By Elliott West
Introduction
This piece is based on a series of events surrounding the first-round match between Andy Hicks and Quinten Hann in the 2004 World Championship. In a match where Hicks gave his Australian opponent a 10-4 drubbing, the scoreline only tells half a story that panned out to something that could easily have been splashed over the front cover of the now-defunct Sunday newspaper, the News of the World. In fact, Andy Hicks didn’t actually play well in this match but he didn’t need to against a player who was well known for being highly unpredictable. The encounter itself went without a hitch until the match had concluded.
Bad Sportsmanship
Snooker has always been a gentleman’s sport and traditions state that win or lose, you shake your opponent’s hand at the end of the match. However on this occasion, frustration got the better of the Australian and instead of shaking Andy’s hand, he instead challenged him to a fight. Hann then let out a barrage of abuse, saying to Hicks:
“You’re short, you’re bald. You will always be and you can have me outside whenever you want”.
Quinten Hann
Armed with cue extensions, the two players locked horns but were quickly separated with the referee Lawrie Annandale coming between them and putting his hand over the microphone. Matters weren’t helped when the Devonian, Hicks verbally retaliated, saying:
“You’re not in the top 16 now next year now”.
Andy Hicks
Hann took this as a low blow and in fact, it wasn’t true as, despite a series of unlikely results in the remainder of the championship, the Australian would inevitably remain in the elite of the top 16. Quinten hadn’t helped matters when earlier on in the session he had walked back to his seat, turning to Hicks as he did and said:
“I really enjoyed the last three frames I’ve beaten you”.
Quinten Hann
This was a touchpaper moment and an outburst that again proved that Hicks was getting under Hann’s skin. The Australian claimed that his opponent got in his way and in his eye-line on certain shots. Hicks, usually a placid soul, must have pushed to the limit to feel this way. A reaction that left him hating his opponent and sick to the stomach. The air was then turned blue when Quinten missed a black at the end of the eleventh frame on a break of 85 and started to expel profanities from his mouth. Behaviour that given an immediate warning by the referee Annandale.
This wasn’t the first time that the Australian had been warned for his foul language. Colin Brinded, another referee had also been forced to issue a warning for an audible obscenity. These two strikes led to Ivan Hirschowitz, the WPBSA’s media director, later confirming that a report had been sent to the disciplinary committee.
The Fight
In the end, the fight between these two led to one replacement. Hicks stuck to his guns and refused to fight him and in the end, was replaced by Mark King. A boxing match that took place at the York Hall, Bethnal Green with a £10,000 prize tag. King was seen as a man who was supporting and sticking up for his friend, Andy Hicks and in the end, the fight was allowed to take place after Sir Rodney Walker made little effort to stop it. It was an episode that Hicks wanted to forget and move on from and had shunned the original offer of £50,000 to the winner. This was manna from heaven for the media who jumped at the chance of filling the sports headlines with this war of words.
Ironically, in the end, Hann won the fight on a points decision and was presented the winner’s belt by Ronnie O’Sullivan. It hadn’t been a pretty fight with King receiving damage to his nose in the first round. Despite a fury of punches by Mark, none made contact with his opponent. These two had their own long-running spat after King won £500 off Hann in a side stake match when the Australian was only 16. King wanted to ‘shut him up’ and this was an ideal opportunity. It was a fight that both had taken seriously, sparring in two gyms and actually becoming ABA licensed boxers.
It was a boxing match that ended with an embrace to hug out their differences but the real winner wasn’t Hann but the Sports Relief charity and the youth development programmes of the Dagenham and Monteagle Boxing Clubs who received several thousand pounds from the EA Sports-sponsored Fight Night 2004.
