BackSnooker star Neil Robertson was booed by fans at Alexandra Palace after making a jibe over the England cricket team's chastening 4-1 defeat to Australia in the Ashes. The Melbourne-born player beat Chris Wakelin 6-2 on Wednesday to make the Masters semi-finals. The 43-year-old then made the cheeky comment as he was interviewed after the contest with Wakelin.
Robertson said: "With Australia winning the Ashes I didn't know if I was going to get booed or cheered coming down the stairs." The Ally Pally fans then turned hostile by booing Robertson, with one disgruntled fan even audibly yelling "f**k you" to Robertson. The Aussie snooker ace then quipped: "There we go," while laughing it off.
Robertson also sparked fan fury by ribbing England fans at the UK Championship back in December by making yet another cricket-related gesture. He decided to poke fun at England's struggles as he made his way to the table for his match against Judd Trump.
As he walked on, Robertson pretended to hit cricket shots with his snooker case. The gesture was met by a chorus of boos, which left Robertson laughing. He then exchanged words with referee Ben Williams, saying: "I was not going to do it. I nearly didn’t do it."
Speaking of that playful gesture in the aftermath of his Masters quarter-final win, he added: "In the semis in York when I came down I started doing my batting technique and I thought, 'I better not do that here.'"
There was a delay at the start of the match in York and it emerged that neither player had been given towels. Neal Foulds, commentating for TNT Sports, joked that Robertson shouldn't have been given one after mocking England's woeful performance Down Under.
"I would not have given a towel to Neil Robertson anyway after that walk-on where he mocked English cricket, I think," said Foulds. "I would have left him with no towel, no drink, nothing."
Despite his status as pantomime villain, Robertson made sure to commend the Ally Pally crowd after his victory over Wakelin. "I can't thank you guys enough, a brilliant atmosphere," he said. "This is the best event in terms of the atmosphere that we play in, yeah, awesome."
He added: "I think a lot of players would share the same sentiment. I mean, it's an amazing arena and the crowds are always brilliant every single time. It's packed out for every match so if you can't get inspired by this then you're probably doing the wrong thing. I'm really privileged enough to do this for so long and I can't thank the crowd enough."
He will now take on Kyren Wilson on Friday evening. Speaking on his semi-final with Wilson, he said: "It's a one table set up, you just have to go out and play your game and hope it's good enough."
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