Ronnie seems to say some weird things but I got the impression that his main beef about the Crucible was the size. Snooker has made him plenty of money so he shouldn’t resort to being over critical about venues.
He talks about getting home sick in one of his books. He doesn't like to be away for 17 days. Never read anything about Ronnie criticizing the Crucible though.
I’m sure Ronnie could afford to hire a chopper or even share one with a few others ( many wouldn’t want to share with him though !)
The thing that's intrigued me is Ronnie saying he wants two months off to go to China and do some exhibitions with Jimmy White over here and have a laugh etc. Then in the next breath says he'd like to play in the next two big ITV tournaments starting on February 18th and April 1st. He's also said he likes playing in the Welsh Open. Something has to give here. Could he burn himself out? If not is it a swansong? Part of me thinks he wants to go out in a blaze of glory.
He said something last year about how he has no time to himself as everyone knows who he is and the fact he had to walk to the venue(or words to the effect), I suspect with him it’s more about not being able to switch off means the pressure builds etc.
I think if he had Hendry's record he wouldn't have any pressure at all. The only thing hanging over him is he hasn't got that eighth World title. If he gets an eighth I can see him totally relaxing. I mean exhibition style snooker every time he plays.
Back in the 80s I did first aid at the Crucible, so I saw most of the big names play. The only couple I didn’t see were the ones I wanted to see most, Alex Higgins and, especially, Jimmy White. I thought that today I was going to finally get to watch him play. I got a taxi up to the Metrodome, to make sure I was there in good time, but the hall was full. This surprised me, for a weekday morning, but the guy on the door said there were only 100 places. Had I known that I wouldn’t have bothered. So anyone planning on going this evening, to watch Ronnie O’Sullivan, there’s no point, because the tickets are day tickets, so if it’s sold out this morning it’s sold out all day. Still, I got some exercise walking home…in the rain…with leaky shoes. D’oh!
I saw Ronnie and Jimmy White at qualifiers at Metrodome . Jimmy has quite the following, love that he's still playing and enjoying himself!
After the world championships, the snooker player used to host a charity golf tournament at a golf club in Sheffield. I did first aid for that too. It used to be a good day, with various celebs taking part. Where I was sat I could see the first tee. So I watched all the players take turns at whacking the ball and then disappearing off after it and out of sight. All except Jimmy White, who was rubbish. It took him three shots just to get past the trees, a couple of hundred yards away. About 10-15 minutes later one of the stewards came up and said we’d be needed to have a look at one of the players who had gone over on his ankle, so they were helping him back inside and would fetch him to us. It was Jimmy White. Being a big fan of his I was quite excited that I was gonna get the chance to bandage him up. Anyway, after 10 minutes there was no sign. I was just about to get up to go and check he was okay, presuming they were having some difficulty getting him back inside, when he walked into the room, *** in one hand, pint in the other, not a limp in sight and with a big grin. He walked over to his mates and just said “stupid ******* game!”
Mmm, in bleeping out the slang word for cigarette that I used, cos the sweary filter worrying I was American and meant a gay person, they have inadvertently turned the sentence into a racy version of Blankety Blank. “Kenny, he had what in one hand…”
It wasn’t the pressure of the game itself he was talking about it was the being centre of attention, not being able to walk to the venue without people stopping him etc.