BBC give shout out to Arsenal great during World Championship final | Other | Sport
Arsenal legend David Seaman received a special shoutout during the BBC’s live coverage of the final of the World Snooker Championship. Seaman is in attendance at the Crucible to watch Shaun Murphy take on Wu Yize in the £500,000 showdown.
And sitting on the front row, the camera zoomed in on former England international Seaman just a couple of minutes into the action. The now 62-year-old was caught smiling with John Parrott on commentary, saying: “We get some very interesting spectators, and I’ll let you take off Joe, given you are one of the Arsenal fans.”
Fellow BBC summariser Joe Perry then continued: “Yeah, one of my sporting heroes there. I watched him keep many a clean sheet at Highbury in my younger days. Mr Safe Hands himself, David Seaman. One of my footballing heroes.”
Seaman won three league titles and four FA Cups during his 13-year Arsenal career and was also capped 75 times by England. Wu booked his place in today’s final, having played out a Crucible classic against Mark Allen on Saturday night.
Allen missed a simple black to book his place in his first World Snooker Championship final before falling 17-16 to Wu in one of the most dramatic last-four finishes in Crucible history.
The 40-year-old Antrim man had the match at his mercy when he got on top of an error-strewn 32nd frame and required just the black off its spot to wrap up a 17-15 win.
But incredibly Allen rattled the pocket, leaving Wu an unexpected chance to haul level at 16-16, with Wu going on to win the final frame.
While Murphy booked his place in today’s final after twice overturning a two-frame deficit in the final session to beat John Higgins 17-15.
Murphy was forced to dredge up his best form to see off the 50-year-old Scot in a titanic tussle that looked nailed-on for a decider until Higgins fluffed a black on a break of 50.
Higgins’ miss gave Murphy a chance, and despite a rare miss with the rest, he seized on a second chance to clear the black and give himself a shot at a first title since his solitary win in 2005.
