Shaun Murphy has admitted that he remains confused by BBC commentator Dennis Taylor’s comments about Zhao Xintong during the World Championship. An extremely awkward moment between the snooker star and broadcaster went viral during the final at the weekend.
Murphy, who was on co-commentary, bluntly shot down Taylor after he suggested that he had friends who had never seen Zhao play and were shocked by his talent. “They must be fairly new to the game then, Dennis, because we’re watching a former UK champion here,” Murphy responded. Taylor remarked: “They don’t live in the UK, Shaun, that’s what I was saying.”
Footage of the conversation, which was followed by silence from both men, was shared widely on social media. Murphy has now revealed that he discussed the comments with Taylor off-air, but is still confused by what was meant. The 42-year-old pointed out that the UK Championship, as well as other tournaments Zhao has won, are watched all over the world.
“I still don’t understand what the thing was. I don’t know. Sometimes you wonder whether some of these things are lost in translation a little bit, between generations. I don’t know if it was just a little throwaway funny line that Dennis thought he was saying,” Murphy told the OneFourSeven Snooker Podcast.
“I don’t know if it just got missed, but I didn’t really understand what he meant. I did say that to him off-mic between frames because he [brought it up]. I said, ‘Sorry, I didn’t really understand what you were trying to say. Xintong won the German Masters and the UK Championship [three] and [four] years ago’. The UK Championship, this isn’t 1984, it gets watched in almost every single country around the world.
“Last year, we had over a billion eyeballs on snooker throughout the season. A sixth or a seventh of the planet watched snooker at some stage last season. These might just be things that Dennis isn’t aware of, and other people of his vintage, they’re not aware of… I don’t know. But I just didn’t really understand, I didn’t get it.”
Murphy went on to explain that commentators claiming to know nothing about a player is his broadcasting pet peeve. However, the 2005 world champion does not believe Taylor was leaning into the narrative.
He continued: “I remember before I got involved in broadcasting, you’d hear certain people on certain channels making mistakes and saying things that were just incorrect. The one that gets me is when a commentator says, ‘Oh, I haven’t seen much of this player, I don’t really know anything about this player’. And they wear it like a badge of honour.
“They say it as if it’s a good thing. It’s not a good thing because it makes it look like you’re turning up, taking your wages and then leaving. You’re not putting any effort in. I’ve pulled up a couple of my co-commentators in the past because it’s not a good look. Even if you haven’t seen this player, don’t say it. Don’t tell the world that you can’t be bothered to do your job.
“That wasn’t the thing with Dennis. I still don’t understand how that blew up as big as it did. There was a little ruffle of a laugh that went round The Crucible, which is why I went quiet.
“Dennis is a friend of mine, it’s no axe to grind with Dennis. Dennis and I, we haven’t fallen out. There was no exchange of words. I think it was meant to be funny, but wasn’t funny. It’s not the first time Dennis has told a joke that wasn’t funny!”