The incident includes four awkward episodes between Anthony McGill and Jamie Clarke on the Crucible in 2020, some of which went unnoticed.
NOTE: what is written below about motivations is only a personal opinion.
Although Clarke entered McGill’s field of vision 2-3 times before, it likely wasn’t deliberate as he was in full control of the game. Besides, his confidence was at the top after defeating world #4 Mark Allen in his previous match.
McGill certainly had the right to ask Clarke to step out of his field of vision, but he overreacted. His frustration at his poor performance surely played a role there.
It was an undeserved situation for Clarke, but he should have worked to stay focused on his game as a professional. Instead, his tweet during the break was self-defeating.
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Official rulebook – Section 4: The players
5. Non-striker
“The non-striker shall, when the striker is playing, avoid standing or moving in the line of sight of the striker. Instead, they shall sit or stand at a reasonable distance from the table and avoid making any movement or action that may interrupt the concentration of the striker.”
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The statistics shown in the video correspond to the date of the match.
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44 Comments
He shouldn’t be allowed behind him though
McGill just a cry baby, needs to chill more…
McGill was pissed off he was getting hammered by the underdog but Clarke should of just sat in his seat. This isn’t a knock about down the club, it’s the world championship. He’s only got himself to blame if he lost his nerve from the altercation.
That music at the end was superb, guess it's asking to much to know who it was.
It’s quite simple, just sit down after your shot. Like they have done since snooker started,,,obviously the tanned looking gentleman is used to pool halls.
Funny, when a similar incident happened shortly after between with Ronnie O'sullivan and Mark Allen when Allen wouldn't sit down, McManus was clearly on the side of Allen. His Celtic bias was there to see.
Jamie Clarke should have won this match
LEGENDARY
I want to see McGill lose every match, I loved it when Stuart Bingham beat him,
Absolutely fking loved it.😎
Anthony should have leathered him. If that had happened in a Glasgow snooker club punches would have bee thrown, and my money would have been on the angry redhead.
McGill acts as if he is the greatest player on the circuit. He is bang average, just work on your game you fool.
I don`t think McGill handled this at all well, he was aggressive and should really have asked the ref to speak to Clarke if he thought he was in his line of sight.
He continued to let it bother him, and had yet another go at Clarke before the ref stepped in. Clarke`s tweet was stupid and didn`t help, but yet again McGill even after the ref had spoken to Clarke again, McGill would not let it go. I also think it was unfair for the ref to go to Clarke again before the start of play. I think both players should have been called backstage and deal with it off camera,. McGill is such an angry aggressive brat, he would start a fight in an empty room, actually it was an empty room pretty much.
I confess i don`t like McGill and he does look like an aul sour mouth, but the main thing is how aggressive he was, and there was no need for that at all.
Players should sit down when another is playing a shot, and there does seem to be some niggly bad sportsmanship sneaking into the game.
Mark Allen and a few others have been noted to doing some sad and silly antics. Fist pumping for example and shouting out from players is really scummy, and should be banned.
If a player has a problem with the other, they should speak to the ref-off camera, and let them deal with it, rather than stomping over and getting in their face as McGill did.
They should try playing darts
Referees are way too nosy in snooker i feel like .!
I’m not a fan of Clarke’s attitude. McGill and Perry have every right to raise a concern if he’s distracting them. Clarke needs to grow up and take it on the chin instead of arguing about it.
I don't think McGill did anything wrong, with the exception of over reacting. He should have asked the referee to deal with it
From what I saw, Clarke had the upper hand and tried to 'push McGill's button' and cause McGill to lose concentration.
In the end it backfired. The situation was brought under control and Clarke lost his concentration after losing the psychological battle.
karma bites…wilson winning the match by fluke….
What I don't get is why not make the playing area a little bigger. Remove one additional row of seats at the crucible.
These must be the players at the bottom of the food chain ! …LoL
Imagine either of this pair trying it on with Alex Higgins
Good video.
I don't know if any one noticed, but it looked like McGill chased after Clarke just at the end of the frame. Now if McGill had heated words with Clarke before they came back out, that would explain that tweet, and the dirty looks made by McGill. And that would also explain why Clarke got a 2nd talking down to by the ref, instigated by McGill, who was loosing at the time. Poor attitude.
Clarke is the biggest bell end in snooker only matched by Mark Allen
Cry baby McGill
You should sit down and try to stay still any time your opponent is taking a shot. Even if you're behind them, they might still be able to sense if you're moving, especially in a situation where there's no crowd to mask any sound or movement.
That said, McGill definitely exacerbated the situation to his advantage to rattle Clarke. Headgames are part of the game as much as potting balls, so Clarke needs to steel himself against that kind of thing. But sitting in your chair and not moving doesn't give your opponent the opportunity in the first place.
Jan Verhaas looked like a Bond villain with that beard. Best snooker referee ever in my opinion. Very fair and comes across as a good man.
Clarke was 7-2 up.. if anyone was playing mind games it was McGill
Angry confrontational between the two most unlikeliest of players to do so.
Sean Penn plays professional snooker???? 👀
Mind games from McGill here 100%
You seem to be the Wikipedia of snooker. Who needs Phil Yates?
Nicely deleted…
It seems absolutely horrendous and childish of 30 something men, having an argument over something so petty. Just respectfully and maturely deal with the situation without bringing in anymore unnecessary tension in an already tense environment.
McGill will never be a world champion, and will be lucky to win another ranking title again. Temperament of a schoolboy going through puberty.
I know it was all COVID, but this world championship had some very bizarre moments.
As big of a snooker brawl you'll ever see.
McGill was getting thumped so he used unsportsmanlike behaviour to knock Jamie out of rhythm, shame on Jan for picking sides, he should have just told McGill to stfu and play, cheating twat
so the ginger guy wasn't playing well and so he blamed the other guy for sharking. the other guy was cool, composed and confident. but ginger did not stop and eventually cool guy got frustrated and eventually lost his lead… and the match?
i do not like ginger guy.
McGill always was a knxb 😂
Let's dance,,,? Really
mcgill is a spoiled brat
Clarke looked as if he was standing as McGill was looking at the shot. And again decided to stand at the top end. Players should sit down.
I don't understand why people would go to social media and be a big man, just confront and get it out of the way, no need for all the comments, likes and publicity
I guess once it's in your head that the guy has it out for you it ticks you off even more, you start scrutinizing every move. This goes for both players.