World Snooker Championship referee Marcel Eckardt apologises as footage of Bingham being ‘forced to miss shot’ emerges

REFEREE Marcel Edkardt has apologised after confronting a fan who “forced” Stuart Bingham to “miss a shot”.

The incident happened as Bingham took a vital shot in his clash against Jak Jones in the World Snooker Championship semi-final.

BBCStuart Bingham missed a vital shot against Jak Jones[/caption]

Referee Marcel Edkardt then approached the crowd after hearing a cough during the shot

He spoke to one person to ask if they were okay

Bingham was on the cusp of exiting the competition at the Crucible as he lined up an important shot.

While trailing 16 frames to 12, the Basildon cueman needed to pot the brown to keep his hopes of reaching the final alive.

As he took his shot a cough could be heard from the crowd and he missed.

Eckardt then approached the crowd and wanted to find out who the coughing culprit was.

He said: “Are you alright sir? Are you happy to leave or…

“I will have to ask you to leave.

“Sorry if it was not you. Can we find the person out please, this area has to be quiet.”

Play then resumed as Jones took advantage of the miss and booked his spot in the final alongside Kyren Wilson.

After the match, Eckardt took to social media to address the incident and apologised to those who did not realised what had happened.

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He wrote: “To clear things up: I witnessed misbehaviour on multiple occasions coming from a specific area in the crowd during the last frame which in the end forced a player to miss a crucial shot.

“I do realise that the timing wasn’t great, but I felt that I had to say something.

“It took too long and it was ott considering the circumstances.

“I do apologise to everyone who didn’t understand what was going on. Lesson learnt.”

Despite apologising, Eckardt received plenty of support from snooker fans on social media.

One posted: “You shouldn’t have to clear things up or explain yourself Marcel, you were just doing your job and you did it brilliantly!”

A second commented: “Fair play to Marcel for trying his best to sort it. He’s got enough to think about without people in the crowd making a scene.”

A third wrote: “No need to apologise. If somone is deliberately coughing, they must be confronted, regardless of the situation.”

A fourth said: “You shouldn’t have to police the crowd.”

Another added: “Should never have to apologise, Marcel you are a great ref! Handled it very well tonight.”

Bingham reached the semi-final by knocking out Ronnie O’Sullivan and has always been a popular figure in the sport.

He did not blame the noisy fan and said: “I must have given eight frames away.

“I must have missed eight or nine blacks off the spot.

“I’m very disappointed, after playing like I did against Ronnie. I just didn’t enjoy it out there.

“Too many mistakes. Even going back to the fourth frame, missing a blue, it summed up the match really.

“Missing too many easy balls, gave him too many easy starts – just an embarrassing performance on my part.”

Jones will now face Wilson in the final which will take place on Monday.

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