Shaun Murphy has defended the Crucible hailing it as the “home of snooker” after it was described as “stinky” by World Number 19 Hossein Vafaei.
The Crucible which is situated in Sheffield City Centre has hosted the Snooker World Championship yearly since 1977 and is described by many as the home of snooker.
Vafaei complained about the conditions in which he played following his 10-5 loss to Judd Trump. He said: “It smells really bad.” Before also complaining about the state of the practice room arguing it was “like a garage”.
Murphy hit back at these complaints describing them as “almost sacrilege” and suggested that Vafaei should “educate himself about how special this place is”.
Murphy also complained that these comments “have not helped the sport at all” offering advice by saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything”.
An extension of the Crucible was announced in November 2022 which will allow the stadium to host up to 3,000 fans. There are currently no official plans for a change of location.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, who is aiming for his record-breaking 8th World Championship, also believes a venue change is for the event. He spoke up at the world championships last year saying: “I don’t really like the Crucible to be honest.”
This year O’Sullivan lodged a new set of complaints claiming that the once majestic event is now “like a car boot sale” due to the poor conditions of the stadium.
These statements come amidst calls from some players and fans to move the event to China or Saudi Arabia to help grow the sport.
O’Sullivan said: “have the whole tour in China” before jokingly stating “Maybe we are just falling apart as a country”.
A World Snooker Tour spokesperson has disputed these claims, pointing to the healthy growth of the sport by highlighting the increased demand for tickets in the UK, which stands at a 300% increase in the last 10 years.
The spokesperson told the Mirror: “It’s important that we bring events to many different regions so that fans across the home nations have the chance to see live snooker”.
Image credits (Shane Rounce)
