Ronnie O'Sullivan led the tributes from the snooker world following the death of football icon Pele on Thursday.
Pele, universally considered one of the greatest to grace the beautiful game, died in hospital in Sao Paulo aged 82 following a battle with colon cancer. The Brazilian virtuoso, football's first true global superstar, is a bona fide national hero and has left an indelible mark on the sport as the only player to ever lift the World Cup three times.
Tributes have been flooding in for one of sport's great pioneers, who helped redefine what was possible on the football pitch with his incredible flair and extraordinary athleticism.
Like Pele, O'Sullivan is regarded a genius who has transcended his sport, and the seven-time world snooker champion recalled a meeting with 'the King' while commemorating his life in a social media post.
O'Sullivan, 47, shared a treasured photo with Pele alongside the caption: "A footballing legend but most of all what a man. Genuinely a lovely person I was honoured to meet. Remember, everything you see now in football, Pele did it first! RIP."
Snooker star Shaun Murphy also paid his own personal tribute as he remembered sharing a moment with Pele at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.
"He seemed a truly lovely man, full of energy and kindness," Murphy said. "I was amazed to discover he enjoyed following snooker too."
As former world champion Murphy notes, the legendary Pele was indeed a big fan of the green baize and even campaigned for snooker to be included on the Olympic roster with an Instagram post showing an old photo of him playing the sport.
“Who agrees that snooker should be in the Olympic Games?," he wrote in 2021. "I’m sure we have great players all over Brazil. We’ll win gold medals when that happens.”
Snooker has huge popularity in Brazil and is played on a smaller table, but no cue sports have yet made it onto the Olympic programme.
