By Elliott West
He’s going to get it now!”.
Mark Williams
Introduction
Snooker sometimes throws up a few surprises away from the match itself. You would never have thought of a fly being a snooker fan but the bright television lights and the colourful display of the snooker balls lure them in. Sadly they are either swatted or dispatched by the referee or sent into the black hole of the pocket by an impatient player. One such fly clung on for dear life to the top of a red ball in this year’s Masters clash between Ali Carter and Mark Williams. Despite swipes from Ali Carter, Mark Williams and the referee Ben Williams, the fly survived for nearly two frames before buzzing off. An easier task for Ben as the last time some winged wildlife flew towards him, it was a wasp and it stung him. Perhaps World Snooker should invest in some fly spray to keep these pesky critters away.
Caught in a Flap
“We have got a pigeon in the Crucible. Have you ever seen anything like that?”
Ken Doherty
Who can forget when there was a table invasion by a pigeon at the 2022 World Championship in Sheffield? The winged intruder was spotted above the rigging at the Crucible in the second-round match between Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao. The audience didn’t whether to laugh or duck for cover. Landing at one stage on the table, the pigeon ignorant of his surroundings, had a stern Rob Spencer staring down his beak. A man who had no previous bird training but managed to shoo it away stage right. Perhaps the pigeon had got its dates wrong and turned up too early for a play in the theatre.
A Rude Awakening
“It was quite bizarre, I was sitting opposite her and saw her taking her clothes and thinking what she’s doing there?”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Cast your minds back to the 1997 Masters final held at the Wembley Conference Centre. In a clash between Steve Davis and Ronnie O’Sullivan that eventually went Davis’s way 10-8 and his third Masters title. However, during the beginning of the third frame of the match, the stage was invaded by a blonde lady who maybe thought she was running the London Marathon. Running around the table in her birthday suit, she had to be caught by the ushers and covered with a jacket before being escorted off the premises. A joking Ronnie wiped the brow of the referee, John Street and Steve Davis sat smiling wryly in his chair. The streaker turned out to be Lianne Crofts, a 22-year-old secretary. A lady who wanted to make a statement but just ended up with a rude awakening.
