Northern Ireland Open 2021 - 'Sit down!' – Ronnie O’Sullivan turns on snooker spectators in Belfast

ByBen Snowball

Updated 14/10/2021 at 15:05 GMT

The referee was forced to intervene, urging stewards to not let spectators into the Waterfront Hall auditorium while frames were in action. O’Sullivan put the disturbance behind him to produce a 129 break. The Rocket is bidding to end a run of three straight final defeats in Belfast. Stream the Northern Ireland Open live and on demand on discovery+, the Eurosport app and eurosport.com

Ronnie O’Sullivan vented his frustration at spectators moving around during his match with Yan Bingtao at the Northern Ireland Open.

The Rocket was in the middle of an immaculate 129 break during the third frame when a disturbance in the shadows caused him to stop.

The six-time world champion approached a spectator and asked him to “sit down”, gesticulating with his hands, before saying it was “too much”.

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The referee intervened and asked stewards to not let fans into the auditorium during play.

"I think he made his feelings quite known," quipped Eurosport commentator Neal Foulds.

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'You feel like you're playing to an empty auditorium'

The incident comes after O’Sullivan clarified his comments about the atmosphere at Waterfront Hall in Belfast, which he initially claimed was “very flat” and left him “very bored”.

However, he insisted that he would “never criticise any snooker fan” and was instead taking aim at the venue setup, which has seen three tables in operation at the same time.

"Obviously when I came here last time I said the atmosphere was flat," O’Sullivan told Eurosport after his 4-1 win over Alfie Burden on Wednesday.

"It's never got anything to do with the crowd, the Belfast crowd and every crowd all over the world are so enthusiastic when anyone plays.

"It's just that the setup out there means you can't get a good atmosphere because there's no one sitting down the sides, so you feel like you're playing to an empty auditorium.

"So when I said it was a flat atmosphere it's because you feel like you're actually not playing to anyone, you can't see a crowd.

"The way it was put across it looked like I was saying the fans are not... it's not up to the fans, it's the auditorium [which] wasn't set up right and that's no fault of the fans or anybody.

It's because they've got three tables and you're basically playing to a scoreboard!

'No fault of the fans' – O'Sullivan clarifies 'very flat' crowd comments

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Stream the Northern Ireland Open live and on demand on discovery+, the Eurosport app and eurosport.com.

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