2021 World Snooker Championship

Bob Jewett said:
Here's an article all about it. A scummy newspaper did a scummy sting.

www.theguardian.com

News of the World deserves no praise for John Higgins entrapment

Paper's sting operation on naive John Higgins was a disgrace
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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Same happened to Stephen Lee. He’s such a huge talent. He’s blessed with the smoothest stroke I’ve ever seen. Sadly got involved in games rigging which got him banned from competition until he turns 50. A big loss for the game.

Btw - John goes by Higgins The Riggins this side of the pond. My understanding is that he was “pardoned” for his lifelong contribution to the sports.


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Ratamon said:
Same happened to Stephen Lee. He’s such a huge talent. He’s blessed with the smoothest stroke I’ve ever seen. Sadly got involved in games rigging which got him banned from competition until he turns 50. A big loss for the game.

Btw - John goes by Higgins The Riggins this side of the pond. My understanding is that he was “pardoned” for his lifelong contribution to the sports.


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There isn't a lot of detail I can find other than he was found guilty of fixing seven matches. Does anyone know how they established it?
 
That century by Ronnie in the 3rd frame was pretty damn good. Nothing all that difficult, but the way he just picked apart the reds was class.
 
gerryf said:
In the investigation they looked at all the raw footage instead of just the NOW story. They seemed pretty certain that it was a setup, that Higgins had no idea what was going on, and that Higgins was trying to extricate himself from a group of hard cases.

As the federation stated in their report, when you look at all the evidence, it was clear. NOW makes money by not showing all the evidence.
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HMMMMM. If they had all the "raw" footage why didn't they show it to the world when they exonerated Higgins, as proof that he was so innocent. In fact, they did not totally exonerate him. He was suspended and fined as I recall. So you can't have it both ways. Is he an innocent dupe or was he a co-conspirator? I watched the NOW video and either Higgins is a really good actor or he was all in for their little scheme.
 
gerryf said:
There isn't a lot of detail I can find other than he was found guilty of fixing seven matches. Does anyone know how they established it?
Click to expand...
I believe it wasn’t an isolated case so quite surprising he got banned for 6 months only.

They look at unusual betting patterns leading to the match and the player’s behaviour during the match (surprising misses, poor positional play etc). If there are irregularities they will go on to investigate any connections between the bettors and the player (history of phone calls, texts, emails etc) but the betting pattern will be a starting point (especially for things that are within the player’s control (loss of the match, committed fouls etc).

There must be financial motivation and it’s very rare that both players are involved in the sting.
 
jay helfert said:
HMMMMM. If they had all the "raw" footage why didn't they show it to the world when they exonerated Higgins, as proof that he was so innocent. In fact, they did not totally exonerate him. He was suspended and fined as I recall. So you can't have it both ways. Is he an innocent dupe or was he a co-conspirator? I watched the NOW video and either Higgins is a really good actor or he was all in for their little scheme.
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Apparently, the chief investigator concluded that Higgins was an innocent "rabbit in the headlight", blissfully unaware of the dealings of his then manager, Pat Mooney. They charged Higgins with failing to report an approach about illicit gambling. Here's an interview with the chief investigator, David Douglas:

REVEALED: WHY JOHN HIGGINS WAS CLEARED OF MATCH-FIXING (BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE, INCLUDING A STATEMENT FROM MAZHER MAHMOOD, TOLD THE FULL STORY)

Edit. And here's the ruling made by Ian Mill QC:

IN FULL: THE JOHN HIGGINS ‘MATCH FIX’ RULING BY IAN MILL QC
 
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jay helfert said:
HMMMMM. If they had all the "raw" footage why didn't they show it to the world when they exonerated Higgins, as proof that he was so innocent. In fact, they did not totally exonerate him. He was suspended and fined as I recall. So you can't have it both ways. Is he an innocent dupe or was he a co-conspirator? I watched the NOW video and either Higgins is a really good actor or he was all in for their little scheme.
Click to expand...

Its a good question why we were never shown the full video, perhaps some legal reason (no idea).

But as to why he was banned, it was for not reporting an attempt to fix matches, he wasn't charged with actually fixing a match (which is why the ban was so short).
 
Ratamon said:
Apparently, the chief investigator concluded that Higgins was an innocent "rabbit in the headlight", blissfully unaware of the dealings of his then manager, Pat Mooney. They charged Higgins with failing to report an approach about illicit gambling. Here's an interview with the chief investigator, David Douglas:

REVEALED: WHY JOHN HIGGINS WAS CLEARED OF MATCH-FIXING (BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE, INCLUDING A STATEMENT FROM MAZHER MAHMOOD, TOLD THE FULL STORY)

Edit. And here's the ruling made by Ian Mill QC:

IN FULL: THE JOHN HIGGINS ‘MATCH FIX’ RULING BY IAN MILL QC
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Well, that's terrific information! Nice to actually have some knowledgeable statements rather than the usual rumors and innuendos!!

Good post Ratamon!!
 
vjmehra said:
Its a good question why we were never shown the full video, perhaps some legal reason (no idea).

But as to why he was banned, it was for not reporting an attempt to fix matches, he wasn't charged with actually fixing a match (which is why the ban was so short).
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You are correct. They blew the whistle on him before he had a chance to actually go through with the fix. Lucky for him it happened that way. I have no doubt he would have gone through with it though given the opportunity. That's where I differ with some others on here. From his words and actions I believe he was complicit in the plan, up to his ears!
 
jay helfert said:
You are correct. They blew the whistle on him before he had a chance to actually go through with the fix. Lucky for him it happened that way. I have no doubt he would have gone through with it though given the opportunity. That's where I differ with some others on here. From his words and actions I believe he was complicit in the plan, up to his ears!
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The truth is we'll never know, I personally choose to take the opposing view, however being fully honest with myself at least part of that is because I want to believe he wouldn't have done it!
 
mcgill was in dead stroke that session. if he comes back with anything near that pot success there's little chance for ronnie to win. them scots are tough as nails..
 
At the end of Session 2, Ronnie's stuck, with Anthony in the lead, 10-6. Ronnie just smiles as he exits the stage. <3
 
vjmehra said:
Its a good question why we were never shown the full video, perhaps some legal reason (no idea).

But as to why he was banned, it was for not reporting an attempt to fix matches, he wasn't charged with actually fixing a match (which is why the ban was so short).
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Who recorded it?
 
It's 30 more minutes from the time of this writing for Ronnie and Anthony to continue. This will be exciting!
 
Ratamon said:
Apparently, the chief investigator concluded that Higgins was an innocent "rabbit in the headlight", blissfully unaware of the dealings of his then manager, Pat Mooney. They charged Higgins with failing to report an approach about illicit gambling. Here's an interview with the chief investigator, David Douglas:

REVEALED: WHY JOHN HIGGINS WAS CLEARED OF MATCH-FIXING (BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE, INCLUDING A STATEMENT FROM MAZHER MAHMOOD, TOLD THE FULL STORY)

Edit. And here's the ruling made by Ian Mill QC:

IN FULL: THE JOHN HIGGINS ‘MATCH FIX’ RULING BY IAN MILL QC
Click to expand...
I’ve also said this about the Higgins scam....picture you are a pro snooker player and you are approached by someone who may be representing an organization like maybe the Russian Mafia....how do you handle it?
...even if you don’t intend to actually fix a match....you might be in danger.

...and I think John should‘ve sued the mag.
...I‘ve been in a lot of action, including poker....if I smelled a rat , and got violent about the offer, I would’ve loved to see how the mag and the courts handled it.
 
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