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Irish Daily Mirror
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Mark Allen takes issue as controversial snooker star ousted from key role
Matthew Selt, a contentious figure in the world of professional snooker, has been ousted from his role as vice-chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (Players) while Mark Allen has taken issue with the decision making process. Despite only assuming the position last year, Selt's departure is effective immediately. The WPBSA players' association released a statement saying: "On 6 May 2025 The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (Players) Limited held a general meeting of its members at which an ordinary resolution to remove Mr. Matthew Selt from the office of director was passed, with immediate effect. "The company will proceed in accordance with its governance and regulatory obligations following this change and no further comment will be made at this time." The reasons behind Selt's dismissal remain undisclosed. However, former world No. 1 Mark Allen has publicly criticised the lack of player involvement in the decision-making process. Allen took to X, reposting the statement and commenting: "Although factually correct, the WPBSA's players only member is the WPBSA. No players got a vote on this." Earlier this year, Selt received a three-month suspended ban and a £10,000 fine for his "rude and aggressive" conduct at the 2024 Saudi Arabia Masters. He faced three charges of breaching the code of conduct during the Riyadh event in September. The world No. 34 faced accusations of aggressive behaviour and using abusive language towards a Matchroom executive and a fellow WPBSA member. Following his 5-3 loss to China's Pang Junxu, Selt was also accused of sending an abusive text to a fellow WPBSA players' association member. Selt accepted all three charges and offered a "full and wholehearted apology" to those involved, with the acknowledgement that he was under significant stress and pressure at the time. He was also required to pay £11,000 towards the WPBSA's legal costs. After qualifying for the Crucible, Selt, who lost 10-4 to Xiao Guodong in the first round, immediately apologised for his behaviour. The 40 year old said in a statement: "I have to apologise and say sorry to Jimmy [Robertson]. He said that I was distracting him and putting him off. So this win, there is no good feeling whatsoever towards it. "My emotions are pretty numb, to be honest. Jimmy pulled me to one side after one of the frames and had a word. He said: 'What are you doing? You're basically putting me off.' Which I obviously wasn't trying to do, but obviously got to him. "I feel genuinely gutted, to be honest. I'm happy to win but not to the point where my actions may have contributed towards his declining performance. That's sport, I suppose. I wasn't doing anything completely out of order. But my feeling is pretty flatline and I just want to send my apologies to Jimmy."
Wales Online
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Controversial snooker ace removed from role immediately as Mark Allen left unhappy
Controversial snooker ace removed from role immediately as Mark Allen left unhappy Matthew Selt has been removed from his position as vice-chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association with immediate effect - and Mark Allen isn't happy Mark Allen isn't totally happy with the decision (Image:) Matthew Selt, a contentious figure in the world of professional snooker, has been ousted from his role as vice-chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (Players). Despite only being appointed last year, Selt's departure is effective immediately. The WPBSA players' association released a statement saying: "On 6 May 2025 The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (Players) Limited held a general meeting of its members at which an ordinary resolution to remove Mr. Matthew Selt from the office of director was passed, with immediate effect. "The company will proceed in accordance with its governance and regulatory obligations following this change and no further comment will be made at this time." The reasons behind Selt's dismissal remain undisclosed. However, former world No. 1 Mark Allen has voiced his disapproval over the lack of player involvement in the decision-making process. Allen took to X, where he shared the statement and commented: "Although factually correct, the WPBSA's players only member is the WPBSA. No players got a vote on this." Earlier this year, in February, Selt received a three-month suspended ban and a £10,000 fine for his "rude and aggressive" behaviour during the 2024 Saudi Arabia Masters. He faced three charges of breaching the code of conduct at the Riyadh event in September. Article continues below A decision on removing Matthew Selt was passed with immediate effect. (Image: (Image: Getty) ) The world No. 34 faced allegations of aggressive behaviour and using offensive language towards a Matchroom executive and another WPBSA member. After his 5-3 defeat to China's Pang Junxu, Selt was also accused of sending an abusive message to a fellow WPBSA players' association member. Selt admitted to all three charges and issued a "full and wholehearted apology" to those affected, acknowledging that he was under "a significant amount of stress and pressure" during the incident. He was further instructed to contribute £11,000 towards the WPBSA's legal expenses. Following his 10-4 loss to Xiao Guodong in the World Championship first round, Selt, who had successfully qualified for the Crucible after beating Jimmy Robertson, also issued an apology for his conduct during their 'judgement day' match. Content cannot be displayed without consent Selt, 40, expressed remorse, admitting: "I have to apologise and say sorry to Jimmy [Robertson]. He said that I was distracting him and putting him off. So this win, there is no good feeling whatsoever towards it." Article continues below He continued: "My emotions are pretty numb, to be honest. Jimmy pulled me to one side after one of the frames and had a word. He said: 'What are you doing? You're basically putting me off.' Which I obviously wasn't trying to do, but obviously got to him. "I feel genuinely gutted, to be honest. I'm happy to win but not to the point where my actions may have contributed towards his declining performance. That's sport, I suppose. I wasn't doing anything completely out of order. But my feeling is pretty flatline and I just want to send my apologies to Jimmy."
