🤣 Pay for play, newspaper sting, Russian mafia and feared for his life, now he knew all about it? Man on the grassy knoll anyone? Pick a lie and stick with it.
No he doesn't, he's more scared about hiding the 300,000 Euro's form the tax man, absolute nonsense he walked away with a £75,000 fine and 6 month ban!
I don't agree, and I say that as someone who fervently believed he should be banned for life. I think he does indeed look sacred. I think he's doing his best to appease the perpetrator of the scam, making sure it all goes without a hitch. I also believe he's half-cut and out of his depth entirely. Someone got him into this.
@@mikamusic4503 Bollocks. He is volunteering how to cheat. How would an honest individual even get into this scenario, to arrange a meeting with his manager. An honest player would have run a mile.
It's actually mind boggling he wasn't banned for life. It makes no sense other than there being even more corrupt figures behind the scene to allow him to continue playing.
This was the day that snooker died as a credible sport. To let him off Scot-Free was the worst decision ever made for snooker and everytime he plays the crowd and TV audience must be thinking to themselves I wonder if this match is being thrown for cash. A seriously dodgy character.
@@phlhoran12396 Most reasonable people would have to acknowledge that the reason that the game is embroiled in a string of match fixing allegations currently was simply because of the John Higgins factor. The ruling body protected him and now will have to protect all of the others caught or no sponsor worth their salt would ever put money up for the sport ever again. It is now a Pariah sport.
Plus when John starts giving examples of how they can launder the money, like through playing off a mortgage on his Spanish property, that's not looking to "get out of there as quickly as possible". He's genuinely in to the scam.
@Dean Wayne wayne I get what you mean. Thing is John was world champion not long before this came out, snooker can't ban their world champion it would destroy their credibility and integrity. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't fuck with the mafia either I'm just not convinced that was the case here at all.
@@boomxhaka-saka7711 Doesn't cheat anymore, so doesn't matter and he could really just been pressured. I would act the same way if I were, even if I weren't interested of cheating for real.
bochum123123 from 5 frames up to just 2. He needs the momentum to change immediately. Regardless of who wins or loses, I'm convinced that Higgins didn't get banned for match fixing because he has too much status. It would have been the same with a guy like O'Sullivan
His defense was that he was afraid and would have said anything to get out of the room. He was far too active and engaged in the conversation for me, he even suggested how to swallow the money through laundering using his property in Spain. Lifetime ban in my opinion.
This is an edited version of the video by News of the World which clearly doesn’t show everything in its original context. Maybe if you watched the original unedited video which the tribunal did, you could see the context for what it was. They did, and it showed he wasn’t complicit as this video clearly is framed to do. So unfortunately, your opinion is uninformed as you haven’t seen the full video, neither have I, but I wouldn’t condemn someone to be banned for life because of a video the news of the world have put together!
@@hystericalwolf it was a sting by a newspaper if they'd have put pressure on Higgins and made him fearful, it would have been a criminal offence and he could have sued them for millions as well as criminal proceedings.
Dear anyone who defends Higgins actions: He is a fully grown man with a working brain, and several time world champion in snooker. He was literally caught on video sitting very comfortably explaining exactly how he can deliberately lose frames and how the money can be illegally given to him in various ways through his properties in Spain. He even laughs to himself at one point. He then didn't report any of this until the papers released the story. And he just gets a 6 month ban. The policeman investigating cleared him on the grounds that Higgins didn't know what was happening until he went in that room and just played along. It stinks. Shame on you and everyone else for saying he didn't do anything wrong. The video is right there for the watching. He shakes hands and has a drink to celebrate.
Hi John, you posted a comment about a year ago about John Higgins and match fixing, I read your long comment from start to finish, it was superb, you covered all aspects, I am now currently in a so called debate with a guy who is saying Higgins did nothing wrong. I would so love to forward him your post because I feel if he was to read it start to finish he wouldn’t have an argument or a leg to stand on. I wouldn’t post it without you permission first, if you don’t agree and say no then I 100% would respect your decision, I just feel your comment would shut this guy up once and for all. Having said that Higgins has an immense talent on a snooker table but what he did in my eyes was inexcusable.
I've said all along he should have been banned for life did you listen to the bull shit he can up with as a defence he thought they were Russian gangsters and he feared for his life he didn't look that scared when they started to talk about money
Well said. He gives me the impression that he knows that too but still shamefully turns up to play. No morals. He should be booed. All cheaters and liars should be booed into oblivion.
Unfortunately sports fans have short memories. Everyone cheers and applauds him like he's some Saint again, whilst all I'm ever thinking is he's a filthy cheat who should have been banned for life from the sport.
