Betting and snooker are two words that have been linked all too often recently and today Steve Davis has been talking to the Daily Star about the subject…
Steve told the Daily Star:
“Players having a bet is not uncommon.
“Lots of players have been known to have a bet on themselves to win matches or have a bet with their opponents.
“I have also known boys to bet on themselves losing as an insurance bet if they don’t win.
“That doesn’t mean in any way they want to lose. But they saw it as a consolation prize if they did.
“I have also known players who have notched up the highest break so far in a tournament and then had a bet on it being beaten, as insurance.”
“We are not talking about fixing a match or deliberately losing for personal gain.
“That is the kind of behaviour that nobody could ever condone.
“And after the allegations laid against John Higgins, the reputation of the sport has been badly tarnished.
“We now have to work together to get rid of all the things that could be seen as shady.
“Snooker now has to be whiter than white. ”
“It has been a tough time for snooker.
“The revelations have shocked everyone in the game.
“We are all in limbo until a final verdict is announced.
“It doesn’t look good for Higgins from the evidence that was reported.
“But I understand there are a lot of other details about the matter that are being looked at.”
“We will not know the full truth until the investigation is over.
“The game needs to move forward from this scandal and regain people’s trust in it.”
While for me there is nothing particularly surprising about what Steve has described there, I think that he has hit the nail on the head by saying that going forward snooker needs to be whiter than white. I am sure that in many cases such ‘insurance bets’ are made and that it does not mean that the players deliberately want to lose, but such things can be twisted into stories that do the image of the sport no favours whatsoever…