Hossein Vafaei may regret Ronnie O'Sullivan trash talk at World Snooker Championship as big clash looms
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Updated 21/04/2023 at 08:39 GMT
Dave Hendon previews the grudge match between Hossein Vafaei and Ronnie O'Sullivan at the World Championship - and how trash talk has worked out in the sport in the past. Vafaei has said that he wants to "shut" O'Sullivan's mouth, while the seven-time champion has warned opponents "don't rattle my cage". The second-round match at the Crucible starts on Friday.
Vafaei wants to 'shut' O'Sullivan's mouth as he flames rivalry
It was not only the chap who jumped uninvited onto one of the tables the other night who has failed to keep his powder dry at the Crucible this week.
Hossein Vafaei’s description of Ronnie O’Sullivan as "such a nice person – when he’s asleep" represents a new level of sass in snooker.
Played in smart dress suits amid polite surroundings, we are a genteel and respectful sport. Or at least, we are in public. Behind the scenes the players moan about each other in ways that would have made the late Paul O’Grady’s alter ego Lily Savage blush.
Many snooker players are friends but they are first and foremost rivals. They generally respect each other but are quick to look for any perceived weaknesses in character and personality which may give them an edge on the table.
All Vafaei has done is brought this into the public sphere. His problem is that it has the potential to massively backfire.
O’Sullivan himself knows all about this. At the 2002 World Championship he chose to let rip with a series of disrespectful remarks about Stephen Hendry on the eve of their semi-final, vowing to "him back to Scotland, back to his sad little life".
Hendry, a man who needed little motivation at the best of times, beat him 17-13. The laser-like stare he gave O’Sullivan at the end of the match could have melted steel.
It was a lesson that trash talk has to be backed up. It is a lesson Vafaei may learn the hard way over three sessions this weekend.
Beef between players is nothing new. In his autobiography, the three-time world champion John Spencer wrote of his 1970s rival Ray Reardon that he "would laugh all day long if he thought it was to his advantage".
The most notorious grudge match in snooker came at the 1990 Irish Masters when Dennis Taylor faced off against Alex Higgins. A short time earlier they had competed together as part of the Northern Ireland World Cup team, but this did not stop Higgins threatening to have Taylor shot.
At Goffs in County Kildare it was standing room only, the tournament organisers having resold the ticket stubs to pack as many people in as possible. Taylor won 5-2. Higgins was soon after banned for a year.
Three years ago at the Crucible, social media played its part after Anthony McGill and Jamie Clarke had a disagreement about who was standing where. "You want to dance, let’s dance," Clarke tweeted, but it was McGill who hot-stepped his way from 8-2 down to win 13-12.
Many players claim ignorance as to what is happening on the circuit but most of them seem to know what has been said and by whom. They are experts in dredging up perceived sleights and using them as motivation.
It was O’Sullivan himself who brought up Vafaei’s comments in the Eurosport studio last Saturday, a year after they were made when no one else had mentioned them. This suggests that they did sting him, despite protestations to the contrary.
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But he has far more experience of playing in big matches, of handling pressure of all kinds, than his opponent. Vafaei will undoubtedly be fired up but, at the Crucible, it is usually cooler heads that thrive.
When it comes to controversial statements, O’Sullivan is hardly an innocent party. He has previously described lower-ranked players as 'numpties’ and shown scant regard for their feelings in interviews.
However, much of what he says is for show. In private, he has demonstrated acts of kindness towards his fellow players. A few years ago when Graeme Dott announced he was suffering from depression, O’Sullivan rang him up to offer support. When Mark Allen asked for advice on changing his lifestyle last year, Ronnie invited him to his hotel room for a chat.
Given O’Sullivan’s vast contribution to snooker and the huge number of fans he has brought to the sport, Vafaei’s suggestion last year that we would be better off if he retired – which sparked this latest war of words – was bizarre.
From his perspective, though, he sees a player who has enjoyed countless opportunities and not always demonstrated gratitude to snooker, whereas the Iranian has struggled to overcome many hurdles, not least obtaining visas to play in tournaments, so feels he has had it far harder.
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The irony is that I once interviewed David Roe, a former top-16 player who was for a time the national coach in Iran, who told me that the huge interest in snooker there was largely driven by people watching footage of one man – Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Snooker does not want to go down the road of boxing with its endless, phoney hype, but could use a bit more of this saltiness if it wants to attract the attention of sports fans who aren’t glued to the Sheffield action all day long.
It adds to the air of anticipation around a last-16 encounter which promises to be unmissable. The fact that the players are forced to sit uncomfortably close to each other throughout contributes to the general feeling of awkwardness.
“Don’t rattle my cage” was O’Sullivan’s advice to those who want to engage in mind games off the table. We’ll see what difference the comments have made to the seven times champion’s intensity on Friday afternoon and whether Vafaei comes to regret making them.
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