How did this guy ever get to play snooker at world championship level after this...... Don’t tell me he was scared, he went to the hotel and spoke in a relaxed manner, under what coercion did he attend that meeting. It beggars belief. I feel very uncomfortable every time I see him at the table and I’m sure he feels the same.......shame on him and the body that cleared him........
Sadly I have to agree with you. Not only doesn't he appear to not feel threatened as he claimed, he's fully engrossed and offering suggestions of how to get the logistics to work. I can't fathom the ruling they came to.
You don't need to be an expert in body language to tell John feels nice and relaxed here, openly discussing and making suggestions as to how to get paid. Disgusting that he wasn't banned for life. Match fixing is the worst thing you can do as a professional sportsperson. The worst thing for me is that, you just know if this was a player outside the top 16, they'd have been banned for life, no questions asked blah blah blah, but because it's Saint Higgins of Wishaw, former world champion, he gets a 6 month slap on the wrist. A complete JOKE.
Look at JH body language when he's talking about the property in Spain, its like he's getting a BJ on a beach, I'm not a body language expert but this guy claimed to be threatened and scared. 😂
Doesn't cheat anymore, so doesn't matter and he could really just been pressured. I would act the same way if I were, even if I weren't interested of cheating for real.
Claimed he was afraid. I'd probably claim the same when I'd been blatantly caught. It's so sad because he's actually such an amazing player, as much as I dislike him. It doesn't even make me angry, just sad
Disgraceful to think he's still on the circuit. Looks v happy to me n certainly not threatened. Snooker is a gentleman's game n he ain't no gentleman. Chiggins is a cheat.
Claimed after he felt threatened and went along with it because his business partner Mooney, who was later banned for life from Snooker, told him to do it. Should have got a five year ban minimum.
As a Scot who grew up in the late 90’s/ early 00’s, John Higgins was somewhat of a hero to me growing up. And to see him engaging in this kind of behaviour is extremely disappointing. I agree with the general opinion that he should’ve been banned for life.
He must be well in with the ruling body as they leapt to his defence. There's far more clear-cut proof in that meeting than any other fixing case yet Mr Big slapped him on the wrist - that is equally corrupt. What an insult to fans of the great game, supposedly a gentleman's game.
That BBC announcer on floor who does these unearned stupid nicknames should do this one for the accused & guilty: "lets have a big welcome for John 'The Rigged' Higgins!" Well bit corny I know.
Yea, one guy in the audience shouted, " How do you swallow a hundred thousand John???" the ref asked for him to be ejected when really he should have been applauded. Almost like the guilty being protected. Sickening.
Back in a final again and this still hurts over ten years on. I liked JH before all this, would love to know how he is viewed by the pros on the circuit.
i'll bet this is more common than you think and pros don't give a shit. Higgins (or player x) is giving away frames. in their mind, all the better for them. i'm a bit of a cynic, as you can see.
@@lonemountain3049 and 2 years on he made a match winning clearance against Allen to win 13-12, absolutely sickened me to read about. I'm just glad I didn't see it. Higgins is a disgrace, but snooker fans have short term memories and applaud him like he's the Saint of Wishaw. Real people know the truth.
HOW IS THIS MAN COMPETING ON TODAYS CIRCUIT?HE LITERALLY GOT LET OFF SCOT-FREE! NOT ONLY THAT HE TARNISHED NEIL ROBERTSONS TOP MOMENT OF GLORY AT THE CRUCIBLE.
scambodia147 Sullivan is an arrogant over the top player, who once commented nowadays: when you go out for a formula 1 race you see beautiful people all over the place, but when you heading for snooker match you only meet with the ugly once.
B guilty of conspiracy to match fix. In law, conspiracy to murder can carry as much jail time as murder. You’ll get extra years if you actually succeed, mainly because you have grieving relatives to appease. Nonetheless, conspiracy to match fix makes you a cheat in my book. You can’t be caught in the Louvre stealing a painting and say “well, you caught me, so I’m not a theif”
Lee got a lengthy ban cos they had evidence of illegal money going into accounts. In John's case they have no such evidence of him receiving illegal monies.
