Ronnie O'Sullivan has hit out at the World Snooker Tour (WST) after they threatened legal action against the likes of Luca Brecel, Mark Selby and John Higgins for choosing to play in a lucrative exhibition tournament in China instead of the Northern Ireland Open.
Reigning World Champion Brecel and four-time winners Selby and Higgins snubbed this month's Northern Ireland Open, along with Ali Carter and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, in favour of an exhibition in Macau.
WST chiefs are said to have warned the players they would be breaching contracts if they played in Macau instead of Northern Ireland and that they would face disciplinary action. The players have been left furious by the WST's actions and believe they could not follow through on their threats anyway as they did not enter the Northern Ireland Open in the first place.
And O'Sullivan - who himself is playing in a Shanghai exhibition this month - has now lent his support to Brecel, Selby, Higgins, Carter and Un-Nooh, branding the WST's response "b****cks" and accusing them of "trying to restrict" players from maximising their earnings. "There is absolutely no reason to try and stop me and other players going to Shanghai during the Northern Ireland qualifiers," O'Sullivan said.
"That is a small event, we are not involved, and we could still play in the final stages with our matches being held over. Players are just trying to earn money, it is their choice. And they are realising their value.
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"They are trying to restrict us. Those involved in Shanghai were sent letters advising them not to play. I know for the tournament in Macau players were also sent even stronger threatening letters telling them it was in breach of their contract.
"That with an opportunity to play in an official tournament they were turning it down and choosing to go somewhere else, and it was damaging for the sport. It is b****cks, trying to scare players like that.
Mark Selby and Luca Brecel have both snubbed the Northern Ireland Open in favour of a lucrative exhibition tournament in China (George Wood/Getty Images)"It's wrong and I am glad they have taken a strong stance. This is about players being able to earn what they can, and choose how and when they play. They can enter a tournament – but they don't have to.
"They used to try and tell me what to say, until I got a really good lawyer who kicked back at them. If they want to play silly games, we can all play silly games." In response, a WST spokesperson simply said: "WST does not publicly discuss private conversations with the players, or share contractual information."
The news comes after O'Sullivan was involved in a public spat with the WST after he suggested the World Championship should be moved from the Crucible and played overseas instead.
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