HIGGINS ANGRY ABOUT...SOMETHING OR OTHER

John Higgins, the four-time world champion, signs off from the Shanghai Masters with a spectacular meltdown before heading off to get his flight home.

You probably know you’ve arrived as a news outlet when someone ‘bans’ you so Inside Snooker can say it appears to have lost its cherry after an extraordinary outburst from Higgins. It is only disappointing this milestone was reached over such an imagined sleight and not some Watergate-style expose that rocked the establishment.

As previously noted on Inside Snooker Higgins left TV crews and media hanging after losing to Ryan Day, and may face a fine. And he has done this to reporters before overseas after a loss without any comeback. It seems fairly clear where the blame for any sanction would lie on this matter – with the player himself. Let’s be honest, it isn’t the biggest crime in the world, but all players should be treated the same. Most are excellent at fulfilling their media commitments, indeed many go way beyond the call of duty to promote the sport.

However  Higgins, after a day left to his own devices mulling a costly defeat, decided to scream at a member of the media (as it happens, this one) threatening that they “never, ever slag me off again for anything – I’m never going to speak to you again”. This was met with a blank look, we’re good at those here, which seemed only to further enrage Higgins.

We won’t think twice about criticising Higgins or anyone else if they do something wrong but have not knowingly ‘slagged him off’ recently if ever. Noting the above facts was not exactly a stinging personal attack. In fact I’ve heard bigger slaggings on the Alan Titchmarsh Show.

Instead of throwing his weight around in diva-style fashion in front of some bemused hotel guests and a grinning Graeme Dott and Andrew Higginson, believing he is beyond reproach and blaming the media for something that was entirely his fault, Higgins would probably have been better advised to take whatever might be coming on the chin with a bit of humility.

It is scary to think what might have happened if anyone HAD actually slagged him off. Spontaneous combustion springs to mind. And Higgins does of course have a bit of form in this area, refusing to speak to Scottish radio reporter Phil Goodlad over coverage of his tribunal, and slaughtering Joe Johnson over a pretty inoffensive article.

A lot of this goes in the bucket marked ‘all the fun of the fair, and going with the territory’ but some sober reflection may see Higgins realise he did himself no favours on this occasion and probably embarked on a misguided course of action. He should feel a little embarrassed.

However such things are part of the reporter’s life. Word reaches us that a sensitive flower in football TV punditry recently spent up to 45 minutes on the phone haranguing a journalist about an unfavourable review of his efforts – extreme as that sounds at least he HAD been criticised. Not trying to give anyone any ideas, obviously...

Photograph by Monique Limbos

TRUMP AND HIGGINS IN NEED OF PR WORK

KEN Doherty aside, Tuesday wasn’t the greatest day for press conferences at the Shanghai Masters. Apart from John Higgins deciding – not for the first time – that after a disappointing defeat he didn’t much fancy honouring his contractual obligations as a professional player, Judd Trump was almost Stephen Hendry-esque with some curt and abrupt responses that lasted a couple of minutes but only because of the sometimes tortuous translation process.

After the 5-2 first-round loss to Dominic Dale Trump refused at first to give his overall views of the match, the bland but traditional first request from the host and interpreter in China. He then blamed the conditions for both his own poor performance and unnamed other top players in the first round without specifying the nature of his gripe.

The inevitable question about whether he had watched home hero Ding Junhui’s match against good friend Jack Lisowski – annoying, especially since he had been on the other table but par for the course in a Chinese press conference – was met with the unlikely “I didn’t know they were playing.” And in the same vein for the final piece de resistance, a mildly provocative but possibly mis-translated enquiry as to whether he had given his all in the match was met with “Stupid question.”

The players all know they occasionally have to field slightly odd questions in the Far East with the translation not helping, and even in the bitter aftermath of a disappointing defeat Trump, who like many observers fancied he would have a run in this event, can do better.

Photograph by Monique Limbos

Experienced veterans of the China tournaments know to leave a little extra space in the suitcase for whatever gift the promoters come up with at the usually extravagant welcome ceremony. These have included everything from porcelain to pandas in the past, and this year’s Haikou World Open proved no exception when boxes of finest rice wine were bestowed on the distinguished visiting players. One travel solution would be to finish it off before the return trip, a dilemma facing Joe Perry, John Higgins and Graeme Dott among others.

Photographs courtesy of World Snooker

It was like that moment when someone hurriedly takes the black-ish suitcase off the airport baggage belt and leaves for home, without checking the name. John Higgins and close friend Stephen Maguire finished their last-32 matches at almost exactly the same time on Wednesday night, the older man having beaten Mark King 4-0 with the defending champion seeing off Andrew Pagett by the same scoreline. The pair rattled through their press duties, both looking to take advantage of a relatively early 8.30pm finish and enjoy something of the evening. But in his haste Higgins, picking up what is an admittedly similar case to his own, rushed out of the Newport Centre building with Maguire’s cue. Rolling his eyes Maguire left with Higgins’ own playing equipment, hoping to track his pal down as soon as possible for an exchange before their last-16 matches on Thursday.