Former world champion Shaun Murphy has faced a backlash from snooker fans after he called for a change to the format that would overhaul the way the game is played.
Murphy currently sits as the world number four after winning the Players Championship and Tour Championship in the run-up to the Crucible, but crashed out of the World Championships with a shock defeat to debutant Si Jiahui. However, that hasn't stopped him putting forward some hot takes on the game as he takes in all the action.
His latest pitch has raised the eyebrows of fans after calling for snookers to be removed from the game, tweeting: "Unpopular opinion time....I think we should remove playing for Snookers from the game. Once the frame is over mathematically, it’s over. What do you think?" The call to remover snookers from the sport known as snooker left some punter scratching their head.
One puzzled Twitter user responded "it’s called snooker for a reason" while another chimed in "I think this is too harsh." Another added: "It’s not called pot balls!" However, some admitted they could see the merit in some changes.
Playing for snookers can add to the frame or match’s entertainment, but can also make frames unnecessarily long when one player has almost no chance of a comeback. One fan on social media responded: "Maybe if you need more than 2/3 snookers, have that as the cut off point"
It's not just social media that Murphy is taking stick from - with old pal Mark Allen demanding Murphy commentate his final four showdown after an online jibe last week. When play was suspended on the other table due to the infamous orange powder protestor Murphy tweeted “Mark Allen reaches the one table setup for the second time in his career”.
And Antrim ace Allen, who beat gritty Welsh qualifier Jak Jones 13-10 in the last eight, is desperate to torture his mate. The title-chasing third seed insisted: “I want Shaun to commentate on me getting to the one-table set-up. It will be great if Shaun has to commentate on my second time and he has to go through that.
“The tweet he sent last week was the best he’s ever tweeted at my expense! It will hurt me for a while, but I’ll get him back. We’ll always have a bit of banter back and forward. It would be nice if I could put him through the ringer in the commentary box. He’ll probably be disappointed he’ll have to be nice about me.”
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