Shaun Murphy says 'someone might lose their job' in rant about bizarre World Championship mistake

Shaun Murphy has completely lost his head following two major incidents at the World Snooker Championship.

On Tuesday evening, Murphy picked up a victory over Fan Zhengyi in the first round of the 2026 World Snooker Championship at The Crucible.

The world No.8 won the match 10-9, setting up a second round match on Thursday against Chinese star Xiao Guodong.

However, the match was nothing if not controversial, as Murphy lashed out following two notable moments during the Crucible clash.

During the opening session of his victory, the Magician dealt with a fan heckling him after a shot that hadn't impressed him, prompting Murphy to speak out on social media.

Murphy wrote on an Instagram story: "Just a friendly reminder. If you're sat at the front row in the Crucible and I play a shot that may not work for a particular reason, it's probably best not to say "sh*t shot" out loud. I've got ears."

But the drama didn't stop there as Murphy was involved in an incident later in the match that has since been labelled as 'Lightgate'.

As the match between Judd Trump and Gary Wilson was finishing on the table adjacent to Murphy, staff in the Crucible decided to switch off the lights to allow the arena to have a better view of the tense match.

It meant that, just as Murphy lined up his next shot with the match at 8-8, the lights were suddenly switched back on while he was mid-stroke, distracting him.

'Somebody might not be employed tomorrow'

Although he went on to win the match, that didn't stop him from making his feeling about the moment clear later.

Murphy said: "We don't ask for much as snooker players, leave the lights off is one of them.

"It affected the shot; it affected the match, that was poor. I think World Snooker are having a bit of an inquest into how that happened because that shouldn't happen.

"I hope to find out because that should never happen. I've never seen the light come on a table here, just phantom. World Snooker are having an inquest; somebody might not be employed tomorrow.

"I was on the blue, and it really put me off because, as I was about to strike, the lights came on, I didn't hit that ball as I intended.

"I meant to hit it a bit harder, and it made me stop on it. Maybe if I'd hit the ball as I meant to, I'd have been on a red better, and the break might have carried on.

"I was lucky the blue went in because literally, as I was about to hit the ball, I could see the reflection of the light come on the blue, and it totally took my eye off. I was lucky the blue went in, but it really altered the way I was going to hit the ball. I didn't get the pace in it I wanted; it affected the result of the shot.

"That was a new one. I've been coming here for a long time now, and I've never had that happen before. It could hardly have happened at a more important moment."

He was then asked he he would have felt if he had gone on to lose the match, to which he admitted: "I would have been very upset, absolutely. I came off the table straight after that frame and happened to see the tournament director in the corridor.

"I said: 'Regardless of whether I win or lose, I think we need to look into what's happened here.' I think I won that frame to go 9-8 ahead. That shouldn't happen; these are basics, but weird things happen at the Crucible. It's only a few years since we had a pigeon in here."

Murphy also returned to his Instagram stories to post another comment about the fan that had upset him, adding:

"I've got no idea where they were, I think they were sat on the front row.

"Then literally as the applause died down, he went "s*** shot." It's unlike me, I would normally confront somebody like that because we're not football, you don't behave like that at the Crucible."