Shaun Murphy Has 'Never Forgiven' Ronnie O'Sullivan for Incident When He Was 12

Shaun Murphy has admitted he "never forgave" Ronnie O’Sullivan for an incident that happened when he was just 12 years old.

Murphy, who won the Players Championship, Tour Championship and Championship League in 2023, says verbal abuse from O'Sullivan proved to be the catalyst for the 30-year feud between the two English players.

The 43-year-old is looking to secure further glory in the British Open having defeated world number one Judd Trump to reach the quarter-finals on Thursday.

Murphy will now face Mitchell Mann in the last eight of the competition as he looks to build upon his 2023 success.

The Harlow-born snooker star, known as 'The Magician', has opened up on the abuse he received from O’Sullivan almost 30 years ago and that he has ‘never forgiven’ the snooker icon.

"We fell out when I was young. Ronnie verbally abused me when I was 12 and I never forgave him. I vividly remember it,” Murphy told journalist David Hendon for his book ‘Pots of Gold: A History of Snooker’.

Even so, Murphy has admitted that he respects O’Sullivan as a player, adding: “I still have immense respect for his levels of play as a snooker player. I watch in awe at the things he’s able to do, because I know how hard it is. His ability as a player is completely unmatched.”

While Murphy refused to elaborate on the abuse he received from O’Sullivan in the past, he believes that ‘The Rocket’ is given an easier ride by snooker chiefs, owing largely to his commercial appeal.

Ronnie O'Sullivan in action at the Saudi Arabian Masters (Image: Getty)

“He’s the biggest needle-mover in the sport, the biggest we’ve ever seen,” Murphy added.

“That brings you some forgiveness. When the golden goose lays the golden egg, you get treated differently.

“There’s no question over the years that various chairmen have treated him more leniently over his offences because of the attention he brings to snooker, and commercially that’s probably correct.

“But one of the reasons I idolised Steve Davis so much was I was brought up in a world where being the greatest meant a lot more than how good you were at playing snooker, and unfortunately, for all of the good things Ronnie has done in terms of his snooker ability, I think he’s done an equal amount of, if not more, damage to the sport from an ambassadorial point of view.

“I think it’s such a shame that he hasn’t done for snooker in his ambassadorial position the things that people he says he looks up to – like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – have done, that he hasn’t taken a leaf out of their book and treated the sport that’s given him so much the same level of respect.

“If he had used his platform for good, he could have single-handedly dragged snooker into a different stratosphere in terms of popularity. He could have made us much more mainstream.”

Medical issue forced Ronnie O'Sullivan to miss British Open

O’Sullivan, who hasn’t played since the Saudi Arabia Masters last month, isn’t taking part in the British Open due to an unknown medical reason, with a statement from the World Snooker Tour outlining: “Ronnie O'Sullivan has pulled out of next week's Unibet British Open for medical reasons.

“O'Sullivan was due to face Sanderson Lam in the opening round on Monday, September 22nd at 7pm.

"He has been replaced in the draw by the highest available player from the 2025 Q School ranking list, Daniel Womersley.”