Ronnie O’Sullivan was called out by Shaun Murphy over the state of snooker (Image: Getty)
is at the 12 months after calling out . A year ago, Murphy was unhappy with The Rocket ‘airing dirty laundry’ about the state of elite-level snooker.
O’Sullivan has been vocal in his criticisms of the standard of snooker, its venues and authorities. But Murphy felt that the 48-year-old had not bothered to discuss his issues with the World Snooker Tour (WST) or the players’ board.
He said at the time: “It’s a shame that not just Ronnie but other players won’t come to the table and talk with WST and WPBSA players’ board. I was always taught not to air your dirty laundry in public, and all of the things Ronnie refers to…none of them are made any easier by him speaking so publicly about them.
“I don’t see how players can’t understand that. This isn’t about gagging orders or restricting free speech. It’s having the sense to realise some of these things are sensitive, and need dealing with in-house.
“We need to be a unified voice in snooker to grow the game and make it bigger and better – and there is very little of that going around at the moment. In simple mathematical terms, for prize money and number of tournaments, he is incorrect to say it is the worst it is ever been.”
A year on and Murphy is now at the centre of a row with Northern Irish star Allen. The 42-year-old hit out at Kyren Wilson’s complaints that he was not being put on the top tables at the British Open, especially as the reigning world champion.
Murphy said on his podcast: “It’s about time the players understood that it’s about which match is the most attractive, the most exciting, which is going to pull more viewers in and that’s the one that will go first. It’s no more complicated than that.
Shaun Murphy has been in his fair share of snooker rows (Image: Getty)
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“Kyren asks what are the rewards for being world champion. You’ve got half a million pounds, that was your reward for winning the World Championship. And you’ll forever be known as a world champion, that’s your reward. It doesn’t entitle you to be on table one every match.”
However, Allen responded in a post on social media platform X: “Actually getting a bit boring reading [Murphy’s] recent views. This is someone who is meant to represent the players at board level but openly criticising the current world champ and others. Baffling behaviour or is it just attention-seeking from the yes man?”
It comes following a war-of-words between Murphy and Allen over the state of the facilities at the British Open. Murphy said criticism from “fellow professionals” was “rude and amateurish”, to which Allen responded: “Anyone taking [his] opinions seriously, I seriously question their judgement or quite possibly their sanity, not gonna lie. Anyway, maybe I’ll take three cues to my next match.”