World Championship snooker protest: Joe Perry in a ‘state of shock’ when match with Robert Milkins disrupted

Joe Perry says he was in a “state of shock” as protesters stormed the Crucible during his first-round World Championship match with Robert Milkins.

The man – and his fellow female accomplice who had tried to disrupt the action on table two – were swiftly escorted from the arena, but table one had been rendered completely unplayable.

Perry and Milkins, after being offered a number of options over when and how to resume the match, subsequently agreed to restart their encounter on Tuesday night.

“It was just a moment of madness wasn’t it?,” Perry told Eurosport’s Rachel Casey.

“You’re concentrating so much on the game, I think at the time Rob [Milkins] had just made a foul and I was walking to the table hoping to get my first chance.

“And all of a sudden…shock, someone jumped over the barrier, in seconds he was on the table and the table was covered in orange powder stuff, so state of shock really.

“I thought I’d seen everything really, but apparently not.”

Expanding on the ensuing conversation with the tour director around his now-amended schedule, Perry added: “We were both a little bit shaken up, so we decided to scrap [playing after the Mark Allen match on Monday night], and we’re going to play the first session tonight [Tuesday], and then come back Thursday morning.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s the least disruptive to the rest of the tournament and we can deal with that.

“It’s totally out of character for snooker, we weren’t expecting any of it.

“It took a little while to calm down and get over it.”

Perry – as he admitted – is a man of “many hats” at the Crucible during the World Championship, as he will combine playing with an informal role helping Neil Robertson.

“Neil’s one of the best players we’ve ever had,” Perry said. “You can’t sort of teach Neil anything, it’s just he hasn’t really got anyone in his corner.

“I’ve known Neil since he first came over from Australia, I know his game better than anyone else, so it’s just a friendly face in his corner.

“At the end of the day, Neil’s going to pot all the balls.”

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