Ronnie O’Sullivan was knocked out of the World Snooker Championship in the second round
Neil Robertson called for the World Snooker Tour (WST) to ban a contentious type of chalk used by Ronnie O’Sullivan, claiming the abrasive compound is “hated” by most professional players because it creates “kicks” that can be “unfair on players who aren’t using it”.
O’Sullivan was knocked out of the World Snooker Championship on Monday by John Higgins, who staged a remarkable comeback, recovering from going 9-4 down to secure a 13-12 victory in their last-16 match and end his 50-year-old opponent’s hopes of claiming a record-breaking eighth Crucible title.
While most tour players use Taom chalk, O’Sullivan still uses Triangle chalk, which can leave marks on the table and cause the cue ball to kick unexpectedly when striking the object balls.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association’s rules currently place no restrictions on what kind of chalk players can use.
After setting up a quarter-final tie against Higgins following his 13-7 victory over England’s Chris Wakelin on Monday, Robertson said he would rather face the Scot than O’Sullivan, noting the latter’s choice of chalk.
Neil Robertson called on the World Snooker Tour to ban O’Sullivan’s chalk
“I would prefer to play John so I don’t have to contend with the chalk that Ronnie uses, which should be banned from the game,” Robertson told the BBC.
“I don’t know how you are allowed to even use it. All the players hate it. It just destroys it [the table]. You get kicks, bounces and it makes an absolute mess of the table.”
The 2010 world champion believes that O’Sullivan does not use triangle chalk to intentionally throw his opponents off, but dubbed the situation “chalkgate” and claimed many top professionals would not allow players to use Triangle chalk on their personal tables.
“I know he [O’Sullivan] is friends with [artist] Damien Hirst, but it’s like he is making artwork with the chalk all over the cloth,” Robertson said. “I don’t think he does it to put off anyone. He is not that way inclined at all.
“He is about the only player left on tour that uses that chalk – hopefully they bring in a ban.
Ronnie O’Sullivan was beaten by John Higgins
“It is something to bring up. It can really ruin the game, and it’s not fair for the players who aren’t using it.
“Shaun Murphy and I would love to see it removed from the face of the Earth.”
He said: “Even snooker clubs are banning it – it ruins the actual cloth, so why are we using it? I’ve had people come up to practice with me and they have brought it and I’ve said, ‘you’re not using that’.
“No pro allows anyone to use Triangle Chalk on their table.”
Higgins gives verdict on “chalkgate”
John Higgins celebrates
At the 2021 English Open, Higgins revealed that he had told O’Sullivan to “get rid of that Triangle chalk”.
“I never used to be an advocate of this Taom chalk. But it felt like everything for him was a kicky shot,” Higgins said.
But Higgins, who is due to face Robertson in the quarter-finals at 2.30pm on Tuesday, appeared to offer a more sympathetic view to O’Sullivan, following Monday’s victory.
“Why wouldn’t you take the advantage when you have got a better cue ball control than every other player? So why wouldn’t you have that advantage?” Higgins said.
“Because if you’re going in at a level playing field, everybody’s using the same chalk, no chalk marks, everything. It maybe gives players more chance of beating them.
“That’s what people do in every sport, they try to use the little advantage. I don’t know, you’d obviously have to ask Ronnie’s real feelings about that, about using old chalk. Who knows?”
Six-time world champion Steve Davis noticed that chalk marks had begun to appear on the table and cushions, adding the chalk’s powder residue can make it more difficult for players to get a clean contact.
“Nearly all of the players adopted [Taom chalk] because it’s far better,” Davis said to the BBC. “You don’t have to have the cue ball cleaned, it doesn’t lay on the cushions, it doesn’t lay on the cloth and the ball doesn’t pick up the residue chalk on the cloth even.”
O’Sullivan vows to follow the money
Ronnie O’Sullivan is a seven-time Crucible champion
O’Sullivan continues to pick and choose his appearances but his future earning potential has been hit by the recent cancellation of the Saudi Masters, two years into a lucrative 10-year contract.
The seven-time Crucible champion, who started a snooker academy in Riyadh around the time of the original deal in 2024, said: “Any tournament I go to, they all know they have to get the chequebook out.
“If that stops, then I stop. Whenever it is – Saudi, Qatar, China, here, whatever it is – I always make sure I’ve got some sort of fee coming because otherwise people know that I won’t turn up.
“I have other options so I’m not really worried. Hopefully Saudi will still want to do some stuff, but we’ll have to wait and see.
“I’ll make my decisions based on whatever happens there.”
Top players have expressed frustration at the cancellation of the Saudi event, the second most lucrative on the calendar, although the non-ranking Riyadh Season Snooker Championship – complete with 1 million US dollars ‘golden ball’ – is expected to continue.
O’Sullivan, who is currently based in Dubai, has played in less than half of the available ranking tournaments this season, and missed every UK event bar the World and UK Championships.
Conversely, he is still intent on returning to The Crucible to play in the World Seniors Championship at the end of next week, where he will start against either Ken Doherty or Gerard Greene on May 8.
“If my sponsors are on board then I’ll play, but I’m not two-feet in like most of the guys,” added O’Sullivan.
“I’m just grateful to be playing and enjoying my playing. If I don’t enjoy it, I’ll take time out – we’ll see.
“I’ll just go back to Ireland, chill there and come back whenever I’ve got to play. It’s work. Got to go to work. Got bills to pay. Got a lot of people on the payroll.”
