The news conference of Ronnie O'sullivan & Marco Fu

[Black_cat]

Who do you think plays the bigger part - in what was happened recently and in being treated favorably by the WSA - Mr. O'Sullivan or Mr. Hirschowitz?
I'm not saying the press officer's behaviour was appropriate, my point is that it's wrong in blaming him for what's hapenned. It's concealing responsibilities. Mr. O'Sullivan is a grown up. He wasn't drunk or on drugs, as far as we know. If his mental state prevents him attending press conferences you could even blame the medical advisors not having noticed that before.

No one is blaming Mr. Hirschowitz for the whole incident. It wasn't him who brandished the mike, it wasn't him who propositioned to that journalist, it wasn't him laughing his heart out.
It was Ronnie. And Ronnie is responsible for all this.
But by not doing anything Mr. H becomes an accesory, if you want. (Take it with the necessary pinch of salt, please.) Not an innocent bystander caught in the fire.
It's understandable that Sir Walker's statement doesn't include Mr. H's name. It's internal affairs, after all. But something should be done about that, too.
All the while bearing in mind that it is Ronnie who should take the heat for it.
Good luck, RO'S. With understanding what you've done and with getting better. *sigh*


196 comments, do I hear 200? 200 once, 200 twice, come on!
Sorry, I'm high on coke. The liquid kind. Nevermind.

[gingerale]

Ok, let me quote then
"In a previous life, I was myself World Snooker press officer and we had O’Sullivan along to launch a tournament. His behaviour then was similar to how it was in Beijing this week. I aired my misgivings back at base but nothing was done then and very little has been done since."
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/

[Monique]

Who do you think plays the bigger part - in what was happened recently and in being treated favorably by the WSA - Mr. O'Sullivan or Mr. Hirschowitz?
I'm not saying the press officer's behaviour was appropriate, my point is that it's wrong in blaming him for what's hapenned. It's concealing responsibilities. Mr. O'Sullivan is a grown up. He wasn't drunk or on drugs, as far as we know. If his mental state prevents him from attending press conferences you could even blame the medical advisors not having noticed that before.

I'm not exonerating Ronnie from his responsibilities. I just find it strange and annoying that the WSA does not endorse its own. Well not so strange in fact.

And about your last sentence ... may I remind you what happened last year when Ronnie was released from the obligation to attend press conferences for just one tourney (the Masters), because Sir Rodney judged rightly he was not fit for that?

And about your last post. I read that. I'm a regular reader of that blog like many here. I respect Dave's opinion in general. But here I disagree. The WSA officer should have tried, it's his job. He may have failed, or not. But not only he did not try, he endulged in it and encouraged it. At that I can't find any explanation or excuse.

[snooligan]

Well sorry if im obviously not one of the more sensible people, but by "communicate to Ronnie" i meant by whatever means were available, be it facial expression or whatever, which should have been easy enough !!

danny, I wasn't excluding you from the more sensible group. Sorry if you misunderstood me, I was just saying that the Media Officer didn't do the job he's paid to do! Sorry again.

The function of the media officer is to take care that communication with the media runs smoothly ...
Not further comments

That is what I presumed should be his job, so it's another amateur working for World Snooker.

[The Boss]

Superaussie is right.

O'Sullivan needs to be treated like he would be in the army. I am afraid though it will be another 'slap up meal' with Rodders and a "Please Ronnie try and remember there are kids watching".

If he gets away with this then may be we could hear about other players antics at press conferences.

Scenario: Mark King has just lost to Mark Selby at The Crucible.

Reporter: You seemed to lose it there somewhat Mark?

Mark King: I wouldn't mind taking you from behind. Forget snooker. Let's have it!

Reporter to Selby: "Nice start to your campaign there Mark".

Selby: "Well I prepared really well in the brothel last night. I will go there before my next match, I fancy some Chinese next time(snigger, snigger, sarcastic laugh)."

King will punch up the Shark at the Crucible and seal a Top 16 place for next season. King and Ronnie to contest the final

[gingerale]

I'm afraid you misunderstood what I meant, Monique. What I wrote with blaming medical advisors should have been just another example of what I called splitting responsibilities. It has nothing to do with last year's case and was intended to illustrate things by oversubscription.

The unpleasant role of the press officer is to please everyone. Someone please give me a script of how the press conference could have turned out differently with a press officer interrupting Mr. O'Sullivan a) without being noticed and b) without annoying the very Rocket himself? and c) with a guarantee that the interruption would have actually stopped Ronnie O'Sullivan from saying what he said?

