Ronnie O’Sullivan leapt to the defence of Jimmy White following his argument with a referee. The snooker legend was involved in a row with official Ben Williams during his Northern Ireland Open clash against Luca Brecel.
After the official made an error when identifying the object ball, an intense and rather awkward exchange followed. The seven-time snooker world champion reacted to the incident on Eurosport and understood the 60-year-old’s reaction.
“I can see why Jimmy’s not seen the funny side. He’s having a hard time out there, not playing well,” The Rocket said. “Jimmy’s walked round so it might look like he’s playing the blue, but there’s no need to call a colour, it’s Jimmy White, the ball he’s going to hit is the ball he’s intending to hit.
“Then the referee starts laughing, then Jimmy goes like that with his hand, but he’s doing nothing, it’s like, ‘What’s going on? I don’t need this.’ It’s just uncalled for, really.” Alan McManus, who reacted to the row alongside O’Sullivan, said: “I can understand Jimmy.
“It’s a serious business at the easiest of times out there and Jimmy’s super serious about it. So he’s fully tuned in. You can have moments of hilarity out there when the situation suits, but Jimmy’s got a brown that gets him in amongst the reds and Jimmy doesn’t want any of that.
“I’ll be honest the referee should say: ‘Apologies Jimmy, brown ball.’ On we go and it doesn’t become anything.” The six-time Crucible finalist was in a spot of bother at the time of the incident, trailing his opponent 3-0.
During the fourth frame, White nominated the brown ball, only for Williams to mistakenly call 'blue ball'. The referee then laughed upon being corrected. Already flustered, because he was losing, this caused former UK and Masters champion White to snap: "What's funny about that? What's funny about that?" He then appeared to raise his hand towards the official.
Therefore, Williams handed him a warning, and when White asked for the reason why, the referee sternly replied: "For sticking the finger up at me. If you do anything again, it will be a frame to your opponent." White denied he raised his finger and the argument continued after the match.
White urged Williams to 'look at the video' as he continued to insist he did not deserve a warning. Williams replied: "It looked like it to me." Brecel went on to win 4-0 and played well to capitalise on White’s mistakes.
After witnessing the incident first-hand, he said post-match: “I don’t know what happened. I just heard Jimmy say what’s funny about that, because the ref was laughing. “I think the referee was just trying to be nice and laugh a bit, but Jimmy wasn’t laughing.”
Speaking later in the evening, White told Eurosport: “He’s given me a warning because he thinks I gave him a hand gesture, which I didn’t. What I’m frustrated about is…I’m 3-0 down, the guy’s potting balls all over, I’m trying my best. We’re playing a serious match, it’s not an exhibition. All he’s got to say is, 'Ok sorry, brown' and we get on with the game. No regrets. It’s a serious situation.”
