Ronnie O’Sullivan hits out over ‘urine’ smell at English Open snooker venue

Ronnie O’Sullivan has described the English Open venue as a “hellhole”, with the five-times world champion claiming he could smell urine in the player’s interview area.

O’Sullivan, who has been a vociferous critic of World Snooker in recent years, says the event organiser is “cutting corners” and believes Crawley’s K2 Leisure Centre is not worthy of hosting such a prestigious event in the snooker calendar.

The 42-year-old, speaking after winning his opening match against Kurt Maflin 4-1 on Monday, told the BBC: “It’s such a bad venue, it demotivates you to want to play. This is about as bad as I’ve ever seen. It’s a bit of a hellhole.

“I don’t know what this gaff is, but I’ve just done an interview and all I can smell is urine. It’s just got no atmosphere in there. I’m practising and I’ve got wires all around the table. There’s no security, you’ve got people running at you left, right and centre.

“It’s not the fans’ fault. They [World Snooker] obviously haven’t got the budget to run it properly. I don’t know where their budget is but they’re cutting corners. I think they should invest in good venues. Players deserve better.”

O’Sullivan, the world No 3, won the English Open when it was held in Barnsley last year and in the next round faces Allan Taylor of Southend, who defeated Scott Donaldson 4-3.

O’Sullivan began his title defence in convincing fashion, needing just over an hour to see off Maflin. His victory included a break of 104 in the second frame, moving him a step closer to becoming the first player to record 1,000 century breaks.

A statement from World Snooker read: “We are surprised to hear these comments from Ronnie given that he has made no formal complaint and the feedback from the other players has been overwhelmingly positive.

“And the partners we are working with on the event agree with our view that K2 Crawley is an excellent venue with very good facilities.”