A World Snooker Championship star is facing a fine after making a massive blunder during his first-round clash at the Crucible that forced apology
Neil Robertson is facing a fine after surrendering a frame too early at the World Snooker Championship, having misunderstood the scoreboard.
The Australian world No.3 had secured a 1-0 advantage in his first-round battle against Pang Junxu at the Crucible. Yet after missing a simple black with the rest while behind 57-10 to his Chinese rival, Robertson gave up the frame, enabling Pang to draw level. What the 2010 world champion had failed to realise was that he was only 47 points down with 51 still remaining on the table.
Robertson had wrongly worked out that he was 57 behind and would require snookers to claim the frame. He threw in the towel and now faces a £250 fine.
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BBC commentator and former world champion Ken Doherty responded: “Well, what’s happened there? He’s actually conceded when he could still win. Absolutely disgusted with missing that black. That’s very unusual for Neil Robertson to do something like that. You don’t really see that in the game anymore. That’s going to cost him the first frame to Pang Junxu. Now it’s one frame all.”
Co-commentator Joe Perry then continued: “I’m not entirely sure Neil realised he can still win you know because that’s totally out of character. He’s going to get a warning in a minute from the referee and then he’ll realise what he’s done.”
When referee Terry Camilleri approached him, Robertson insisted he was 57 behind. However, he had misread the score, as he was actually only trailing by 47, with three reds still left on the table. After Camilleri showed the score on a TV replay, Robertson admitted: “Ah I miscalculated the score. Yeah, yeah, sorry. Yeah I didn’t mean it.”
Doherty went on to say: “Not only will he be getting warned, he’ll incur a fine for that as well. £250 that cost him. You don’t see that anymore because there were a few players doing it a few years ago, that’s why they brought in the warning and the fine to stop players conceding frames when there’s enough points on the table to win.”
Perry then commented: “I thought it was a miscalculation from Neil because he would never, ever do that ever. It’s not in Neil’s character. Just a complete misread of the scores. No petulance or anger there from Neil, just a complete miscalculation. A nice little fine in the post Ken!”
Reacting on TNT Sports, Alan McManus stated: “We were a little confused. But he’s 47 points adrift with 51 on, so if you concede before you can numerically [lose the frame], then there’s a directive that players will be fined.
“Neil, as you can hear, says ‘sorry, yeah it’s cool.’ I wouldn’t blame Terry Camilleri on this, because I think it was the marker that alerted Terry to the indiscretion, and then Terry went and informed Neil.
“I wouldn’t have. If he gets a parking fine, it’s his parking ticket, let him deal with it. It’s not for you to go and say ‘just to let you know, you’re going to be fined X amount of money’. Inform him after the match, not during.”
Rule 4.5 (c) of the WPBSA rule book states: “A player shall not concede a frame in any match unless snookers are required. Any breach of this rule shall be regarded as ungentlemanly conduct or misconduct by the player concerned.”
Robertson, 44, finished the session holding a 5-4 advantage. Victory over Pang would arrange a second-round meeting against 13th seed Chris Wakelin, with a possible quarter-final battle against John Higgins or Ronnie O’Sullivan lying in wait for whoever emerges victorious from that contest.