When it comes to snooker, everyone will naturally think of the word "gentleman", the players are dressed handsomely, polished leather shoes, gentle speech and demeanor, plus the sport has a long history of British origin, all of which are enough to reflect the "gentleman" characteristics of the sport. However, is "gentleman" really the epitome for snooker?
One. poison
Snooker has a history of more than 100 years, far from saying that since the 1970s, many famous players have become "addicts" or have been affected by drugs. Moreover, snooker's early sponsors have always been tobacco companies, which invisibly cast a "shadow" on the sport.
1. Alex Higgins, 2-time World Champion. The "hurricane" of the player era had a hot temper, a keen drinking and gambling, and smoked without leaving his hands, and eventually died of throat cancer. The maverick personality and living habits not only won Higgins many die-hard loyalists, but also laid the groundwork for his decline.
2. Kirk Stevens, the founder of the first 147 of the Masters, won many female fans with a white shirt and handsome appearance. However, in his twenties, he exposed long-term use of cocaine, and I don't know if this is related to his career without a crown?
3. Jimmy White, the Six Kings of the World Championships and one of the most flamboyant offensive players in history, revealed that he often relied on cocaine to refresh himself when he encountered setbacks, because drug use cost him at least ten world championship prize money. Even White, a beloved "people's champion", is addicted to drugs, which shows the high incidence of drug abuse.
4. O'Sullivan, as the rocket of today's number one star in snooker, due to the family environment, the early years are also "bad", smoking, marijuana, alcohol, marriage and other things, fortunately, the daughter made it transform and return to the family. One of the most serious consequences of drug use was the 1998 Northern Ireland Open champion being stripped of his urine test.
5. Cliff Samburn, the creator of the first world championship 147 and a Canadian player, was found to have smoked cocaine in 1989 and fined £10,000.
2. Gamble
Compared to other sports, snooker's prize money is not comparable, and the top player's highest income is only a fraction of that of golf or tennis, resulting in players sometimes participating in gambling. O'Sullivan has said: "I've heard a lot of players are playing match-fixing" and "Hurricane" Higgins has also said that at least four top players are involved in match-fixing. It can be seen that the fake ball is deep in the snooker class, of course, there are also forced, such as Wattana was threatened by death and lost earlier, and his father's shooting is also likely to be related to this. Davis, Maguire and the Rockets were all caught up in the gambling woes, but they didn't end up.
1. Higgins, who was interviewed by "fishing" for 10 years, agreed to play match-fixing at a price of 300,000 euros, and after being exposed, he explained that he was coerced by the gang and had to be false and snake, and finally was banned for half a year and fined 75,000 pounds. Even a player at the top of snooker like Higgins may gamble for money, and you can imagine the survival of other players at the bottom of the ranking.
2. Quentin Hann, a famous Australian player. Hot temper, corrupt private life, in 2006 was found to be gambling (a game involved in the Chinese Open) was banned for 8 years, fined 10,000 pounds.
3. Stephen Lee, known as one of the most penetrating players, has a luxurious stroke, holds 5 ranking championships and ranks 5th, and is one of the main players in the headline blow. It was found that he was suspected of manipulating the winners and losers in 7 games in 2008-12 years, and was finally banned for life by the World Taiwan Federation.
4. Bingham, the 15-year World Championship champion, was banned for half a year for illegal betting on others and his own matches, fined 20,000 pounds, and the saddest thing was that Bingham bet 30,000 to make a profit of only 8,000, and missed 7 major competitions.
3. Yellow
Gentlemen are also human beings, and they can have seven passions and six desires, but public exposure of indecent news will definitely have a negative impact. And many of the scandals between men and women that are not just understated, but also the blockbuster news such as Hann's involvement in rape, White's exposure to prostitution, and Rocket's refusal to reject female fans, are shocking.
1. Tony Norse, a famous player in the 80s of Snooker, reached the semi-finals of the World Championships three times. Such a master had a hobby - writing yellow novels for newspapers, and also published his affair in the newspaper, and was fined 5,000 pounds by the Snooker Association.
2. The story between Rocket O'Sullivan and the first female referee Tarbes can be written into a book, the most obscene of which was the 2009 World Championships, when Tabu swung the ball, the rocket rubbed the club between his legs behind him, but it was recorded by the camera, causing great controversy. Hunter says that tabu's every bend makes him fascinated, and the narrator says the indecent word "the pink" in the live broadcast room while Tarbes is swinging the powder ball.
3. The well-known "Taiwanese Little Shell" Paul Hunter is a gentle and skilled existence in the hearts of most fans, but Hunter was also an alcoholic in his early years, occasionally exposing fierce materials, such as dancing with strippers in a nightclub in Sheffield and becoming a stripper, relying on the mysterious "PLAN B" to reverse the rocket to win the Masters championship for the third time.
4. Hann, an Australian, is also a famous wanderer in addition to his gambling addiction. Relying on his handsome appearance, it is rumored that he changed more than a dozen girlfriends a year, and also involved 2 rape cases, which can be described as infamous.
Conflict
At the world championships just past, Carter and the Rockets staged a "casual" collision of shoulders, and the two sides fought a big war of words. Unruly rockets have been embroiled in conflict disputes more than once, with the aforementioned Hann even staging an all-out battle with Hickson, a clash that is rare in snooker's contactless sport and will certainly be remembered by history if it does.
1. Higgins is talented and skilled, but he is also full of five drugs, in addition to alcoholism, drug addiction, smoking and other vices, Higgins will also have a violent temper outbreak from time to time, once hit the official with his head in the game, scold the official, threaten the opponent, etc., the maverick personality will attract fans, but this bad demonstration is still less than better.
2.96 World Championships, the rocket dissatisfaction with the official's punishment (one said to be disrespecting the rocket coach), made a move that shocked everyone on the scene - head-on collision with the referee, this move is worth 20,000 pounds and 2 years of probation; in 2008, the Rockets lost to Fu Jiajun at the China Open, the press conference openly exploded foul language, and even molested female journalists, for which 700 points and 3750 pounds were fined; in the 10 years of the World Championships, rockets and Liang Wenbo were warned by the referee; in the 2009 British Championships, rockets quarreled with their girlfriends. The two sides fought fiercely, and the rocket was even taken to the police station. Fortunately, the Rockets are now back to normal and worthy of the love of the fans.
Although there are so many imperfections behind snooker, fortunately, its continuous self-improvement is still worthy of the fans' deep love!