The world’s number one snooker player was suspended last night after allegations that he was willing to take a £261,000 bribe.
John Higgins claimed that he had agreed to lose frames in four matches against three prominent players because he feared he was being threatened by the Russian mafia.
In a sting by the News of the world Higgins was exposed as a money grabbing cheat, he has tried to weasel his way out of this by making the allegation about gangsters, but having watched the clip of Higgins and his manager there is no doubt from the body language of both men that there was no duress involved.
The player, who won the world title in 1998, 2007 and 2009 and was appointed MBE for services to sport insisted yesterday that he was innocent, I have no sympathy for Higgins and hope that he receives a life ban and has his MBE taken of him, the image of snooker as a gentleman's game has been shattered and only strong and immediate action by the game’s governing body can bring any sort of credibility back.
I don’t for a second believe that Higgins is the only player to be involved with this betting syndicate because of the huge sums involved in frame betting and more names will come out in the following days and weeks.
It will take a long time for snooker to recover from this.
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