Stephen Hendry blasts ‘snooker isn’t fun to watch anymore’ as he wades into escalating feud between two huge stars
THE biggest stars in snooker are in Edinburgh this week for the Scottish Open.
But the fall-out from last week’s UK Championship is very much rumbling on.
Judd Trump triumphed in York but he WON’T be competing at this week’s Scottish Open.
One man who is competing is a former UK Championship winner Mark Allen.
And he arrives in the Scottish capital amid a seemingly ever-escalating war of words with a former snooker world champion.
Allen’s style of play has been the subject of plenty of attention in recent times.
2005 world champ Shaun Murphy – no stranger to some major snooker beef – took the 38-year old to task at the UK Championship over his alleged ‘slow’ play.
Murphy, who had also been playing in the tournament, was in the BBC commentary box for Allen’s semi final clash with Barry Hawkins at the Barbican.
And he decided to call out Allen’s approach – accusing him of playing slow on PURPOSE to put-off his opponent.
Murphy said on commentary: “Now, it’s completely within the rules. But at what stage do we question whether the amount of time Mark Allen is taking over simple decisions is a tactic to annoy his opponent?
“I can’t see any reason other than that for why he’s taking so long.”
Allen blasted back on social media and told Murphy to keep his ‘personal feelings’ out of it.
He said: “As for Shaun in comms. He’s absolutely entitled to his opinion on things but perhaps best to leave personal feelings out of the commentary box in future.
“All because I called out some of his recent BS.”
The escalating feud continued, with Murphy firing back once again during a podcast appearance last week.
He DENIED that there had been any personal element to his comments – and also said that snooker should introduce a SHOT CLOCK to combat slow play.
In a direct response to Allen’s fiery response, Murphy said: “You know, I’m sat here with you right now, and I’m totally in the dark.
“I know as much as you know about it. I was disappointed to see his comments following the game.
“It seems as if, judging by Mark’s social media output, that he has taken my comments about his game very personally. They certainly weren’t meant personally.
“I’m employed by the BBC to call the game as I see it, and that’s what I did.
“I don’t remember ever saying that there was anything wrong with what he did.
“I said he was perfectly within his rights, perfectly within the rules.
“And if I’m totally honest, I was watching in admiration because he was breaking down a player who the day before had slaughtered me.”
Murphy later added: “I’d bring in a shot clock. And I’ve been saying this for 20 years, so I’m super-consistent on this.”
Stephen Hendry was also working for the BBC at the event across commentary and studio punditry.
And appearing on the Snooker Club podcast, he had his say on the soaring tension between Allen and Murphy.
Scots legend Hendry has previously criticised Allen’s slow play, with the Northern Irishman blasting in early 2023: “I couldn’t care less what Stephen Hendry or anyone else says about my speed and style of play.”
Hendry, 55, was NOT part of the broadcast team for the Allen-Hawkins match that kicked-off the debate – and he joked that he was RELIEVED that was the case.
He said: “I dodged the biggest bullet in the world, I got the night off. It was absolutely unbelievable.
“I was sat in a restaurant, I’d just poured my first glass of red wine and I’d seen the first frame was 55 minutes and I did have a little chuckle to myself, I will admit.”
Hendry went on to point the finger at several players for their slow play at the UK Championship.
He admitted that he’d found many of the matches a tough watch – and insisted that the slow style was stopping snooker from being FUN.
Hendry continued: “Going back to Mark, he came in at the beginning of the week after his first match, was really despondent about his game.
“You can understand how you take a long time if you’re not happy, obviously it’s the way he’s been playing for a while now.
“If he doesn’t feel confident in his game, every shot becomes a pint of blood. It’s a tough watch, you cant deny it, it’s a tough watch.
“He said ‘if I don’t feel confident I’m going to get a pot I’m going to refuse it’ and I’m like, my view is, if you take a shot on that and you get it, what a boost you’re going to get.
“I look at it the other way, I could never refuse any pots.
“There were some matches last week, snooker wasn’t fun to watch anymore.
“There were some hard watches. not just Mark, there were a few players.”
The escalating Allen-Murphy tension led the conversation to touch on a different topic – should active players be commentating on games while still competing?
Stephen Hendry career achievements
Seven-time World Snooker Champion
Youngest-ever winner of World Championship
Six-time Masters Champion
Five-time UK Championship winner
18 Triple Crown tournament wins
36 ranking titles
Nine seasons as World No1
Awarded MBE in 1994
Two-time BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year
As mentioned, Murphy had also been competing at the UK Championship and had, in fact, been knocked out in an earlier round by Hawkins – Allen’s opponent in the semis.
Hendry, who retired for a second time earlier this year, admitted that he could never have done his media work while still actively playing and competing at the top level.
And the 55-year old also issued a warning to those players who are heading into the booth for matches.
He added: “The thing you’ve got to be careful of in the commentary box is that there’s so many people in the audience with earpieces.
“So if Shaun Murphy says ‘is it deliberate, is he slowing it’ then it gets the crowd against Mark because they’re hearing what Shaun’s saying and it maybe turns the atmosphere, where they’re maybe groaning or whatever.
“You’ve got to be careful when you’re in the commentary box because you’re not only speaking to people at home, you’re speaking to people in the audience as well.
Hendry continued: “I don’t understand why players who are still competitive want to do it.
“I’d have never have dreamt of it. Everyone’s different.
“Shaun, I think, won his first match 6-5 and then was back in the commentary box at night and I think even Shaun is starting to sort of think about that’s maybe not the way to do it.”
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