Shaun Murphy slammed Vafai's "desecration" of Crucible: Don't come back, only he and the Rockets want the World Championships to move
On April 23, 2024, according to Hegel, Murphy dismissed Vafi's criticism of Crucible, described his comments as "blasphemous", and told him not to come back if he didn't want to.
The Persian prince has some strong views of the iconic Sheffield Opera House, saying it "smells really bad" and suggests that the World Championships would work better if they were held in China or Saudi Arabia.
After losing to Trump in the first round, Wafi said: "You walk around Crucible and it smells really bad. As a player, you want to go to a really good place. ”
'As a player, I'm honest and say it's really bad. You go to other places in other countries, and you see that they treat you very well. Everything is shiny, but here it is completely different. ”
"If you ask me if I want to come back here, I'll tell you I don't. Practice room practice, I felt like I was practicing in a garage. ”
Murphy beat Lu Haotian in his opening bout and was asked about the 29-year-old's eye-catching comments.
The Magic felt that Vafi's disrespect for the venue, which had hosted the World Championships since 1977, was too much.
Murphy said at a press conference: "Listen, this is a working theater, not a purpose-built snooker venue. We are approaching the 50th anniversary of snooker here. If the Tour comes on a field trip tomorrow, they probably won't be here because it's not big enough. There's nothing we can do about it. ”
"But it's a holy place, and it's almost a blasphemy for a professional snooker player to criticize our home so publicly. "Wafi should educate himself on how our professional tournament is played and how special our relationship is with WST and our broadcast partners, our venues and these places.
"He criticizes our business partners so openly, does he think it's helping the sport grow?" "He didn't help the sport at all, my mom always taught me that if you don't have anything good to say, don't say it." ”
Murphy acknowledges that "Crucible" may not make as much sense to some people as it does to others, but he reminds Wafei that no one forced him to come to the opera house.
"Maybe he didn't grow up in the UK, he doesn't have the same deep affection for the tournament as many English players," Murphy said. I think it's just geography. Maybe it's not as special to Wafi as it is to the rest of us. ”
"Maybe he didn't come here like I did when I was 9 years old, and I remember him running down that road chasing Davis for autographs. Maybe he doesn't have those memories to draw on, but this is the mecca of snooker players and Wafi should remember that.
"He said he didn't want to come back, so don't come back. He didn't need to, he wasn't forced to come here. Then don't come. ”
The event will continue to be held in Crucible with a contract until 2027, as to whether it will continue or if the head of snooker will try to bring more money to the sport by moving to other larger venues.
Murphy acknowledges that the 980-seat theater needs to evolve if it wants to continue hosting the sport's biggest event.
He said: "I don't want snooker to get out of here, I want the World Championships. I don't think they should be hosting any other events here. In my opinion, the World Championships should stay in this building, but it's an economic problem, isn't it? ”
To be conservative, WST could sell 5 or 10 times in the finals.
"It can't go on like this. I think I'll definitely be talking about it when my contract for the World Championships expires. But I don't think anyone wants to get it out of here, except for Wafi and O'Sullivan. I think everyone else wants it to stay. But it can't go on like this forever, there's always something to give up. ”
Murphy defeated Liu and will face Harry Maguire in the second round, with the match taking place in three stages on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (Welcome to click to pay attention to moisturizing AB, please indicate the source for reprinting, thank you)