Shaun Murphy has called for life bans for any snooker player found guilty of match-fixing.
Former world champion Murphy has been left reeling and devastated by the suspensions for seven Chinese players over an investigation into manipulating matches for betting purposes.
Six of the seven, including ex-Masters champion Yan Bingtao, still have the right to appeal the temporary bans as the official WPBSA corruption probe takes its course.
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And world No12 Murphy, 40, knows full well that due process must be followed to allow Yan, Liang Wenbo, Li Hang, Lu Ning, Bai Langning, Chang Bingyu and Zhao Jianbo their say.
But the winner of nine ranking titles and a Masters crown, regarded as one of the sport’s finest ambassadors, is angry at the serious reputational damage being done to the game.
And if at the end of the probe and any charges and disciplinary proceedings fixing is proven, Murphy is adamant that any guilty players should never be seen on a table again.
He said: “Specifically for players who are found guilty of match fixing, they should never compete on the professional tour ever again. A complete life ban - from professional and amateur snooker.
“Their existence in the snooker world should be terminated. So strong is my feeling on it, it’s part of the reason, a multi-faceted reason, it’s part of why I resigned from WPBSA board many, many years ago.
“You know, I knew too much about what was going on with certain players who were under disciplinary inquiries. As a board director I was privy to information that the media and the public aren’t.
“For me it will be completely black and white. I know the world has gone greyer over the years, we have gone from an old fashioned black and white view of the world to quite an opaque one, often for the better.
“But I think cheating is one area where we should be a bit more black and white.
“If you are found guilty through the correct processes, if you are given the chance to defend yourself, and found guilty of match fixing, then in my opinion that should be your involvement in the snooker family finished.
“I am someone who tries with every fibre of my snooker being to help try to make this game better.
“I have joined the board and sat on the players’ commission and everything I have tried to do in my professional career is to leave snooker in a better condition when I walk away from it compared to 1998 when I turned pro.
“You know things like what have happened in the past week with all the announcements of the players again – and we understand due process, they are innocent until proven guilty – it’s just heart-breaking.
“The people who matter the most, the fans, it just leaves that shadow of a doubt when they are watching what is arguably the hardest single player sport on the planet, such a skilful game.
“There is that little doubt when a player misses a pot that they think they should get – things like this sows that seed of doubt among the public.
“Did they really miss that? Was that on purpose? It’s heartbreaking for a player whose first love is snooker.
“It’s reputation around the world, we trade off that gentlemanly image, if these players are found guilty, then in my opinion they have no business being part of the snooker community anymore.”
Until now the longest bans for proven match-fixing in snooker were 12 years for Stephen Lee back in 2012 – and 10 years and nine months for Yu Delu in 2018.
Chinese superstar Ding Junhui sought to distance himself and his UK academy from suspended snooker players with links to the Sheffield base.
Five of the seven Chinese pros currently prevented from playing over an ongoing investigation into match-fixing regularly used Ding’s facility for practice.
They are Lu Ning, Li Hang and youngsters Bai Langning, Chang Bingyu and Zhao Jianbo – though there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Ding or the academy itself.
Ding, 35, and a three-time UK Championship winner and former Masters champion, said: “It is nothing to do with our academy. It’s personal, isn’t it? Nothing to do with academy things.
“I have my life - it’s nothing to do with my academy, nothing to do with me. Everybody has different lives. All I can control is myself, so that is all I can do.
“I don’t know the information yet until I finish the tournaments. I don’t know. At the moment I don’t want to be involved in that, have nothing to do with it.”
Liang Wenbo, another of the suspended seven, has insisted that he has never been involved in match-fixing and will contest any charges that might result from the probe.
And representatives for former Masters champion Yan Bingtao, 22, and based at the rival Victoria’s Academy in Sheffield, have declined to comment.
