‘I will never watch snooker on BBC again’ – Fans fume at World Championship coverage after scheduling decision

FRUSTRATED snooker fans have hit out at the BBC after being unable to watch a portion of Mark Williams’ epic win over John Higgins.

The Welsh Potting Machine edged out his Class of ’92 rival 13-12 in a modern Crucible classic.

AlamyMark Williams booked his place in the Crucible semi-finals with a brilliant 13-12 win over Mark Higgins[/caption]

AlamySome BBC viewers were frustrated the action wasn’t broadcast on BBC2 in the morning session[/caption]

Higgins won four consecutive frames to force a nail-biting finale in Sheffield.

But it was Williams who advanced to the final four, sinking the blue, pink and black to take the decider 74-69.

Some viewers were upset that the BBC’s scheduling and timeshare with TNT Sports resulted in them missing a large proportion of the morning session.

BBC2’s coverage began at 10am on Wednesday morning, before breaking at 11.15am for Politics Live.

The Beeb returned to the snooker on the channel at 1pm, in time to watch the conclusion of the match.

However, some viewers were unhappy they had been unable to watch the contest in its entirety.

One wrote on X: “BBC world snooker shows 1 hour of a super important match then goes to another show. I’ve signed up for TNT snooker, I will never watch snooker on BBC again ever. No red button in Ireland and now not watchable on Sky Go.”

Another commented: “Poor from the BBC. A classic quarter final in the World Snooker Championship makes way for Politics Live & can’t even be moved onto BBC1 to replace Homes Under The Hammer which is on every single day!”

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And a third said: “The horror show that is #BBCSNOOKER take the superb Higgins v Williams quarter-final that is nearing completion off air and show a midmatch mismatch on the red button instead. You wouldn’t think it possible for them to mess up this many times.”

Despite no coverage on BBC 2 between 11.15pm and 1pm, the match was available uninterrupted on the BBC website, Red Button and iPlayer.

SunSport has contacted the BBC for comment.

Williams has become the oldest Snooker World Championship semi-finalist for 40 years after his epic victory in South Yorkshire.

And the Welshman jokingly put his success down to “balls of steel” after holding his nerve in the decider.

Williams said: “[My blue] was such a tough shot, it was thinner than it looked like.

“I have gone for the blue full bloodied. I had to go for it.

“I tried to stay calm. Roll in the pink, roll in the black. There were no nerves. I don’t get that.