sort it out would be for Ronnie to stop acting like a petulant child. Fact is that 147's happen too often now, same with 9 darters and even in the PDC they stopped giving out money in floor events for 9 darters and in telly events its only £5k, although this always rolls over to the next event if not won.

He needs to blame his fellow players for getting them too often.

Really ? You think those fans who have never seen a 147, and i reckon that would be 95% of the audience would sooner see a 146 ? I totally disagree. I would have been very pee'd off at his arrogance. The whole money line is a disgrace. When people PAY to see him he rewards them by saying "money doesn't mean anything to me." He has a very bad attitude. Mate of mine interviewed him on the radio recently and O'Sullivan actually ate an apple during it, how rude is that ?

I assume he will be giving the £2k highest break prize away, given that is "peanuts" to him

I'd love it if Robbo or someone gets on 140, turns to the crowd and goes 'this one's for the fans Ronald!' before knocking the black in to complete the 147. That would be pretty cool

I have never seen a 147 in the flesh so am not sure if I would be disappointed if I was there. In some ways, though, I might indeed be happier to have seen something genuinely unique rather than something that may well happen again relatively soon. I am not disputing he is rude so this is purely about the spectacle. It has also garnered more attention to snooker and the tournament than another 147 would ever do.

Apologies but am going to repeat something I said in another thread (that also partly repeats an earlier post here)...I actually doubt the money is anything more than an excuse for him to showboat. There are many other examples in snooker (exhibition shots once a frame is won), and other sports such as the Barcelona penalty the other day, footballers showing off with flicks and tricks, Muhammad Ali with his shuffle antics etc., Sugar Ray Leonard's windmill punch thing, Usian Bolt's antics before races and celebrating before the line yet still winning with a world record time, Adrian Lewis' blind 180, etc. The key is that it is a way of setting yourself apart from the rest. Yes it shows arrogance, and it's debatable how much it is about specifically entertaining the crowd, but it certainly adds drama and spectacle. Sport would be boring (some might say more boring) without these showboaters.



That would be brilliant. I am sure there are more than a few players who would like to send such a message to Ronnie.

As i have mentioned before though, i really do not get it when people ( on here ) absolutely slate Selby for his fist pump and are very derogatory about Stuart Bingham yet fawn over Ronnie. No doubting his talent but belittling players like Selby and Bingham shows a total disregard for the game and just a love of one player.

It is the inconsistency that annoys me

Indeed, a bit like how people love Ted Hankey being an arse on the stage however if any other player did it, he would be slated to high heaven.

They could always tighten up the pockets and that would stop the frequent 147's - but it seems old man Hearn likes an "attacking game".

Be epic if he then missed the black.

Are the pockets now bigger or smaller than in the 80s ? I was always under the impression it is harder nowadays.

Had an idea re 147's

The sponsor has a dedicated charity that gets £10,000 every time a 147 is hit in tournament play. The player doesn't get anything it all goes to charity. Who would want to refuse them the money ?

Even the die hard Ronnie fans must see the wrong in this. Im a fan but this leaves a sour taste in the mouth. As others have said, why not give the money to charity if it means that little to him. Go and give £10,000 to a homeless person and see what it does for their life. Even pick a random person out of the audience and give it to them if you want. Imagine how great it would make you feel to change someones life that way. Instead we are all talking about him being an idiot.

Listened to a podcast with Dominic Dale recently, who's very into the history of the game....and he's insistent the pockets are less forgiving. Although on a new cloth, balls tend to hug the cushion more, making that shot easier.

Ye I agree with that. O'Sullivan makes a crude hand gesture to someone in the crowd to insult them and most just ignore it. Selby makes a fist pump gesture simply to celebrate and gets loads of stick. I would also say that comments about how snooker would flounder without Ronnie or that Selby/Bingham/etc. are not good to watch just sound bizarre. I can also see how these situations turn you off Ronnie. I was thinking actually that along with some bad behaviour himself one of the big turn-offs is the behaviour of his most ardent fans. The Masters can get a bit much and not in keeping with the spirit and history of snooker.

Selfish is the word that springs to my mind...and this is hardly the first time we've been here with O'Sullivan.

My perspective is that people behave the way they do for a reason and I'm interested in causality rather than passing judgement (and there's no shortage of people doing the latter). I know from my own experience that depression can make you irritable, selfish, less able to enjoy things you normally would etc and I see these characteristics in O'Sullivan. I understand many people will dismiss that as making excuses but if you really accept depression as an illness and an affliction I don't think you can ignore well documented symptoms. I would rather O'Sullivan was not, to put it bluntly, such a dick at times but I try to take people for what they are and avoid condemnation as far as possible. Not easy in our sort of culture which is very much praise-blame / pride-shame based but that's my philosophy FWIW.

I said last night that Barry would see it as good publicity and sure enough he's backing Ronnie now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/35586231

He's right of course. Ronnie is box office and people turn up to see Ronnie be Ronnie.

The thing is Ronnie sees the game differently to a lot of the other players. He's 24 years into his professional career. He's the all time leader on the 147 table. He's made £8 million quid in his career. He's got the record for the quickest 147.

So when he's on the table looking at a 147.. does his heart start to race a bit? Probably. But is it as important to him as it is to some other players? No. That's just the nature of what he's achieved and how far he is into his career. And so perhaps this issue of prize money is something that bugs him enough and he's decided he has the luxury of being able to say no to going for the 147. His choice.

Perhaps in hind sight he'll regret it when he thinks of it from the fans perspective. Who knows. But I don't think it's the biggest crime in Snooker. The talk that he should have just given it to charity is missing the point. He wasn't saying "Ha i'm rich i don't need the money!" he was saying he feels a 147 should be worth more in terms of prize money because of the achievement. That was why he took the stance he did.

Either way.. it's Ronnie. He will always be unpredictable.

Going back to the actual snooker, Rory is a brave man to be wearing a patch that looks very much like it says ISIS

It does say ISIS, it's ISIS business solutions, Rory's sponsor for the last 14 years.

O'Sullivan absolutely wiped the floor with Tian Pengfei in round two. I saw the last three frames (at work with the sound off) and he made a 90-odd and two centuries.

4-0 in not a very long time at all. When he plays like that he is basically unbeatable. Just wish he'd keep the antics and histrionics to himself so we can talk about his undoubted genius as a player.

He made a century in the first frame as well. He is the most naturally gifted player ever IMO, to start off so well and keep that form throughout the match (although on this occasion it was only four frames) is incredible.

as you say, shame he's an idiot who doesn't care about his fans.