Ronnie O'Sullivan has called for sympathy with the players under investigation as part of snooker’s match-fixing probe and hit back at Shaun Murphy’s claim anyone found guilty should be banned for life.
The Rocket eased past Luca Brecel 6-1 in the first round of a Masters which is missing 2021 champion Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong, two of 10 Chinese players suspended as part of an ongoing World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) inquiry.
Murphy and Dave Gilbert, O’Sullivan’s potential opponent in the last eight, are among those to have called for any players proven to have committed wrongdoing to be banished from the baize for good but O’Sullivan has taken a more liberal view.
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“Before you start criticising them, you have to kind of put yourself in a lot of these snooker players' shoes," he said. "Like I have said, it can only be one of two things, either they have a gambling addiction or an addiction, and they need help if that is the case.
"A lot of them are really struggling to make ends meet. When you go down from 40 lower a lot of the guys are not even making a living, so maybe they are forced into desperation.
“That is not a good situation for me either so World Snooker could help support them instead of being hard on them. It is very easy to sit here and criticise but I am not one for being hard on them because I know it is not easy for bottom-ranked players.”
The current match-fixing probe is not snooker’s first and Monday evening saw John Higgins take to the table 13 years after receiving a six-month ban for "giving the impression" that he would breach betting rules, and of failing to report an approach made to him.
Higgins became world champion the year after his ban and O’Sullivan feels similar second chances could be offered in the current climate as he reflected on the views of his fellow professionals.
“It's easy to sit here and criticise players like that, but I don't think he [Murphy] would say it about John Higgins,” he said. "He is alright to say it about players that are a little bit lower ranked but with John Higgins, he probably would not dare say that.”
On the table, O’Sullivan was in clinical form against the Belgian Bullet as he began his quest for a record-extending eighth Masters title. He compiled breaks of 53, 97, 134, and 104 and will face either Gilbert or two-time champion Mark Williams in the quarter-finals.
