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Monique
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Location: Brussels - Belgium
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 Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 7:09 am Post subject: July 2010 - Ronnie interview in Scotland |
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http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/mattmeets/3067101/Matt-meets-Ronnie-OSullivan.html
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Happy ... Ronnie O'Sullivan
WE'VE teamed up with snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan to offer 5,000 young Scottish Sun readers a FREE Junior Membership to Rileys, the UK's largest pool and snooker operator.
Youngsters aged 12 to 18 can apply for a free Junior Membership (normal cost £5) - which is valid for one year - by visiting their local Rileys and quoting: SCOTTISH SUN OFFER.
Rileys Clubs are located in: Aberdeen, Bellshill, Cannock, Coatbridge, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Greenock, Inverness, Perth, Stirling.
Find your nearest one at www.rileys.co.uk
By MATT BENDORIS
SNOOKER wildman Ronnie 'The Rocket' O'Sullivan seems far too happy for someone who's just lost a huge chunk of his fortune.
The triple World Champ recently coughed up a large slice of his £6million career earnings to ex-girlfriend Jo Langley.
That doesn't stop Ronnie, who has battled depression throughout his career, constantly laugh and joke when we meet.
He can still manage a smile even though the payout cost the car nut his dream set of wheels.
Ronnie, 34, says: "I had to send my new SLS back to the dealers. Killed me to do it. But the split cost me a bloody fortune."
That's the 200mph Mercedes SLS at £157,000 a pop.
Oh well, he'll just have to make do with his current £80,000 SL500, with a top speed of 155mph.
Ronnie, from Chigwell, Essex, adds: "My current one is not the flashiest car but it can shift. I call it my wolf in sheep's clothing. But I will get that SLS... next year."
We meet at Rileys snooker club in London's Victoria district. Ronnie has more of a boxer's build than a snooker player's, standing about 5ft 11in with wide shoulders.
He's also trim from a gruelling six-miles-a-day running regime.
Ronnie's here to launch a campaign by the UK's largest pool and snooker operator to offer 5,000 free memberships to young Scots aged 12-18.
And he insists those early years around the baize were his happiest.
He recalls: "I started going to snooker halls when I was eight or nine - I loved them.
"How couldn't I? Playing a sport I love. They were the best years of my life. In fact it was in the snooker halls I spent most of my youth.
"But if we could find a new Stephen Hendry out of those 5,000 free memberships it will be worth it.
"If you're a father, you'd love your son to turn out like Hendry.
"I'd be over the moon if my children grew to be like him. It'd be better than winning the lottery.
"Put it this way, if you asked people who you'd rather your son turned out like, Ronnie O'Sullivan or Stephen Hendry - they'd go for Hendry every time."
Whatever could he mean?
Just because Ronnie's infamous temper once saw him assault tournament director Mike Ganley at The Crucible in 1996. Or how about his battle with drink and drugs, which stripped him of his Irish Masters title in 1998 when he tested positive for cannabis?
Even a stint in celeb rehab clinic The Priory didn't calm him down.
In 2006, snooker chiefs slapped O'Sullivan with a £20,000 fine after he walked out of a match against Stephen Hendry while trailing 4-1.
Last year he smashed his cue to smithereens at the Masters.
And in April he lost the plot again when he threatened to end a TV interview at the World Championship.
His fiery temperament continues to boil just under the surface - especially when I suggest he had a misspent youth. He snaps: "What is a misspent youth? Going to school and studying is a misspent youth to me.
"Snooker has given me a great life. I've travelled the world. I've got to experience different nations and cultures. That was my education.
"Those were the happiest times for me, right up until I was 16."
That's when when his dad Ronnie Snr was caged for life in 1992 for the murder of Bruce Bryan, a driver for East End gangster Charlie Kray.
Three years later, mum Maria got seven months for VAT fraud, forcing O'Sullivan to look after his then 12-year-old sister Danielle.
But the boy from the wrong side of the tracks bounced back to be crowned World Champion in 2001, 2004 and 2008.
He's lit up the sport along the way, firing a maximum 147 break in a record 5min 20sec - that's sinking a ball every nine seconds - at the 1996 World Championship.
At the same tourney he lived up to his bold claim that he could beat the Canadian Alain Robidoux left-handed, and won using his wrong hand.
But trouble always seems to be lurking just around the corner.
In 2008 he split from girlfriend Jo, 40, who he has two kids with - Lily, four, and three-year-old Ronnie Jnr.
She walked out when Ronnie was snapped with a mystery brunette.
But he's finally had some good news with the release of his 55-year-old dad from Sudbury jail in Derbyshire after 18 years inside.
Ronnie refuses to discuss his father's homecoming, but can't hide his emotions, beaming: "I'm in a good place right now.
"I'm having a break. I've been chilling out and I'm surrounded by the love of my family.
"I'm also under no stress or pressure. Although that'll all change when the snooker season starts."
But Ronnie isn't looking forward to getting back to the sport he dismisses as no more than 'just a job.'
He's also scathing about the current crop of new snooker stars.
