By Elliott West
“I just don’t like this place, to be honest with you, I find it disgusting”. Everywhere’s just dirty, it’s cold. I’m freezing”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Introduction
Ronnie O’Sullivan is highly fancied to win his eighth Masters title this year. His latest win at The Masters was a 6-3 drubbing of Barry Hawkins to secure his place in the semi-finals, the first time he has got to this stage since 2019. Yet you wouldn’t think he was riding high on the crest of a wave if you listened to some of his comments. I understand that O’Sullivan is a complex snooker beast with many complexities to his character. I know you should take his media outbursts with a pinch of salt but unfortunately, he has a habit of grinding my gears with his comments. Hence why I have to vent with the odd piece about it.
I understand that Ronnie suffers from anxiety, OCD and mental health issues and he often struggles with a pressurised environment. He has an obvious coping mechanism of constantly playing down his brilliance, finding fault in his game and always heaping praise on his opponent to deflect attention from him. That’s all well and good. I have empathy for this behaviour but not when it turns into a tirade of insults.
Decorum Required
Anyone who has visited Alexandra Palace for snooker, darts or any other event, will know that this Grade II-listed building is impressive and steeped in history. A building that looms above the hill as you approach by public transport and echoes the birth of the BBC with its steel radio mast towering over the site. Yet Ronnie O’Sullivan has decided to take a firing shot at the venue used for The Masters, calling it “dirty”, “cold” and disgusting”. Strong words for somewhere that is loved by those who go there.
I admit that it is cold there and you would be ill-advised not to wrap up warm if you are going there, especially in January when an icy wind blows up from Muswell Hill. However, once you go backstage, the building is definitely not devoid of heating. To be honest, Ronnie spends little time at a venue. He drives into the car park close to his match time, practices for a while, plays and drives back to his hotel or home depending on the venue.
As for being “dirty and “disgusting”, Ronnie cites the wheeled, metal bins that you can see if you have been lucky enough to gain access to the security-controlled car park at the back of the building. Any large organisation has to have a method of disposing of rubbish and I would rather see food waste and packaging in a bin than littered around the grounds. Wherever you put a bin it is going to smell and it just happens to be in an area which Ronnie briefly passes. O’Sullivan only visits Alexandra Palace once a year and I am sure that there are stringent health and safety policies in operation here not only because thousands of people visit here each year but they would be in breach of the law if they didn’t.
Sure this creates a punchy headline for a tabloid newspaper but why bite the hand that feeds you? I won’t wait with bated breath for Ronnie’s next set of comments and I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls out of the Grand Prix for one reason or another. He will probably blame it on altitude sickness or loss of hearing when he was in Tibet at Christmas. Ronnie is a one-off as a player but because he dominates the sport at his best and not even at his best, he largely gets away with his actions and comments. Perhaps I let him get under my skin too much and there is no point in trying to fix a broken record. I can live in hope though.
