It later emerged that a slate underneath the table had dropped, making it uneven. As a result, the match between Matthew Stevens and Dominic Dale was paused before eventually resuming on the other table after the conclusion of the tie between Ali Carter and Roger Farebrother. That meant the match between defending champion Alfie Burden and Igor Figueiredo – the last two winners of the tournament – was shifted to a practice table, with family members and guests being allowed to watch backstage. The Brazilian swept to a 4-0 whitewash, meaning Burden didn’t get to defend his title in front of a Crucible crowd.
The situation led to criticism on social media. Lee Stephens, a former World Seniors player and amateur WSF Championship runner-up, was particularly scathing. He said: “This is absolutely disgraceful! World Seniors should be ashamed of themselves!
“I’m not surprised, however. They make bad decision after bad decision! [The] defending champion out the back, not getting the walk on and the intro [like] that! P*** poor!”
Jason Francis, the boss of World Seniors Snooker, has apologised to all the players affected, but gave short shrift to Stephens’ comments, urging him to “get his cue out”. Francis told the Express: “Lee was someone who was on the World Seniors Tour but never had any success. He wasn’t good enough.
“I have no interest in listening to bitter ex-players who just want to have a pop. If he thinks he’s good enough, he should get his cue out and earn his right to play at the Crucible.”
On the issue that affected the tournament on Thursday, Francis said: “I’ve written to Igor and Alfie and apologised that we were unable to provide a table for them to play on. It was obvious that there was a major joint and slate drop on table two, which meant it was unplayable.
“You can’t rectify a table instantly, it requires time. There are mitigating factors around the access we were given to the Crucible. We were only given five hours to set up four snooker tables [including two in the practice area].
“The fitters who have done the World Snooker Tour for 20 years are here, so there’s no lack of expertise. But the reality is that tables need time to settle.
“We do the best we can. You can’t mitigate for everything. We are experienced promoters and the team have put in a tremendous effort overnight. We learn and will try to do better. And again, we apologise to Alfie, Igor, Matthew and Dominic.”