O'Sullivan sneers: "The standard is getting worse, ten years ago it was a lot stronger and if it keeps sliding, it won't be worth watching in a decade from now. They're missing balls left right and centre as it is.
"We need more youngsters and more competitions."
That's why this week he also helped launch Power Snooker - a quick-fire version of the game that hopes to revolutionise the sport. It'll suit Ronnie as he isn't called 'The Rocket' for nothing.
He says: "I hate playing slowly - I've always played my best snooker from instinct. I remember having a conversation with Stephen Hendry early doors. He told me, 'When I'm playing well, I don't know what I'm doing'.
"That's when it finally clicked for me. Here was one of the greatest snooker players who had ever lived describing the way I was feeling.
"When I'm playing well I don't know how I'm doing it, or where my next ball is coming from, it just gets there."
However, Ronnie is not so keen on other changes to the game, which includes players walking in to signature tunes.
He has looked distinctly uneasy entering to songs including Ali In The Jungle by The Hours and Stellify by Ian Brown.
Ronnie says: "I picked those, but all that stuff isn't really me. I don't want to be defined by a song like Phil 'The Power' Taylor in darts."
The Rocket has to shoot off, but before he goes I suggest his signature tune should be The Prodigy's Firestarter.
He laughs: "That'd be alright when I'm having a good day.
"But when I'm having a bad day people will think I really will burn the place down. |
And have a look at the pictures in the original paper also...
_________________
"When you see someone with tears in his eyes you want to help him. That was more important than any tournament."
Ronnie O'Sullivan |
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BrooklynCueless
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Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 215
Location: Brooklyn, NYC/Essex, UK
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| Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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At the very least, it was a good press opportunity to get teens signed up for Rileys, but the journalism is less to be desired as it is expected with the Sun.
Most of the tabloid reporting was repeated from past information, but the part that annoyed me the most was the opinion of the author that these incidents-
"Last year he smashed his cue to smithereens at the Masters.
And in April he lost the plot again when he threatened to end a TV interview at the World Championship."
were some further proof that he's trouble. Weren't these two things like not even a huge deal? He didn't smash a cue and then was at a disadvantage to be without one, and Rob Walker didn't seem to be upset with a comment that didn't even wind up ending said interview....
oh well, I guess photos are a good enough reason to buy the Sun if not the words....
_________________
I'm always full of question like- can Rob Walker change it to "Let's get The Rocket on the Baize..."? |
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Peanut
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Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1720
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| Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 7:37 pm Post subject: Re: July 2010 - Ronnie interview in Scotland |
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| Quote: | | His fiery temperament continues to boil just under the surface - especially when I suggest he had a misspent youth. He snaps: "What is a misspent youth? Going to school and studying is a misspent youth to me. |
Aaargh! Fine. So then, I suggest, next time Ron's kids need a doc he can treat them himself instead, and should he ever need a lawyer or an architect or whatever profession may take some time studying, he will do it himself as well. 
I hate that, spitting in the face of other people like that. Reminds me of that saying from the sixties: "If you hate cops, next time you're in trouble, call a hippie."
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If you keep a green bough in your heart, the singing bird will come.
Chinese proverb |
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Go Ronnie
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Joined: 28 Aug 2008
Posts: 2328
Location: Budapest, Hungary
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| Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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Great pics! 
_________________
Come on Ronnie O'Sullivan 
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BrooklynCueless
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Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 215
Location: Brooklyn, NYC/Essex, UK
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 7:29 pm Post subject: Re: July 2010 - Ronnie interview in Scotland |
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| Peanut wrote: | | Quote: | | His fiery temperament continues to boil just under the surface - especially when I suggest he had a misspent youth. He snaps: "What is a misspent youth? Going to school and studying is a misspent youth to me. |
Aaargh! Fine. So then, I suggest, next time Ron's kids need a doc he can treat them himself instead, and should he ever need a lawyer or an architect or whatever profession may take some time studying, he will do it himself as well.
I hate that, spitting in the face of other people like that. Reminds me of that saying from the sixties: "If you hate cops, next time you're in trouble, call a hippie." |
This part of the interview was not a comment on education as a whole, or discouraging attending school and receiving honors. It was an individual statement as not all adults have had the same experience than their mates when they reflect on their school years.
_________________
I'm always full of question like- can Rob Walker change it to "Let's get The Rocket on the Baize..."? |
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Peanut
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Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1720
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:20 pm Post subject: Re: July 2010 - Ronnie interview in Scotland |
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| BrooklynCueless wrote: | | This part of the interview was not a comment on education as a whole, or discouraging attending school and receiving honors. It was an individual statement as not all adults have had the same experience than their mates when they reflect on their school years. |
Hm, it sounded just like the opposite to me, like he were saying that going to school and studying was a foolish way to spend your time, but of course that's not saying that this is what he really meant. And anyway, after some soul searching I have to admit that I reacted way too harshly to the comment anyway, simply cause I myself don't like being told that I supposedly misspent my youth by living it the way I did. 
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If you keep a green bough in your heart, the singing bird will come.
Chinese proverb |
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