World Snooker Championship final halted again as Shaun Murphy stopped | Other | Sport
A member of the Crucible audience was kicked out of the World Snooker Championship final between Shaun Murphy and Wu Yize after failing to heed repeated warnings. The fan’s phone went off during the 15th frame, with referee Rob Spencer not taking any further nonsense.
A phone rang while Murphy was crouched over, preparing to take a shot, and resulted in a groan from the audience. Spencer’s first words were: “They’re going.”
“Do we know who’s it was? Out please,” he added. “Gone. Out.”
Murphy quickly pulled away from his shot and returned to his seat while the matter was dealt with. The Magician coolly took a drink of water and waited for the furore to die down before making his way to the table once again.
Match official Spencer had made clear warnings over audible mobile phone noise at the beginning of the evening session, and following the mid-session interval. “Before we start again, just nice and quiet, please, before we start,” he said.
“I don’t want to have to keep doing this at the start of every single session. So, what’s going to happen from now on, just so we’re all clear, if a phone goes off and the security team sees who it is, you will be asked to leave. So we all know where we’re at.”
The demonstrator appeared to air complaints about the licence fee before being bundled away. Cameras stayed fixed on the table, as producers chose not to show the disturbance. Spencer, a former police officer, rushed to stop the protestor, before members of the World Snooker Tour security team took them away.
The Crucible crowd applauded loudly as security succeeded in apprehending the person. BBC commentator John Parrott said: “Sorry for that disturbance, it’s all sorted.”
On Saturday night, a man in the crowd shouted, “Never forget the Epstein files” during the deciding frame of the semi-final between Wu and Mark Allen. The 22-year-old Chinese snooker star prepared to take his shot as the spectator made a series of outbursts.
Referee Marcel Eckardt addressed the incident: “Can you get this person out please, now please.” Other spectators called for the vocal member of the crowd to shut up.
