Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Allen were involved in a quite incredible row during their Champion of Champions best-of-11-tie last night.
Snooker is historically a game played with respect but with 'The Pistol' 5-3 up in the game, O'Sullivan and Allen argued for over a minute live on ITV 4.
And with no fans in attendance in Milton Keynes, footage and audio of the exchange was clear as day. Referee Marcel Eckardt did his very best to try and sort things out but O'Sullivan refrained from taking his shot and accused his opponent of putting him off.
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"Can you sit still? You're standing up and walking in my eyeline," O'Sullivan said.
"You are. Come on."
'The Rocket' then asked the Northern Irishman if he disagreed with what he had said, with Allen replying, "Absolutely" and annoying O'Sullivan even more.
Watch the extraordinary exchange here:
O'Sullivan would end up losing the match 6-3 after Allen capitalised on him missing an easy red and produced a 66 break to set-up a semi-final with Judd Trump.
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Allen continued to refute O'Sullivan's claims and accused the world champion of trying to intimidate his opponents.
"To be honest, it was uncomfortable for Ronnie, I don't know what he was on about," he said after his victory, as per the Metro.
"I'm not going to let it go if he's going to make up rubbish.
"He was taking forever over shots in that last frame. Ronnie was completely gone and I just took advantage.
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"Ronnie just tries to bully people out there. I just want to play snooker, that's what I came here to do.
"It was the worst thing he could have done, I was never missing after he missed that easy red. Sometimes he needs to be put back in his place."
Explaining his outburst, O'Sullivan said: "When someone's continuously in your eyeline, when you're on your shot and he's moving, maybe I read too much into it but it seemed like stuff you'd do down the snooker club when you're an amateur and trying to get into your opponents head and put them off.
"It started around 3-2, just little things. That's why I was taking my time on shots because I thought 'I'm not playing shots until you actually sit down in your chair.'
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"I could have said something then but I thought he'd get the message and he did because he sat down. But then I was playing the shot and he started ripping his logo off so, I just thought I'd have a word with him."
COVID-19 regulations prohibits handshakes after games at the moment but we're not too sure the pair would have anyway.
Beef at the snooker, who would have thought it?!
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Ronnie O'Sullivan, snooker