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Williams has 'big decision' to make on eye surgery
Three-time world champion Mark Williams says he has a "big decision to make" over whether to go through with lens replacement Welshman, who is level at 8-8 with world number one Judd Trump in his World Championship semi-final at the Crucible, is scheduled to have the procedure on 12 who turned 50 in March, said recently that his "eyes had completely gone" and that his eyesight had "deteriorated quite badly" in the previous six he says he has been discouraged after fellow professional Anthony Hamilton, once ranked in the world's top 10, told him it had "ruined his career".Williams said: "I have been reading up and talking to people who have had it done and I've got to be honest, it is putting me off a bit."I've got a big decision to make. A couple of people I have spoken to, especially Anthony Hamilton at length, have said it is no good under the lights and it has ruined his career."It has sort of put me under pressure. After this is finished, it is something I am going to have to look more into." Williams won the Champion of Champions title in November, two months after reaching the final of the Saudi Arabia Masters, and is currently ranked sixth in the the World Championship, he tried playing with contact lenses but elected to play without them after discussions with his coach Lee has defeated Wu Yize, Hossein Vafaei and won a classic against fellow 'Class of 92' member John Higgins on the final black in he beat Trump, he would become the oldest player to reach a Crucible final. "I am in the semi-final of the biggest tournament we've got," he added. "I am still playing alright. What do you do? Do I keep playing blurry? I don't know."
Wales Online
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Mark Williams' staggering net worth and wife's public admission about their marriage
Mark Williams' staggering net worth and wife's public admission about their marriage Mark Williams could hugely increase his net worth in the coming days. Mark Williams has a supportive family behind him. (Image: (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) ) Welshman Mark Williams will become the oldest semi-finalist at the Snooker World Championships since 1985. The 50-year-old defeated John Higgins 13-12 at the Crucible in a tight contest which was tied at eight-all over night. Williams managed to nail a hugely important blue pot which he described as "probably one of my best shots in years". He is now two wins away from his first world title since 2018. The man from Cwm has set himself up for a semi-final match with world number one Judd Trump. The latter booked his place in the final four with a victory over 2023's champion Luca Brecel. Elsewhere, Ronnie O'Sullivan faces Zhao Xintong. Williams v Trump will be a rematch of the 2024 Saudi Arabia Masters final, where Trump took home a 10-9 victory and a £500,000 cash prize. This year's match up will take place at 7pm on Thursday, May 1. Welshman Williams has been struggling with an eye issue lately, and will eventually require surgery. Despite his fine form at the Crucible, he has revealed to the BBC that his eyesight has deteriorated to the point where he sometimes sees "three of four balls at a time". He has planned an operation to fix this issue, but he is now considering cancelling it to accommodate for his recent run of form in Sheffield. "I've got a big decision to make now, do I cancel my op? I don't know," he said. "I haven't played with glasses yet, that was my next step. I tried contacts, struggled with them. Looks like I'm still doing all right, half blind." Article continues below Thanks to his success over the years, Williams has earned himself a staggering amount of money. Across his superb career in the sport, he has earned £7.1million, according to To put that figure into context, just for finishing second at the Saudi Arabia Masters last year, he earned £200,000. According to OLBG, he earned £438,500 in the 2023/2024 season. If he goes on to win the tournament on Monday, he will pick up £500,000 in prize money. Williams' wife Joanne is a successful entrepreneur, and they have been married since 2011. She has a business called Maximum Travel, which she started in 2019. They have three sons together - Conor, Kian and Joel. Despite being the wife of a sporting star, she keeps a relatively low profile on social media. She admitted that their marriage "shouldn't have worked" but they proved people wrong. Article continues below Back in March, the couple celebrated 25 years together, with the Hartlepool-born businesswoman saying: "An English girl, a Welsh boy working on different sides of the world, it shouldn't have worked but we proved them wrong." Joanne was outraged in 2019 after the video game Snooker 2019 left her husband off the cover, and he was the world champion at the time. She labelled World Snooker's decision to leave him out as "massive prejudice" and suggested it could be because he's Welsh. The video game account responded: "There are 128 players in the game and only space for four on the cover. We were never going to be able to please everyone so we worked with World Snooker to make the tough decision." She wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Snooker in general doesn't get the praise deserved and is constantly overlooked at the SPOTY awards. How do they expect others to respect the game when they don't even support their own World Champion #baffled."
BBC News
01-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hearn 'a little more hopeful' over Crucible future
Barry Hearn has held positive talks with Sheffield City Council over the World Snooker Championship staying at the Crucible beyond 2027 but says the deadline for a firm decision will come in contract to stage snooker's blue-riband event at the Sheffield theatre which has hosted it since 1977, expires in two Sport president Hearn, 76, is heavily involved in negotiations over its future has repeatedly called for a greater financial commitment and improved facilities at the venue."We all want to stay here but it has to be a combination," Hearn told BBC Radio 5 Live."I am a little bit more hopeful after meeting Sheffield Council - the positivity and the enthusiasm I saw makes me think there is more than enough chance we can stay here."Sheffield have got a lot of ideas, we're going to meet in three months and we're working to an agenda of knowing more or less where we are by the end of this year. "Obviously if we do move - and it's not something we want to do, I keep stressing that - we need two years to get it planned properly."The Crucible's 980-seat capacity which limits ticket sales and overall revenue has long been seen as a problem for the sport, particularly set against ambitions to raise prize money for and Saudi Arabia have been linked with bids to stage the tournament, which Hearn also says would sell out with increased capacities at other major cities in Britain like, Glasgow, Manchester and year the world champion will receive a top prize of £500,000, an amount that is also on offer at the Saudi Arabia Masters. He also pointed out that next year's PDC world darts champion will collect £ Hearn also stressed that the need for growth and increased finance is not necessarily linked to those factors alone at a venue with which he has a long personal attachment to. "My life changed at the Crucible in 1981 when Steve Davis won the World Championship. I've been here every year for the past 48 years," he added."Our heart is here, our life is here, the history is here. I think compromise is in the air on both sides and we can do something that maintains the event here and at the same time produces much needed finance to go back to the players."We've just got to find that additional bit of assistance, which hopefully is going to be government-led, in terms of keeping our events in this country. Sheffield is the ideal home for snooker."
