Mark Allen could face ban over his remarks, says Barry Hearn: 2012 World Snooker Championship
In the recent season, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen has been caught in controversies several times during his run and had to face the remarks and warnings from the World Snooker Chairman, Barry Hearn. Both have been face-to-face in a couple of serious issues
in the current season but still the decorum of the game was not affected.
They first went into a verbal brawl in the beginning of the 2011 UK Championship where Allen criticised Hearn for his reforms in the event. Hearn made some changes in the format which were not liked by Allen and he had an outburst on the chairman. However,
the matter was settled later.
Second time the Antrim potter criticised the playing environment of Haikou arena in the 2012 Haikou World Open. He had to apologise over his remarks as many snooker fans as well as the management was not happy with what he said.
This time, the opening game of the 2012 World Snooker Championship did not finish according to the expectations of the 2012 Haikou World Open winner, Mark Allen and he crashed out of the mega event after losing at the hands of a Chinese debutant Cao Yupeng
by the score line of 10-6. The Northern Irishman was unlucky in the 16th frame when he potted the cue ball.
Sure to his defeat, he was a bit frustrated and criticised his opponent saying that the Chinese players are cheaters which offended not only Yupeng bit also many Chinese fans. Hearn has taken notice of that and has warned Allen that he might face a ban.
While speaking to the media, Hearn said, “This is a very good time to be a snooker player. It's not a good time to be an idiot. Everywhere we go, these players are ambassadors of snooker. They're chaperones of the image of the game.”
He added, “In major expanding markets, and there's no doubt China is that, big time, they have to bear the responsibility of those comments and the potential loss - not to themselves or whether they don't get a visa, but the potential loss to the game in
general and the desire for the rest of the players to earn a living playing their chosen sport.”
Hearn believes that the potters have responsibility at every level and it concerns him the most because he is running the association and he has to answer to all the criticism.
Tags: