Shaun Murphy is campaigning for a snooker rule change in an effort to accelerate the pace of play and prevent frames from exceeding the 100-minute mark, a position that has won firm backing from Steve Davis. The World Snooker Championship witnessed Mark Allen and Wu Yize battle through the longest frame in the sport's history during their semi-final, which clocked in at 100 minutes and 21 seconds.
Davis calls frame an 'embarrassment'
At the time, six-time world champion Steve Davis delivered a damning assessment on the BBC: "In a nutshell, that frame is an embarrassment to snooker, and the referees' and the players' association need to try to work out a way so that never happens again." The previous record stood at 85 minutes, set by Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao in 2022.
Murphy's proposed solution
Murphy is calling for frames to be capped at 900 seconds and wants snooker to adopt the format being used at Friday's inaugural Global Snooker 900 Championship in Reading, where frames last no longer than 15 minutes. The event also introduces a 30-second shot clock and a spotted cue ball so spectators can clearly observe the spin and side applied on each shot.
"I've been a fan of the 900 since its inception," Murphy said. "It's very close to the rules that I'd like to see brought into normal snooker. With the spotted cue ball and the shot clock. A ball in hand is something I'm a fan of. I've been campaigning for that for many, many years. So I'm quite excited to try it."
He added: "I feel like it's a much more rounded version of the Shoot Out, which I really enjoy. It's a new version of the game and it's very popular. I've been clear. I'd like to see it in all forms of snooker. I'd like to see that in all tournaments, including the Crucible. With a ball in hand and a shot clock, you certainly wouldn't have had the ridiculousness of the 100-minute frame that we had in the semifinals."
Support from Hendry
Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry was equally scathing about the incident during the Allen versus Wu match, taking aim at referee Marcel Eckardt's management of the situation. He said: "The referee needs to call this, I'm afraid. In my opinion, he should have called it a while ago. This is the dark side of snooker."
Murphy continued: "It would just take that away. I don't think anybody enjoyed that. Least of all Mark Allen and Wu Yize, who were taking part in it. Steve Davis called it a farce. I just think that's the best advert for bringing in these types of things. I've been saying this for years, since the Premier League days of shot clocks. I think it would be fantastic to see. It'd stop that deliberate foul that all pros play. I don't like professional fouls. I don't like the bending of the rules. I'd rather see players rewarded for aggressive play, attacking play, playing to win rather than playing not to lose."
Murphy's near miss at World Championship
Murphy's appearance at the Global Snooker 900 Championship comes just weeks after agonisingly falling short of the World Championship title, going down 18-17 to Wu. He still walked away with £200,000 in prize money. "It was a wonderful two weeks. It was a great season, one of my best seasons," the 43-year-old admitted. "And I came within a frame of snooker of it being the absolute icing on the cake, winning the second world title. The icing of my career. It's the closest I've ever been since winning in 2005. I'd been in three further finals. I do like to go back to it - the air crash investigation is how I always describe it. Try and work out where it went wrong. It's the best I've ever played there and lost. So I can't be too hard on myself. I can't be too critical of myself."
