John Higgins will face a difficult comeback
John Higgins, the three time world snooker champion and world number one will face a difficult comeback to the game. Higgins was banned from the snooker circuit after an independent tribunal found he had been guilty of bringing the game into disrepute. Higgins
was found not guilty of match fixing and the ban will be backdated to May when he was first suspended from the game pending an inquiry.
Higgins and his former manager Pat Mooney were suspended after a video was released by the Sunday World which allegedly showed the two men accepting an offer of £261,000 to fix matches. The video was shot in Kiev in the Ukraine in April. Mooney received
a ban for life for his role in the match fixing allegations while Higgins though cleared was fined £75,000 on top of his ban.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association ruled that Higgins was not guilty of the more severe charges of match fixing, but that he was guilty of not reporting the incident to the authorities. The Scottish snooker player has stressed that
he was innocent of any wrong doing when the story was broken by the News of the World during the World Championship. Nevertheless, the allegations and the video evidence of Higgins has tarnished his reputation and this is something that Higgins believes will
haunt him for the rest of his career. Of the incident Higgins said, “In a sense I would love it to be behind me but it’s going to be something that will shape my life and my family’s life because it’s not just me that’s been through this.”
“Higgins had been foolish” according to Ian Mill QC
The World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn revealed his disappointment by stating that “I was disappointed that John Higgins didn’t tell me” and that Higgins showed “naivety” in dealing with the incident. Ian Mill QC who was appointed to head the disciplinary
meeting admitted that Higgins had been “foolish” but he placed the blame on Mooney who had organised the meeting for his own personal financial gain. Higgins had suggested that he would not have stayed at the meeting except that he had feared for his life
believing that the people involved were gansters.
Higgins was born in Wishaw in Scotland. He started his professional playing career in 1992 and won his first ranking tournament in 1994 after beating Dave Harold 9-6 in the Grand Prix. Since then Higgins has gone on to have an illustrious career by winning
his first world title in 1998 against the defending world champion Ken Doherty. He won two more world titles in 2007 and 2009. The wizard of Wishaw has also won two UK Championships and has over twenty titles to his name. Over his 16 year career Higgins has
established himself as one of the all time greats in snooker. He is renowned for not only his break building, but also for his safety play. Many commentators consider Higgins as the best all round player to play the game along with the legendary Stephen Hendry.
The tribunal which cleared Higgins will still leave a negative legacy and this is something that Higgins has accepted. “Some Players and fans will doubt me but I’ve just got to be myself and do my best.” Now, Higgins will hope that he can get back and concentrate
on snooker. He has fiercely denied that he has ever tried to miss a shot or lose a frame. There is little doubt that Higgins will go down in history as one of the greats in the game, but the match-fixing scandal may well be what he is remembered for most.
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