{"id":923095,"date":"2026-04-28T02:19:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/923095\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T02:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:19:23","slug":"referee-forced-to-intervene-after-ronnie-osullivan-complaint-during-john-higgins-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/923095\/","title":{"rendered":"Referee forced to intervene after Ronnie O’Sullivan complaint during John Higgins clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snooker fans were TWICE reprimanded by the match referee in the same frame during Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins’ World Championship clash<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The two legends are battling in the second round at the Crucible – their seventh meeting after their first encounter in 1996 – making it the joint-most frequent match-up in the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan is in pole position to secure his spot in the World Championship quarter-finalsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan<\/a> leads 6-2 heading into Sunday’s evening session.<\/p>\n

But despite a dominant first session in Sheffield, he was left frustrated by the antics of one spectator.<\/p>\n

In the fourth frame, with ‘The Rocket’ leading 2-1, O’Sullivan became the latest victim of mobile phone madness.<\/p>\n

In the previous round, a noise from a fan’s phone made a noise – resulting in Pang Junxu to walk away from his shot during his defeat to Neil Robertson.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON TALKSPORT<\/p>\n

But despite repeated warnings for attendees to switch off their phones, some fans just can’t help themselves.<\/p>\n

Ron-believable<\/p>\n

Up by 29 points, the ambidextrous O’Sullivan was attempting a shot on the black with his weaker left hand.<\/p>\n

Though he ultimately pulled up after being distracted by someone in the audience.<\/p>\n

Visually annoyed, he alerted stewards to the offender by pointing towards the individual.<\/p>\n

He simply stated: “It was him.”<\/p>\n

The referee then issued the person a stern telling off, as he snapped: “Can you take the phone down please? It needs to stay down please.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan was preparing to take a shot – only to be distracted by a fanCredit: TNT Sports\"Ronnie<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

He walked away from his shot and pointed out the fan to alert match officialsCredit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Put off by the incident, O’Sullivan went back to his seat and took a sip of water to compose himself.<\/p>\n

Speaking on TNT Sports commentary, Dave Hendon said: “It\u2019s unfortunate, I did not see what happened, but something put him off.<\/p>\n

\u201dHe was in a good zone there with his concentration. He does not want to let it annoy him, though.<\/p>\n

\u201dSometimes something can put you off, and it can be quite annoying that it happened, it is the last thing you need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendon’s co-commentator – and former world number three Neal Foulds – then quipped: “I bet whoever it is hopes he pots this now.”<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan did just that by potting the black before producing an incredible 137 break to go two frames up.<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan went back to his seat as the match referee issued a warning to fansCredit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

And at the start of the fourth frame, the match referee was forced to intervene as he issued a warning to fans after a phone went off following O’Sullivan’s break.<\/p>\n

The official quickly said: “Just make sure that is switched off, please.”<\/p>\n

Referencing O’Sullivana and Higgins’ first Crucible match 30 years ago, Hendon remarked: “I will tell you one thing, when they first played here in 1996, mobile phones were far less prevalent than they are now.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

\u201dIt would be nice to think that that would be turned off at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winner of O’Sullivan and Higgins will play either Robertson or Chris Wakelin for a place in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Snooker fans were TWICE reprimanded by the match referee in the same frame during Ronnie O’Sullivan and John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":923096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,15201,393,4884,25950,258750,18515,1620,16,15,20873,18411],"class_list":["post-923095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sheffield","tag-britain","tag-crucible","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-john-higgins","tag-osullivan-vs-higgins","tag-ronnie-osullivan","tag-sheffield","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-world-championship","tag-world-snooker-championship"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116479942466098083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}