‘I was enjoying my kebab too much’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals time he was late to a match in scheduling debate

Ronnie O’Sullivan has responded to Ding Junhui’s criticism of snooker’s ‘roll-on, roll-off’ scheduling.

The 14-time ranking event winner has compared the scheduling to a “circus” after venting his frustrations about a very late finish following his defeat at the Scottish Open when he did not get home until the early hours of the next morning.

The former world No.1 also said: “For the fans as well, they want to know when their player is playing, not wait four, five hours and see them at 11pm. Who wants that?

“Ronnie knows when his time will be, I’m not as famous as Ronnie, but we should respect everyone. There’s only 131 professionals.”

O’Sullivan, who normally has a fixed time when he plays, explains his own approach to ‘roll-on, roll-off’ scheduling.

“I read that article and he was having a right little whinge there wasn’t he? which is a bit unlike Ding,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport.

“I think you’ve just got to get your head around it. If you don’t know when you’re playing, go out, have a nice meal, chill out and watch a film. Just wait for the call.

“I say ‘Martin, ring me as soon as that final ball has potted and I will have the cab. I’ll get there as soon as I can’.

“Otherwise you can waste your whole night waiting and there’s nothing worse than that.

“That’s what I would do because I wouldn’t sit around waiting for someone else, especially if you’re behind Mark Selby you’ll be there all night.

“It’s the waiting that’s the problem. So go on enjoy your day, enjoy your evening. Have a nice meal, but just be within touching distance of the venue.

“Get the call, bang! In you go. Happy days! You’ve had a great night and you get to play a bit of snooker at the end of it.”

O’Sullivan also revealed he almost missed one of his ‘roll-on, roll-off’ matches because he was too busy eating a kebab.

He said: “I was actually late doing that for one of my matches but I was just enjoying my kebab too much and I went ‘I’m not rushing this'”.

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