Ronnie O'Sullivan and greed

Buckled_Rims

Just read this about Ronnie O'Sullivan the snooker player. He refused to pot the black ball for a 147 break because he would "only" earn £4000 for the highest break. He didn't want to break a 147 because there was no decent cash incentive on offer. The ref requested he pot the ball, which he just smashed in with a pet lip.

During the interview he never mentioned that his fans who paid good money should have been considered.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/20092010/58/o-sullivan-completes-bizarre-147-break.html

That's 3 months wages to me, all for the potting of a stupid ball. I'm off to cool down.

finchy

If a footballer acted like that, we'd never hear the end of it.

IronHorse100

what a tosser - used to have some respect for the guy but no more. Despicable attitude. I hope they throw the book at him (if he has, in fact, broken any rule).

finchy

IronHorse100 wrote:

what a tosser - used to have some respect for the guy but no more. Despicable attitude. I hope they throw the book at him (if he has, in fact, broken any rule).

A snooker player can stop whenever he has won the frame, but maybe there's something about bringing the game into disrepute?

If £4000 is nothing to him, he could have just potted the final ball and given the money to charity.

Stewie Griffin

Snooker needs characters but he does come across more of a tosser. We used to go & see the snooker in wembley conference centre. Jimmy or the nugget.

Smokin Joe

What's the problem? He had won the frame and if he wanted to turn down a cert four grand that's his business.

The fans never lost out, they still saw him clear the rest of the balls and a 147 isn't exactly a novelty these days.

Percy Vera

Maybe it's the Federation/Organisers that are greedy for not giving a prize for a 147 break!!

Scrumple

that is about as interesting as table roll ball gets these days

father_jack

Did the the audience storm the table?

Dalton

Not mentioned in this thread, is that Ronnie asked the referee after the second ball potted what the prize was for a maximum break. Therefore indicating his intention to go for the maximum at such an early stage in the break.

The fact he completed the break, shows what a genius he is. Sure he is flawed in terms of attitude and respect for the game he earns his living from, but he is a genius none the less!

dmch2

Ooops! Double post, sorry

dmch2

Stewie Griffin wrote:

Snooker needs characters but he does come across more of a tosser.

I read it as a bit of fun and nonsense to get people liks us talking about the game of snooker - exactly what the game needs.

father_jack

so no rioting then? Not even throwing peanuts at him? lol fans as boring as the game

jibberjim

He potted the black anyway when the ref encouraged him to for the fans... he just didn't see the point for himself, it's not as if he's not scored plenty of others.

greasedscotsman

Dalton wrote:

The fact he completed the break, shows what a genius he is. Sure he is flawed in terms of attitude and respect for the game he earns his living from, but he is a genius none the less!

He's not a genius, he's just good at knocking coloured balls around a table with a stick.

Aggieboy

Betting scam, no doubt.

Buckled_Rims

Aggieboy wrote:

Betting scam, no doubt.

Strangely, that's what I first thought about. Lots of people spread bet that there'll be no 147 breaks in a match, game, session or tournament.

Having previously been a spread better myself, the odds would have been fairly good.

mroli

Interestingly enough - I think with this break he became the person who has scored the most 147s in tournament snooker (above Hendrie). So he was nonchantly going to turn down a record because he wasn't getting paid?

Ronnie is an odd one - if you read into him a bit, he is a pretty complicated character. I wonder what was going on in his head? Perhaps he feels that there are only a certain number of 147s in him and he didn't want to waste one?

northernneil

just an update for you :-

he WAS going to get paid,

there was no money on offer for a 147 ... he had made 139 so no was going to beat him unless they made a 147, that was what his protest was about.

He was on Talk Sport this morning and has donated the £4000 to charity

Barry Hearn said they used to put up good money for 147's in snooker (£100K+) however the players nowadays are so much better that its not that uncommon and insurance companies wont take the risk anymore (as most sports do- hole in 1 in golf, 9 dart check out etc)

Ronnie also offered to make that his last ever frame and walk away from the sport .... so money really isnt an issue

_Brun_

northernneil wrote:

just an update for you :-

he WAS going to get paid,

there was no money on offer for a 147 ... he had made 139 so no was going to beat him unless they made a 147, that was what his protest was about.

Think there's a flaw in your logic. It wouldn't be very surprising for someone to subsequently record a break of 140+.

Ollieda

I don't see the problem......he's effectively had a work based performance bonus taken away from him, no wonder he wants to do some form of protest. If your work place had a performance bonus in place then it was taken away I imagine most of you and your colleagues would be annoyed and would complain in ways avaliable to them.

verylonglegs

I get the impression it’s more about snookers current standing as a sport and its faded popularity. I think he is frustrated he is good at something which is largely ignored now, he said as much in an interview when Hearn took over the running of it and that he hoped it could be made high profile again. Youngsters hardly aspire to become world champion at snooker and since tobacco sponsorship left the game it has been in a slow steady decline and will only continue in that direction as its current fanbase ages.

Smokin Joe

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Aggieboy wrote:

Betting scam, no doubt.

Strangely, that's what I first thought about. Lots of people spread bet that there'll be no 147 breaks in a match, game, session or tournament.

Having previously been a spread better myself, the odds would have been fairly good.

No way.

If O'Sullivan had betted against a 147 being made in the tournament he would not have potted 15 blacks and 5 colours.

rake

Smokin Joe wrote:

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Aggieboy wrote:

Betting scam, no doubt.

Strangely, that's what I first thought about. Lots of people spread bet that there'll be no 147 breaks in a match, game, session or tournament.

Having previously been a spread better myself, the odds would have been fairly good.

No way.

If O'Sullivan had betted against a 147 being made in the tournament he would not have potted 15 blacks and 5 colours.

neither would he have indicated doing the 147 after his first pot.

rick_chasey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... -147-break

AndyD2574

@rse!

finchy

northernneil wrote:

He was on Talk Sport this morning and has donated the £4000 to charity

OK, good for him.

AndyD2574

johnfinch wrote:

northernneil wrote:

He was on Talk Sport this morning and has donated the £4000 to charity

OK, good for him.

ignore my earlier post!!......(@rse)...............I now say good lad!

Frank the tank

verylonglegs wrote:

I get the impression it’s more about snookers current standing as a sport and its faded popularity. I think he is frustrated he is good at something which is largely ignored now, he said as much in an interview when Hearn took over the running of it and that he hoped it could be made high profile again. Youngsters hardly aspire to become world champion at snooker and since tobacco sponsorship left the game it has been in a slow steady decline and will only continue in that direction as its current fanbase ages.

Snooker needs another "hurricane" Higgins to revive its fortunes. All sports need personalities, and I mean personalities, not someone who wins the most titles/races etc but exponents that capture the publics imagination.

wiffachip

the charity is the one that looks after bairns whose folks have been locked up

anyway, who was the first player to record a 147 at a televised tournament ?

orbeaorca

steve davis 1982