Ronnie O’Sullivan stormed out of the Crucible Theatre after winning his first match at this year’s Betfred World Championship today – to land himself in more disciplinary hot water.
The ‘Rocket’ beat former potato farmer David Gilbert 10-7 at the famous venue in Sheffield to reach the last 16 of the blue-riband tournament O’Sullivan has won five times.
But afterwards the 40-year-old from Essex rushed angrily out of the arena and past a BBC crew waiting to do a flash TV interview in the corridor before entering his dressing room.
And O’Sullivan now faces a near certain fine from governing body from World Snooker for failing to fulfil media commitments at their biggest event.
One source reported sounds of an angry outburst and “banging, crashing and swearing” from behind the closed door, as O’Sullivan let rip in front of artist friend Damien Hirst and promoter Jason Francis.
It is understood that Dr Steve Peters, the renowned sports psychiatrist credited with rescuing O’Sullivan’s career five years ago and a regular companion at the Crucible, was also at the venue.
O’Sullivan arrived in Sheffield as the red-hot favourite to lift the title for a sixth time, a tally that would match the total of boyhood hero Steve Davis who retired on Sunday.
The world No6 appeared distracted and frustrated right from the start of Sunday’s first session of the contest against world No22 Gilbert from Tamworth.
And with those in the arena suspecting all was not well with the sport’s biggest box-office draw, Gilbert began to take confidence and put in a strong display.
In this morning’s session misses were clearly irking O’Sullivan as he attempted to wrap up the match with a minimum of fuss from 8-4 ahead.
World Snooker issued a statement saying: "All players have a responsibility to the sport, and in particular to their fans, this includes fulfilling media obligations at events. Any players found to be in breech of these rules will be referred to the disciplinary process."
It is possible though that for a first offence O’Sullivan, despite the stage and profile of the tournament, could be fined as little as £250 for a season’s first offence. The first prize at the Crucible this year is £330,000.
O’Sullivan has very rarely refused to attend press conferences in recent years, and has seemingly coped well with the attention that no other player as to endure.
O'Sullivan's other controversies:
1996 Found guilty of assaulting media official Mike Ganley at the World Championship, resulting in a two-year suspended sentence.
1998 Stripped of his Irish Masters title after a drugs test finds cannabis in his system.
2006 Walks out of his UK Championship quarter-final against Stephen Hendry, trailing 4-1, resulting in a £21,000 fine.
2008 At a press conference in Beijing, points to his crotch and asks female Chinese journalists: "Do you want to suck that? Do you want to come and suck that later?"
2013 Warned by referee Michaela Tabb for a rude gesture during his semi-final at the Crucible against Judd Trump.
2015 O’Sullivan escaped punishment from referee Terry Camilleri for placing chalk on the table apparently to help him line up a shot – something that is against the rules.
2015 Warned by referee Olivier Marteel for making a lewd hand gesture at the Crucible during a last-16 match against Matthew Stevens.
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