Ronnie o'sullivan wanted 'numpty' rivals he'd 'never heard of' kept away

Ronnie O’Sullivan once got so sick of playing ‘numpties’ who he’d ‘never heard of’, he called for them to be banned from snooker tournaments. The Rocket is perhaps the most recognisable name

in snooker’s history, with O’Sullivan having dominated headlines throughout his three-decade-long career as a professional. Ever since making his pro debut in 1992, O’Sullivan has been

picking up tournament victories at a rate of knots and currently boasts a whopping 41 ranking titles to his name. But in a 2017 interview, O’Sullivan bemoaned what he believes is the arduous

process in the early rounds of snooker tournaments. Speaking as part of a feature named ‘Ronnie’s Manifesto’, the snooker icon stated: “Now getting on to my favourite subject, the numpties.

“Since the game has opened up and basically anybody can turn up on tour, we have to go through the numpty phase, which is 128 players coming in for round one.” A clear dig at the

lesser-known snooker players in the game, O’Sullivan continued: “Ronnie plays some fella, never seen him didn’t even know he existed as a snooker player. “Turns up with a coachload of people

outside, because their grandson is playing Ronnie O’Sullivan, so they all come down, camera phones, pictures, it’s a great day out for them!” By this point, O’Sullivan is remarking with an

overtly sarcastic tone, but it’s clear it’s an issue that’s got under his skin. He added: “As I’m on the practice table, hitting a few balls, they ask: ‘Ronnie is it okay if we have a few

photos, with aunt sister and uncle?’ “And I’m like: ‘Not really not now mate, I’m just about to go and play a game of snooker against your nephew’ “‘Oh don’t worry about that we’re just here

having a great time’ so I’m like ‘Okay I’ll have a picture with you’. “I’m not sure Roger Federer or Tiger Woods would get that just as they are about to go and play a match at Wimbledon or

the US Open.” Keen to combat this, Ronnie offered his solution: “So I’ve come up with an idea, they should have a numpty-free zone. “A bit like they have creches for children, so when you

go to the gym you go ‘right kids over there’ because nobody really wants to hear their noise. “It hasn’t got to be a large area, but just please, no numpties, no selfies, no days out, it

ain’t a day out for me when I go and play snooker, it’s a job. I take it pretty seriously.” Having now cooled down a touch, O’Sullivan concluded: “After the match is done, I’m going to give

the numpties 15 minutes to take selfies, get your phone on selfie mode, I’ll take the picture, and I’ll do Ronnie with the numpties. “I don’t mind having a bit of numpty time. I actually

quite like numpties.”