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Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby PoolBoy

Higgins showed what a true gentleman he is by offering Marco Fu the chance to celebrate, at his (John's) own house.
He's a truly great ambassador to the game.

The reason certain fans have 'got in in for' Higgins is because he's a threat to Ronnie. Nothing more, nothing less.
I don't any of them 'having a go' at Leo Fernandez - a current tour professional who's serving a ban for match fixing. He returns in August, I believe.

They also conveniently overlook this admission of an approach from Ronnie.

I mean, if he'd been filmed undercover, saying, "If anyone could get away with it, I could. I could just play one-handed, or left-handed or just put a towel over my head, and pretend I was going nuts."
Does that make the Rocket a match-fixer? No. Admitting you could fix matches or even saying you would fix matches is very different from actually doing it.

Neither Ronnie or John has ever been charged for match-fixing.

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby Pink Ball

PoolBoy wrote:Higgins showed what a true gentleman he is by offering Marco Fu the chance to celebrate, at his (John's) own house.
He's a truly great ambassador to the game.

The reason certain fans have 'got in in for' Higgins is because he's a threat to Ronnie. Nothing more, nothing less.
I don't any of them 'having a go' at Leo Fernandez - a current tour professional who's serving a ban for match fixing. He returns in August, I believe.

They also conveniently overlook this admission of an approach from Ronnie.

I mean, if he'd been filmed undercover, saying, "If anyone could get away with it, I could. I could just play one-handed, or left-handed or just put a towel over my head, and pretend I was going nuts."
Does that make the Rocket a match-fixer? No. Admitting you could fix matches or even saying you would fix matches is very different from actually doing it.

Neither Ronnie or John has ever been charged for match-fixing.


You're comparing apples with oranges. You're correct, O'Sullivan was approached to fix a match, but given that we all found out about it years latet and he had not fixed the match by then, it's safe to presume he never would have fixed that match.

Only Higgins knows for sure if he would or wouldn't have fixed a match. Not you, not I, nobody but John. NotW acted almost instantly when they caught him on camera, and that's why we don't know. But it certainly looked bad, and the powers that be agreed - that's why he got a 6-month ban.

Re: should we call him a match fixer, or a parakeet? No, because he did neither.

He's a nice man, he made an awful mistake. But while I genuinely believe he should not be maligned for everything he does (and I admit my frustration at him boils over more often than it should), nor should he be considered a 'true ambassador'. He's equally undeserving of both those titles.

Re: people only dislike him cos he's a threat to Tonnie: I actually think you're right in the majority of cases. Not in mine, because prior to 2010 Higgins was my favourite player, he is an awesome, stylish player.

But I also think the majority of people who continue to champion ALSO do that just because he's a threat to Ronnie. Both viewpoints are wrong.

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby PoolBoy

Yeah, he did! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38363401

Pity it hasn't been more widely reported. If it had been Joe Perry, the media would be falling over themselves to report what a 'gentleman' Joe is.

Or, if the tables-were-turned, and John Higgins was on his own in Hong Kong after winning a tournament against home-favourite, Marco Fu - and Fu offered John to join his family in a big celebration, I'm quite sure the word "classy" would be used to describe Fu!

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby Pink Ball

Btw Poolboy, I know you loathe me (and I don't really care, that's your opinion), but I DO take issue with being 'accused' of being a Ronnie fan or not a 'real' Snooker Fan (as you have done several times in the past). I have been a stone cold Snooker Fan for 40 years. And there's about 50 players on tour I'd prefer to see winning the world title than Ronnie this year. I don't mind him any more, but he's far from my favourite.
Last edited by Pink Ball on 20 Dec 2016, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby Pink Ball

PoolBoy wrote:Yeah, he did! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38363401

Pity it hasn't been more widely reported. If it had been Joe Perry, the media would be falling over themselves to report what a 'gentleman' Joe is.

Or, if the tables-were-turned, and John Higgins was on his own in Hong Kong after winning a tournament against home-favourite, Marco Fu - and Fu offered John to join his family in a big celebration, I'm quite sure the word "classy" would be used to describe Fu!

I agree, great gesture by John. And lovely gesture after the game to Leo.

