{"id":5378,"date":"2026-05-02T20:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5378"},"modified":"2026-05-02T20:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:16:28","slug":"world-snooker-explain-why-frame-that-embarrassed-the-sport-was-allowed-to-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5378","title":{"rendered":"World Snooker explain why frame \u2018that embarrassed the sport\u2019 was allowed to happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>The frame lasted more than 100 minutes&#8230; <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose drop-cap \">\n<p>World Snooker, the organisation responsible for staging the sport\u2019s World Championship, have issued a statement addressing an incident during a recent semi-final that BBC commentator Steve Davis branded \u201can embarrassment to snooker.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The semi-final between Wu Yize and Mark Allen was overshadowed by a single frame in the opening session that lasted over 100 minutes, with many in the snooker world suggesting referee Marcel Eckardt should have stepped in. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>What happened?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:0\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The frame, the longest lasting in the history of the Crucible, came about when eight red balls moved to cover the black in a corner pocket, meaning players could not pot any of the reds without also facing a penalty for potting the black. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The result: both players took 75 safety shots over an agonising 100 minute period. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>No player potted a single ball for 55 minutes, imaginably leading to serious frustrations amongst fans in attendance, and causing the BBC to move away from the snooker in their live coverage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p><strong>Best UK betting offers right now &#8211; 18+, BeGambleAware<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:1\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><oc-connect-widget slot-id=\"97dDCX3NiPvxFMRHGvaDS\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Pressure mounted on referee Eckardt to conclude the frame, but no such decision was forthcoming. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>It only ended when Allen eventually potted the black, putting everyone in the arena out of their misery. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>What has been said about the frame? <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The snooker world has almost unanimously come together to condemn Eckardt&#8217;s decision. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:2\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>BBC Sport&#8217;s Hazel Irvine said: &#8220;It is the most torturous frame I think we have seen at the Crucible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Stephen Hendry was even less forgiving in his description of the frame. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The seven-time world champion said: &#8220;The referee&#8217;s got to get involved here, in my opinion,&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;This is the dark side of snooker.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:3\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been a horrendous frame but it&#8217;s helped Wu Yize so much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;He didn&#8217;t look like winning another frame, but the ludicrous nature of this has just helped to lighten the load on him and free him up, forget what was happening to him in this session.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:4\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Steve Davis, whose comments have come to define the frame in media reports, said: &#8220;In a nutshell that frame is an embarrassment to snooker, and the referees&#8217; and the players&#8217; association need to try to work out a way so that never happens again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>World Snooker defend Eckardt&#8217;s decision<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:5\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Despite those negative remarks from so many of snooker&#8217;s biggest names, World Snooker have defended Marcel Eckardt&#8217;s officiating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>As reported by the Mirror, the organisation has reportedly made clear their belief that: &#8220;The rule was applied correctly.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<p>#World #Snooker #explain #frame #embarrassed #sport #allowed #happen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The frame lasted more than 100 minutes&#8230; World Snooker, the organisation responsible for staging the sport\u2019s World Championship, have issued a statement addressing an incident during a recent semi-final that BBC commentator Steve Davis branded \u201can embarrassment to snooker.\u201d The semi-final between Wu Yize and Mark Allen was overshadowed by a single frame in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2867,5546,794,5545,3804,5543,1422,135,5544],"class_list":{"0":"post-5378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-allowed","9":"tag-embarrassed","10":"tag-explain","11":"tag-frame","12":"tag-happen","13":"tag-snooker","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-world","16":"tag-world-snooker-championship"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}