[dannyd0g]

danny, I wasn't excluding you from the more sensible group. Sorry if you misunderstood me, I was just saying that the Media Officer didn't do the job he's paid to do! Sorry again.
.

Arh i see. Thanks for the explanation. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I'm glad many people agree that the so called media officer should share some of the blame

[Maija]

The unpleasant role of the press officer is to please everyone. Someone please give me a script of how the press conference could have turned out differently with a press officer interrupting Mr. O'Sullivan a) without being noticed and b) without annoying the very Rocket himself? and c) with a guarantee that the interruption would have actually stopped Ronnie O'Sullivan from saying what he said?

Nobody is saying that a word in Ronnie's ear would have stopped Ronnie from babbling on, but at least he would have been seen to try, instead of just giggling along.

I doubt that it's the role of the press officer to keep the players happy. They're employed by the association, that's where their duties lie. If Ronnie had been told to stop messing around and then had stomped off in a great huff, well, it would still have been better than what actually happened, but the resulting TSF thread would probably have had as many posts as this one

[Monique]

The unpleasant role of the press officer is to please everyone. Someone please give me a script of how the press conference could have turned out differently with a press officer interrupting Mr. O'Sullivan a) without being noticed and b) without annoying the very Rocket himself? and c) with a guarantee that the interruption would have actually stopped Ronnie O'Sullivan from saying what he said?

There is no reason for such script because the role of the media officer is NOT to please everyone. He should have interrupted him, noticed or not, and if Ronnie was annoyed so be it. If it hadn't stopped him? so be it. At least he would have tried.

Now YOU give me a script where that guy is COMPELLED to indulge and encourage that banter, because that's what he actually did. As I said I'm curious....

[gingerale]

The role of a press officer is to please everyone and to be hated for it at the same time, because pleasing everybody is just an impossible and artificial thing to do.
I never said he should have encoured the "banter" but he would have been in serious trouble when publicly rebuking Mr. O'Sullivan as this would be some sort of public relations as well (which surely wouldn't get the board's acknowledgement). A press officer can be replaced quickly, O' Sullivan can't.
To speak a shrink's term, I believe you're canalising anger here when picking on the press officers responsibility. Or picking on me because I do not believe the press conference could have turned out in a different way.
Let's agree to differ, ok?

[Monique]

He could have at the minimum turned out quiet. Not participating. Can't you agree on that?
I really don't see why for any reason he had to giggle, answer along the same line and encourage ROS in this banter. There is none. Let's face the simple fact: he was probably enjoying himself, not thinking of the possible consequences, and nothing more.
So yes it's ROS responsibility to have started it and behaved inadequately. and it's the WSA officer responsibility not to at least have tried to do something. If anything else, if he understood what was going on and didn't dare to face ROS ... he could have tried to warn the organisors not to put the thing on the Internet....

[dannyd0g]

one. Someone please give me a script of how the press conference could have turned out differently with a press officer interrupting Mr. O'Sullivan a) without being noticed and b) without annoying the very Rocket himself? and c) with a guarantee that the interruption would have actually stopped Ronnie O'Sullivan from saying what he said?

Surely just a sharp look, frown, or head shake would have been all that was needed to make someone stop and reflect about what they were doing ?

[gingerale]

He could have at the minimum turned out quiet. Not participating. Can't you agree on that?

On that I never disagreed.

Surely just a sharp look, frown, or head shake would have been all that was needed to make someone stop and reflect about what they were doing ?

I'm afraid I'm just not too sure about that, dannyd0g.

[frameandfortunereturns]

He could have at the minimum turned out quiet. Not participating. Can't you agree on that?
I really don't see why for any reason he had to giggle, answer along the same line and encourage ROS in this banter. There is none. Let's face the simple fact: he was probably enjoying himself, not thinking of the possible consequences, and nothing more.
So yes it's ROS responsibility to have started it and behaved inadequately. and it's the WSA officer responsibility not to at least have tried to do something. If anything else, if he understood what was going on and didn't dare to face ROS ... he could have tried to warn the organisors not to put the thing on the Internet....

Monique; You will find clutch at any straw to shift the blame. I don't care if the officer gets sacked and you certainly don't either. Ronnie's behaviour was disgraceful regardless of whtether the officer went along with it. Is Ronnie so stupid he needs a press officer holding his hand at all times? Ronnie is obviously about as mature as a 6 year old and that won't change. He should be kicked out of snooker. He is a 'bag of rubbish'.

[Monique]

Frame, I never denied Ronnie's responsibility. He acted stupidly and inadequately. I said it before as you will aknowledge if you read my posts.
It still annoys me that WSA does not take its responsibilities also.