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby PoolBoy

I don't loathe you at all, Pink Ball!
And since it's the season of goodwill, I'll take this opportunity to apologise for my accusations and rants!
:elves:

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby Cloud Strife

Pink Ball wrote:
PoolBoy wrote:Yeah, he did! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38363401

Pity it hasn't been more widely reported. If it had been Joe Perry, the media would be falling over themselves to report what a 'gentleman' Joe is.

Or, if the tables-were-turned, and John Higgins was on his own in Hong Kong after winning a tournament against home-favourite, Marco Fu - and Fu offered John to join his family in a big celebration, I'm quite sure the word "classy" would be used to describe Fu!

I agree, great gesture by John. And lovely gesture after the game to Leo.


John Higgins :hatoff:

Typical BBC in trying to create a headline by insinuating Fu had snubbed Higgins when he had done nothing of the sort. :roll:

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby SnookerFan

SnookerFan wrote:I said the SPOTY was an excuse to suck up to Jessica Ennis and Andy Murray. I turn on and Jessica Ennis is presenting a trophy to Andy Murray.


Zzzzzzz. BBC. <doh>


To be fair to Murray, I'm not sure I was aware he'd won Wimbledon / A Gold Medal.

I mean, I probably was, because the news would've mentioned it. But it had fallen out of my memory fairly quickly, so when he was giving his speech, it was like I was hearing those achievements for the fist time. <laugh>

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby Andre147

Having now had some time to watch the Final full, all I can say is there were two huge turning points in the match: the first when Higgins was 4-1 up, playing snooker from the Gods with 3 consecutive centuries plus a 70 break, on a break in the 6th frame, pots the black but a red drops in the middle bag.

the 2nd was obviously when Fu was about to go 7-4 up in that break, misses a simple red to left middle... a Higgins at his best would have cleared up the colours with his eyes closes, but a very loose positional shot from blue to pink did effectively cost him the frame and probably the match... had he gone only 6-5 down I reckon things would have been diferent. Higgins top break from 4-1 up was just a mere 32 break, so that just goes to show how his level dropped, with at times being a tad unlucky, but Fu playing remarkable as well, his potting to middle sensational, and can't forget that escape from the snooker on the 1st try.

Just a word on what Ronnie said in the studio about the ref breaking John's focus in the 5th frame when he could have made 4 tons... what a load of rubbish, he just said to John: "I thought you were going round" because Scullion was getting the black out of the pocket to respot it. Doesnt surprise me though, he's had previous with this ref before, once telling him "he should get his eyes tested".

I think Ronnie's the one who should get his eyes tested everytime he plays Higgins since 2005...

Re: Coral Scottish Open Final !!!!

Postby SnookerFan

Andre147 wrote:Having now had some time to watch the Final full, all I can say is there were two huge turning points in the match: the first when Higgins was 4-1 up, playing snooker from the Gods with 3 consecutive centuries plus a 70 break, on a break in the 6th frame, pots the black but a red drops in the middle bag.

the 2nd was obviously when Fu was about to go 7-4 up in that break, misses a simple red to left middle... a Higgins at his best would have cleared up the colours with his eyes closes, but a very loose positional shot from blue to pink did effectively cost him the frame and probably the match... had he gone only 6-5 down I reckon things would have been diferent. Higgins top break from 4-1 up was just a mere 32 break, so that just goes to show how his level dropped, with at times being a tad unlucky, but Fu playing remarkable as well, his potting to middle sensational, and can't forget that escape from the snooker on the 1st try.

Just a word on what Ronnie said in the studio about the ref breaking John's focus in the 5th frame when he could have made 4 tons... what a load of rubbish, he just said to John: "I thought you were going round" because Scullion was getting the black out of the pocket to respot it. Doesnt surprise me though, he's had previous with this ref before, once telling him "he should get his eyes tested".

I think Ronnie's the one who should get his eyes tested everytime he plays Higgins since 2005...


I had turned off by then, but what you must remember is that Ronnie is a bit of a Higgins fanboy. He always praises Higgins as one of the greatest ever. Also, as you say, it's not a referee Ronnie likes much.

The referee was nothing to do with why Higgins lost.