Stephen Maguire has long-running feud with fellow snooker star that will 'never be completely resolved'
Stephen Maguire has a long-running feud with another snooker star which has never been completely resolved.
The Scot reached the final of the Welsh Open this week, where he is taking on three-time world champion Mark Selby in Llandudno.
After a difficult 2023/24 season, Maguire's form has begun to pick up since reaching the quarter-finals of last year's World Championship.
It is the world number 29's first ranking event final since 2020, when he beat Mark Allen in the final of the Tour Championship.
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Maguire's performances meant he had to qualify for the World Championship in April, beating Ashley Hugill and Yuan Sijun after entering at the third qualifying round stage.
At the tournament proper, he beat Ali Carter 10-7 in the first round before being drawn against Shaun Murphy in the last 16.
Maguire and Murphy have a 'feud' that dates all the way back to the 2004 Grand Prix, which was held at the Guild Hall in Preston.
Maguire forgot to bring his chalk into the arena and went backstage to retrieve it, which caused the match to be delayed. Upon his return, the Scot was docked a frame by the match referee.
Murphy was seen talking to the referee during the delay, with Maguire claiming on numerous occasions since that the 2005 world champion asked for the frame to be docked. Murphy has always denied the claim.
The incident was later dubbed as 'chalk-gate', and caused friction between the two players for a number of years.
Speaking ahead of last year's World Championship, Maguire stated that he 'doesn't hate him or anything like that', and that the pair 'talk about snooker and everything's okay'.
They don't appear to exactly be the best of friends despite that, though, and there were various minor flashpoints that fans thought they picked up on during the second round clash between the pair.
Maguire convincingly won the match by a 13-9 scoreline, before losing to David Gilbert in the quarter-final.
Murphy, meanwhile, has had an impressive season since linking up with 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon, and won the 2025 Masters title by defeating reigning world champion Kyren Wilson 10-7 last month. He also hit a 147 break in the same tournament.
The 2025 Welsh Open final is being broadcast on BBC and Eurosport, with Selby leading Maguire 4-3 after seven frames of the best-of-19 clash.
Topics: Snooker
Ryan Smart