Snooker star Shaun Murphy is not one to keep his thoughts to himself, and he has given a fair chunk of advice to the WST during this campaign.
The Magician, now under the tutelage of Peter Ebdon, has been playing some stellar snooker of late and won his second Masters title at Alexandra Palace two months ago. Yet, while on the baize his game is thriving, away from it Murphy has had his say on a few changes he’d like to see made to the game.
Murphy, 42, also reeled off a rant about the time taken by players for toilet breaks last month, but that was just the tip of the iceberg for the star. We take a look at all of the rules the Magician wants to see introduced, including a shot clock, an alteration to the miss rule and an improvement to the cue ball.
Shot clock
In December last year, Murphy was in the commentary box for Northern Irishman Mark Allen’s UK Championship semi-final against Barry Hawkins and became rather unimpressed with the amount of time taken by The Pistol between shots, calling out the 39-year-old
The pair went backwards and forwards on social media after the match, with Allen writing on X: “He’s [Murphy] 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.”
Murphy responded on his The onefourseven podcast while reiterating his demand that a shot clock be introduced: “I was disappointed to see his comments following the game. It seems as if, judging by Mark’s social media output, 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’d bring in a shot clock.” Murphy then added, responding to a fan’s question about slow play. “And I’ve been saying this for 20 years, so I’m super-consistent on this.”
Miss rule scrapped
Murphy has also long been frustrated with snooker’s “foul and a miss” rule, which sees players who foul and don’t make a solid enough attempt to hit their intended ball – often when aiming to get out of a snooker – made to retake by their opponent.
Last month, the Magician exited the Welsh Open in the first-round against Chinese youngster Ma Hailong, who had twice been snookered in a final frame decider before fluking the last red.
Then, when commentating on Kyren Wilson’s defeat to Joe O’Connor later in the competition, he came clean, saying: “I just find it so weird that we have a rule in the game that allows players to have a sighter. In my opinion, the miss rule needs to be taken out of the game altogether. I don’t like the rule at all.” In 2020, he gave his alternative on social media: “Instead, I’d give ball in hand after any foul.”
Spotted cue ball
Also in that 2020 post, Murphy called for yet another amendment to the rules of the game: “I would implement a spotted cueball. We’re still the only cuesport not using one.”
Most other table sports do indeed use a cue ball with spots on it, and Murphy elaborated on his claim earlier this month, insisting that the change would help spectators better grasp the ball’s spin.
Speaking on his In The Frame YouTube series, Murphy admitted: “I’m going to keep using the spotted cue ball because we’re getting some really good feedback about that. You guys are loving seeing the spin, how the spin manipulates the cue ball and what it’s actually doing.
“It’s great that you can see it with one of these. You know what? I actually think we should be using one of these in tournament play. I think that you should be able to see this when we’re playing. They are using it in billiards, they’re using it in nine-ball, they are using it in everything. Maybe it’s time that snooker moved on, just so you guys can see what’s happening.”
Toilet break rant
Though Murphy’s toilet-break-based rant in February didn’t specifically call for the rule to be scrapped, he made his feelings about players taking extended breaks known, dubbing it “ridiculous” and an “epidemic.”
“Toilet breaks. We have to talk about the epidemic of toilet breaks that are spoiling snooker action,” Murphy exclaimed on his The onefourseven podcast. “It is now getting ridiculous, guys. It is getting totally out of hand. It is ridiculous how many times players are leaving the arena to go to the loo.
“And here’s where it gets spicy because most of these exits from the arena have got nothing to do with players needing to go for a wee. It’s good old-fashioned gamesmanship.
“My opponent last week went to the toilet after the first frame of the match, then after the fifth frame after the interval. You’ve had 20-odd minutes to be ready to play. What’s going on? It’s getting ridiculous. It’s a joke.”