John Higgins banned 'til November, cleared of match-fixing
World No. 1 John Higgins has been handed a six-month ban from snooker after being found guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute, a tribunal decided today. But more serious charges of match-fixing and bribery were withdrawn by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.
At a two-day independent hearing which concluded this afternoon, the 35-year-old Scot was given the ban, backdated to May, along with a £75,000 fine for breaching rules that forbid players from taking part in discussions about betting. Higgins was also censured for failing to report an approach from a would-be corruptor.
That means Higgins is free to return to the sport as early as November. But Higgins’ manager, Pat Mooney, was ruled to have placed Higgins in "a highly invidious position" by being "entirely responsible for Mr Higgins' presence in Kiev", and has been given a life ban from any further involvement in the sport.
Speaking after the findings of the tribunal, Higgins told reporters:
"I welcome today's judgement following an exhaustive enquiry into allegations against me by a tabloid newspaper."
"I am pleased that the WPBSA and Sports Resolutions have concluded that I was not guilty of any dishonesty and had no intention of fixing a match and no intention of doing anything corrupt.
"The statement I made in May immediately after the newspaper accusation was 100 per cent true then as it is 100 per cent true today.
"I've never been involved in any form of snooker match fixing. In my 18 years playing professional snooker I've never intentionally missed a shot never mind intentionally lost a frame or match.
"If I'm guilty of anything it's naivety in trusting those who I believed were working in the best interests of snooker and myself. I admit that I should have informed the WPBSA of the events immediately on my return from Kiev.
"This has been a traumatic time for me and those close to me. It's been made all the more hurtful by the knowledge that I never have and never would fix a snooker match."
The three-times world champion was the target of a sting orchestrated by the News of the World newspaper in May this year, when Higgins and Mooney attended a meeting with undercover reporters masquerading as members of a Ukrainian betting syndicate.
The meeting, secretly filmed and later posted on the newspaper's website, saw Higgins seemingly agree to throw four frames of snooker at separate events in return for a cash bribe of £261,000.
But Higgins disputed the newspaper's account of the meeting, claiming he only pretended to go along with the plan because he feared he could endanger himself by appearing to refuse the bidding of the phoney Ukrainians.
Higgins was suspended by the game's governing body immediately after the claims appeared, while his manager Mooney resigned from his role on the board of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, which upholds the laws of the game.
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