Ronnie O'Sullivan says snooker refs 'there to serve me' and tells amusing story at Northern Ireland Open
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Updated 23/10/2022 at 18:45 GMT
For Ronnie O'Sullivan, it is abundantly clear when it comes to the relationship between players and referees in snooker: "you are here to serve me, me not to serve you". The Rocket was sharing his thoughts at the Northern Ireland Open after another controversial refereeing moment in Belfast involving Zhou Yuelong in the final against home favourite and defending champion, Mark Allen.
'Don't move!' - O'Sullivan tells entertaining story about referees
Ronnie O'Sullivan has shared some fascinating insights into him coaching referees to do as he likes around the snooker table and insisted that he would be "an amazing ref".
The Rocket was speaking in the Eurosport studio at the Northern Ireland Open during the final between Zhou Yuelong and home favourite and defending champion, Mark Allen.
The reason for the discussion about refereeing? Well, there was another controversial incident at Waterfront Hall in Belfast as referee Leo Scullion warned Zhou over taking too long (in actual fact, just over two minutes) to take a shot at a crucial moment in the final.
O'Sullivan and fellow Eurosport expert and snooker legend, Jimmy White, were not overly impressed with the official getting involved to bother Zhou, who is not known as a particularly slow player on the tour. The pair thought the intervention was "unfair".
As the conversation continued, O'Sullivan recounted how he gave Scullion some coaching to help him referee in a way that was not distracting and to help him play around him more smoothly.
"It was during the World Championship, he was the referee for Malta and he would put the ball on the spot and walk round," O'Sullivan told Eurosport.
"While he was walking around, I could see him moving, so I had to coach him.
"So what I would do was, when I would pot the black and he would put it back on the spot, I would say 'stop!' He would stop, but he would be right over the table and I could tell that he thought it was not right.
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'It is unfair!' - O'Sullivan and White don't agree with referee warning Zhou
"I said 'I don't mind you being in my eye line, just don't move!' I had to make a break of 40, actually coaching him, but it was good.
"I then said 'keep it up for the whole match because I am a fast player so I need you to be on the ball - all the others are a bit slower so you can take your time with them - but with me, you are here to serve me, me not to serve you'.
"So it was just trying to teach him how I like him to ref, really.
"I would make a great ref," he continued, making the point that former players would make the best referees, given their experiences.
"I would make an amazing ref because you have just got to know. When you have played snooker, you know. You know what is important and what is not important."
White had said about the Zhou incident: "Zhou Yuelong played a really poor positional shot. The referee told him to hurry up because he took over two minutes. I don't think that is fair because he is not a slow player.
"If he was one of the slow players on the tour who does it every other shot, then I think he was entitled to tell him, but it is a very difficult shot. He should have been 3-1 up already at that point but was not, so that is why he took so long over the shot.
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'You need to decide' - Referee warns Zhou over taking too long on shot
"We say that Neil Robertson is a fast player, but against Judd Trump, he needed to take two or three minutes over a shot because pressure can do that to you sometimes. Your thought pattern can go. Mark Selby famously took six-and-a-half minutes [over a shot].
"Zhou is in a difficult situation, he has played a bad positional shot, and he has just taken a little bit of time. It is a one-off; he is not a slow player."
O'Sullivan concurred: "Yes, he is a fast player and sometimes you have got to look at the table. If there was an obvious shot on then you might go, 'OK, two minutes is too long', but there was not an obvious shot on.
"He took a bit of time, but if that is going to be the new rule that after two minutes [you get a warning] then that should apply to everyone.
"Maybe he was just doing that because Zhou is not a high-ranked player. Would he do the same to [Mark] Selby, [John] Higgins, [Neil] Robertson, and myself? Maybe not, who knows? But if you are going to start doing that, then you have to do it all the time, you know."
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O'Sullivan says 'it is not fair' after referee warns Zhou over shot
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The Home Nations series is back with the Northern Ireland Open and it is live and exclusive on discovery+. You can also watch Seventh Heaven, a two-part show about Ronnie O’Sullivan’s historic World Championship win last season, on demand now.
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