SHAUN MURPHY has again defended snooker chiefs, after world champion Kyren Wilson became the latest star to criticise them.
Murphy, 42, recently hit back at Mark Allen’s claims that conditions at last month’s British Open were “embarrassing”.
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The 2005 world champion has now publicly disagreed with Wilson’s fury over his table scheduling.
Wilson, 32, was crowned world champ at The Crucible back in May.
Despite this status, he found himself playing on table two at the British Open, with Mark Selby’s clash with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh given the session’s biggest billing.
After being eliminated by Elliott Slessor, Wilson took to social media to reveal his frustration.
He wrote: “Same s**t different day, demoted to table two again and get found out! What benefits does a world champion get nowadays?
“Graveyard shift in Brentwood, table two in Saudi every game whilst being the number one seed there!
“Table two tonight in Cheltenham and being the highest ranked in the session… unfortunately nothing ever changes with the sport I love, if your face doesn’t fit… tough.
“People can have their opinions. Always been that you earn the right for the privileges. Apparently not anymore. I always try to promote the sport and be a good ambassador for it. What’s the point?”
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Speaking on his onefourseven Snooker podcast, Murphy attempted to explain why he didn’t feel Wilson had been hard done by at all.
He said: “There is no such rule that says if you’re the world champion you’ll be on table one, or if you are the defending champion you’ll be on table one.
“No such rule exists. There’s a couple of players that move the needle so much that when they play they’ll always be on table one.
“It’s about time the players understood that it’s about which match is the most attractive, the most exciting, which is going to pull more viewers in and that’s the one that will go first.
“It’s no more complicated than that. Kyren asks what are the rewards for being world champion. You’ve got half a million pounds, that was your reward for winning the World Championship.
“And you’ll forever be known as a world champion, that’s your reward. It doesn’t entitle you to be on table one every match.”
Murphy and Wilson are both set to be in action at the Wuhan Open in China this weekend.
The former will take on Anthony Hamilton, while the latter has drawn Liam Davies.
Allen’s clash with British Open chiefs came after his 4-3 win over Gary Wilson in round one.
‘EMBARRASSING’
The Northern Irishman, 38, had called the conditions “embarrassing” – and even said the tables should be “burned”.
In response Murphy, who sits on the WPBSA Players’ Board, said on his podcast: “The staff, there’s been a lot of talk that there are new fitters, and a lot of that is true.
“Their job is to take a table off a lorry on a pallet, and they put the table together. Their job is to put that table together, have it installed, and get them as level as possible.
“That’s what is in their control. How a table plays, whether it’s heavy or not, whether we can spin the ball properly – that’s nothing to do with them.
“Some of the comments and criticisms about the staff, I find extremely distasteful.
“I thought they were bang out of order. These guys do an immense job.”
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