Play suspended at Crucible after protester jumped on table mid-match and threw an orange substance everywhere; a 25-year-old man and 52-year-old woman arrested; Barry Hearn calls for stronger punishments for people who disrupt sporting events - "custodial sentences is my way"
Tuesday 18 April 2023 18:56, UK
Mark Allen said "two idiots disrupted what should have been a nice night of snooker" after a pair of protestors paused play at the World Championship in Sheffield on Monday evening.
A man wearing a 'Just Stop Oil' T-shirt threw an orange substance on the table as Robert Milkins and Joe Perry were about to play, while a woman was prevented from doing similar on the second table as Allen faced Fan Zhengyi after being tackled by referee Olivier Marteel.
Perry and Milkins were unable to resume their match on the night and will now recommence on Tuesday evening, but Allen completed a 10-5 victory over Fan after a delay of around 45 minutes.
Speaking afterwards, the world No 3 said of the protestors' actions: "I don't quite get it - I don't know enough to have a valid opinion but I'd say there are better ways of going about it than disrupting a major sporting event.
"I feel like talking about it now is giving them airtime they don't deserve, because it is two idiots disrupting what should have been a nice night of snooker.
"I've got to be honest, I was completely oblivious to what was going on, but fair play to Olivier (Marteel) and the security staff who were totally on the ball. It could have been a lot worse.
"You saw what happened on the other table and how much disruption it caused. I was quite chilled, I just waited in my dressing room and had a cup of tea."
Perry told the BBC: "You don't expect to see anything like that happen anywhere, especially here. I didn't know what to think at the beginning. Once it was all done and over, I tried to relax, but it was a bit unnerving at the time."
South Yorkshire Police confirmed a 25-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman had been arrested and they remain in custody.
It was the second time in three days that a major domestic sporting event had been disrupted, with 118 people arrested at Aintree on Saturday as they tried to scale the perimeter fence at the Grand National.
I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It's a first. It is scary - wow!
Barry Hearn, whose company Matchroom Sport acquired World Snooker Limited in 2010, told talkSPORT: "Sport's an easy target. Aintree we saw on Saturday... How long before The Open or Wimbledon or whatever?
"It is a concern because, whenever someone intrudes on the field of play, wherever it is, your first thought is not that this could be a protest, but it could be something quite harmful.
"Custodial sentences is my way. I'm a zero-tolerance type of guy.
"We're such a soft touch as a nation - smack their wrists, give them a small fine, maybe a bit of community hours, maybe a month in prison. It's a ludicrous situation but what do you do about it?
"The problem is there's not enough deterrent out there for these people to do anything but get away with it. It might cost them a few hours of their freedom but there's no serious deterrent. For that reason alone, expect more of these, not less."
Home Office minister Chris Philp told GB News: "It is a concern because, when sporting events get disrupted, it is very serious for the athletes and the sportsmen and women who are competing, and it disrupts the event for spectators as well.
"So I do take this very seriously. It shouldn't be happening. I hope those concerned get prosecuted."
Just Stop Oil issued a statement on Monday night which read: "At around 7:20pm, two Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, interrupting play.
"The pair proceeded to cover the tables in orange powder paint before being removed by security and arrested.
"They are demanding that the government immediately stop all new UK fossil fuel projects and are calling on UK sporting institutions to step into civil resistance against the government's genocidal policies."
Normal service resumed at The Crucible on Tuesday morning, with Jack Lisowski versus Noppon Saengkham, and Gary Wilson up against Elliot Slessor.
