SNOOKER LOOPY
Inside Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter’s feud after shoulder barge at the Crucible, Masters dig and Snotgate
RONNIE O'Sullivan and Ali Carter will certainly not be sending each other a birthday card any time soon.
The pair's feud shows no time of thawing - and seemed as frosty as the current climate during the Masters final.
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Even before the showpiece at Alexandra Palace, the Rocket aimed a dig at his rival.
"I think he's got more of a problem with me than I have with him," O'Sullivan told Discovery+.
"He's got something against me. Maybe it's because I've got a massive trophy cabinet full of trophies."
Things got even worse during and after the final, which Ronnie won 10-7 to become the oldest player at 48 to ever lift the prized trophy.
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Carter, 44, alleged O’Sullivan violently cleared his nose – like a long-distance runner might do – on to the carpet while sitting in his chair in the final frames of the Ally Pally finale.
The Captain raged: “There were a couple of things that happened out there that go unnoticed.
“Well, they don’t go unnoticed but anyone with an eyesight or a brain can see what’s going on. And it’s disgusting quite frankly.
“No one wants to say anything, do they? Snotting all over the floor and all that.
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“I mean it’s outrageous behaviour from a top professional. If it gets swept under the carpet then for me, it’s not good.
“Did we have any words of exchange? No. I’ve got no words for him at all.”
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But the World No1 hit back in his post-final press conference with an X-rated attack.
He stuck up his middle finger in protest and then stormed out, with family and friends trailing behind.
O’Sullivan, who won the £250,000 top prize, ranted: “I haven’t spoken to him for 20 years. I played with him when he was a kid and shared a lot of stuff with him.
“For him to come out and try to trash talk me like that, do you know what? He can have one of them.
“He can sit on it as far as I’m concerned. I don’t give a f***. You know what he’s like, everybody knows what he’s like. He’s got issues.
“F***ing why has he got issues with me? I’m not having it. I don’t care, grow some balls.
“I don’t give a f***. The more he brings it on, the more I f***ing punish him every time.
“Absolutely. He’s just digging a grave for himself. He needs to sort his f***ing life out.
“Playing snooker against someone like that is a nightmare. He’s not a nice person. It’s not a nice vibe he leaves around the table."
You have to go back to 2018 to find when their feud escalated.
And it could make for a compelling World Snooker Championship, should they meet at the Crucible in just a few months' time.
Rewind six years
In an extraordinary turn of events, the pair met at the Crucible six years ago and it got ugly.
Tensions were already running high in their second round clash after O'Sullivan pegged Carter back to 9-8 after his opponent led 8-3.
But Carter reestablished his lead, and was a snooker away from going within two frames of victory.
After fluking a shot, O'Sullivan returned to his seat as Carter walked past him.
However, Ronnie left his shoulder out and gave Ali a barge before sitting down.
"That’s for being Mr Angry. You shoulder barged me earlier, I thought I’d give you one back," O'Sullivan aimed at Carter.
“Thank you, it’s very nice of you,” Carter replied with a smile on his face.
“Stop being angry then,” Ronnie continued before referee Paul Collier advises the pair calm down.
"Yeah, I'm cool," Ronnie concluded. "Cool as a cucumber."
Cancer-survivor Carter, who also lost two world finals to O'Sullivan in 2008 and 2012, went on win the ill-tempered contest 13-9.
He celebrated with several fist pumps, showing exactly what it meant.
After the game, Carter told the BBC: “I’ve been intimidated by him in the past.
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“But I’ve been through a hell of a lot in my life and I was determined it wasn’t going to happen this time.”
On the barging incident, he added: "It’s tight there, as you know. We’ve just rubbed shoulders a bit harder than what we normally would. It was heat of the moment."
Ronnie's take on the incident was: "We had a shoulder barge earlier on in the match and I just decided that I wasn’t going to bend out of the way again.
"If someone is going to shoulder barge into me what am I going to do? Walk round tiptoeing, doing little curtsies as if he’s the queen or the king? Sometimes you’ve got to stand your ground."
Fans' favourite
Intriguingly, after Carter lost the Masters final he alluded to the fact O'Sullivan is an annoyance to him.
He also spoke of the crowd being behind Ronnie, which seemed an irritant.
"He is beginning to annoy me," The Captain told BBC snooker presenter Rob Walker after their match.
"It has been a good week. I am gutted I lost the final. It is all about winning. I would have taken a run to the final.
"A lot of good things to come from me. I am heading in the right direction.
"Ronnie played very well at the end. When you play Ronnie, you are playing the crowd as well, you have to accept that. I tried my best but it wasn’t good enough."
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Ronnie, himself, twisted the knife about how much he enjoyed getting under the skin of his opponent.
"That was the only thing that turned me on tonight," O'Sullivan told Eurosport.
"Let’s just get him to that point. I want to see if he twitches. I love seeing it when their bottle goes. I love it."
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Clearly, there's no love lost between the two.
And that was before the Snotgate row....
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