RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Snooker goes LOOPY as a Just Stop Oil protester throws orange powder over a table during the World Championship in the sport’s biggest shake-up since a pigeon flew into the Crucible
- The art of protest really got out of hand during the Snooker World Championships
- A Just Stop Oil activist broke out of the crowd and threw orange paint over a table
- The law was condemned by a number of prominent sports voices
In a cloud of orange dust, snooker and the art of protest went rather out of hand at the World Championship in Sheffield last night.
The first round tie between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry was barely old, at 11-4 to Milkins in the opening frame, when a Just Stop Oil activist broke away from the crowd, climbed onto the table and emptied a pack of powder paint all about himself and the sheet.
You never know when a moment of great or bizarre sports theater will unfold, but there are certain occasions when it feels safe to rule one out. Unfortunately, Milkins, Perry and the environmentalist combined to create the biggest stir in snooker since a pigeon flew into the Crucible last year.
The protester, later identified as Eddie Whittingham, a 25-year-old student from the University of Exeter, said in a statement: ‘I don’t want to disrupt something that people are enjoying, but we are facing an extremely serious situation.
Europe is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years. We are now seeing massive crop failures. We face mass starvation, billions of refugees and a collapse of civilization if this continues.
A Just Stop Oil protester threw orange paint over a snooker table during the World Cup before being towed away today.
The eco fanatic threw orange powder paint on the table and interrupted tonight’s game
The balls and one end of the table were covered in the orange paint the protester threw
“We can’t sit back and pretend everything is fine.”
While the sentiment of the protest will strike a chord with many, and comes after animal rights activists targeted the Grand National this weekend, there was no explanation for any particular question – why snooker?
A second protester, Margaret Reid, 52, attempted the same maneuver as Whittingham on the adjacent table, with Mark Allen’s collision with Fan Zhengyi, but was pinned to the ground by security.
While that match resumed after a 40-minute suspension, Milkins and Perry had to wait indefinitely for the tablecloth to be changed after BBC commentator Rob Walker had previously tried to clean it with a vacuum cleaner.
Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry said: ‘I’ve never seen that in a snooker event before. It’s a first.
‘It is scary. Wow. You just hope that the canvas can be repaired. It surprised us all and then this happens.
‘For me as a snooker player I immediately think, ‘Is the table repairable?’ We don’t know what that’s on the table. There are many things that need to be worked out. It’s unfamiliar territory.’
Security dragged him off the table and he was reportedly later arrested, according to Just Stop Oil