Mark Williams capitalises on distracted referee against Wu Yize to show 'wicked sense of humour' at World Snooker Championship - 'He loves a wind-up'
By Alex Livie
Updated 19/04/2025 at 16:29 GMT+1
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Mark Williams is a fan favourite and he had those in attendance at the Crucible on Saturday in the palm of his hand. The Welshman's potting is his main asset, but he has a superb sense of humour and lit up the early exchanges of his World Snooker Championship clash against Wu Yize by adopting the role of referee as he picked a ball out of the pocket when the official was distracted.
Williams shows ‘wicked sense of humour’ as he does job of referee and picks ball out of pocket
Video credit: TNT Sports
Mark Williams is in the latter stages of his time at the top of the tree in snooker, and has talked about retirement - but he could have a second career in the sport as a referee.
The Welshman, a three-time winner at the Crucible, was in the early exchanges of his match against Wu Yize - live on TNT Sports and discovery+ - when he took centre stage.
Wu was unfortunate to see the pink ball drop in the right middle after he missed an attempted red, and saw it cannon off the colour on its way back up the table.
The onus was on referee Olivier Marteel to pick the pink out of the pocket and put it back on its spot, but the Belgian was momentarily distracted.
Seeing this, Williams swooped in and picked up the pink and put it on its spot, much to the delight of those watching the action at the Crucible.
"I was talking to someone," Marteel said after seeing Williams do his job.
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Marteel picked up the pink and replaced it himself, and Neal Foulds felt the official was not happy with how the incident played out.
"He didn't like it that Mark took that pink out," Foulds said. "He made sure he put it back on the spot himself, he was having none of that."
After the howls of laughter had died down, Philip Studd in the TNT Sports and discovery+ commentary box said: "He has always had a wicked sense of humour, Mark Williams.
"He loves a wind-up; that has not dimmed with age."
After settling back into his day job, Williams took advantage of the chance that came his way as he took the opening frame with a break of 57.
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