The fact is that this shows clear intent. He didn’t report that he was “scared”, and had this video not been aired by the media, he would have followed through on said intent
risking his entire career for a measly 300K. It's crazy what greed does to people. The corruption continued when he wasn't banned for life afterwards too
Also, why did the NOTW specifically target Higgins, of all players? Did they think 'let's go to all the effort of randomly setting up a player and see what happens'.. no, there's no smoke without fire and the newspaper must've had a credible source that Higgins was bent.
you could be right there no point in setting up a player that you have no idea what will happen but as you say must have had some previous knoledge of higgins aggreeing to fix a match
@@davidstubbs08 in Ronnie's book he talks of being approached to fix matches but obviously would never do it but he said the temptation to do it for players not at the very top would be hard to resist. But Higgins is at the top of yhe game . I don't know how he explained his way out of this as he's bang to rights
Always been a Higgins fan but watching this again after not really paying attention too much when story just broke, it's obvious hes guilty, said he's scared but he's the one putting forward he has a place in spain and they could remortgage that and pay oof in a lump sum with the dirty money, if he was scared and just going along and had no intention of following through with this scheme then he wouldn't start giving details of properties he owns and how to launder the money to people hes apparently terrified of, if it had been a lesser known name like what happened to stephen lee he would be banned for life
I know people say that Stephen Lee actually did and and Higgins didn't but the intent is clearly there and the deal toasted. A 6 month ban for Higgins was an utter disgrace, especially when you look at the 12 YEARS that lee was handed. Higgins shouldn't have been allowed to play professionally again.
@Daniel B More doubt with higgins, because they couldn't actually find a match where it was obvious he was match fixing. Stephen lee had multiple frames where it was obvious that he was match fixing. Beyond a reasonable doubt.
@@thebenevolentsun6575 He should have been invited to take a Polygraph Test by an expert and when he refused he should have been banned for life and had all of his titles wiped from the history books.
@@thebenevolentsun6575 This is a common misapprehension. They are highly accurate when they are administered by an expert. Especially, with pathological liars. They are commonly used in business and by law enforcement all around the world to monitor parolees and polygraphs are so effective that parolees will often walk back into jail voluntarily rather than take a polygraph examination by an expert which if they take the test which confirms they lied they would get an increased sanction. The beauty of the Polygraph Test by an expert is there is nothing to prevent Higgins taking it now as the passage of time has no bearing on the truth. Let's see if he volunteers to take a Polygraph Test by an expert.
The problem for me is that every time Higgins speaks, he had the option of not speaking. I want to like him still, I like how he plays the game and other than this scandal he seems a likable man. But come on…
I would act the same way if I were pressured by some people, even if I weren't interested of cheating for real. He looks pretty nervous like he didn't really like where the things were going.
Should have got a life ban. This incident alone turned me off snooker. You wanna clean sport, get real about the penalties!!! Snooker is a joke hence the Chinese player scandals in 2022. Most sports with big money are corrupt.
Ah, so this is why John Higgins seems so "humble" nowadays. He's ashamed, and he's afraid for his future in snooker. I felt sorry for him when Mark Williams crushed him in the worlds, but no more.
He’ll know he’s been on the take. Like many of you I can’t wish him well in matches since he did this, it’s not misguided or fear for me, just him taking a bribe.
I never bothered to watch this back when the story originally broke but I figured it wasn't as blatant as this. Now I can't believe the guy is still allowed to play snooker professionally! He's sitting there talking about how easy it is to lose and ways to cover up the money they're going to pay him...jeez. I guess other players know they can take at least 1 frame off the number they need to win when they play him anyway if he's so willing to throw.
Yup, snooker lost integrity because WPBSA failed to punish him fairly v Stephen Lee. Compare this shady setting to Sam Allardyce in football, same parallels as far as I'm concerned. Allerdyce was axed within hours!! Higgins fan boys just don't get the critical importance of integrity.
@@CosmicKnight369 If he was prepared to enter into a match-fixing meeting what is to say he hasn't already been cheating for other match-fixing gangsters before this meeting. Maybe thats why it was covered up because the reality is even more serious. Maybe the full details would have ended snooker overnight.
How can people say he was innocent,when it's hitting them in the face what he has said,pay off his villa..he should never be allowed to play snooker again..pure cheat, simple...
Once a cheat always a cheat, this Higgins bloke should been banned for life, he knew perfectly well what he was doing, can't stand the bloke now, mud sticks sorry
The snooker authorities may not have banned him but the paying public could “ban” him in their own way. If every single time he played a shot every member of the audience stood up and boo’d him he would soon have no option other than to quit. The fact that members of the audience will be sitting in the Crucible theatre today applauding him is quite sickening.
I exercised my right to refuse to watch him play ever again. I've never spent money to spectate snooker since. My love of the game diminished significantly as a result of this episode and the failure of WPBSA applying fair justice. I couldn't care less if professional snooker died such is the strength of my feeling about cheats in any sport.
I don't get how a man as talented and successful as John Higgins (who has made over 8 million pounds in prize money) can swallow all of his pride and agree to a matchfixing deal over a few hundred thousand pounds. A man as rich as him, is he really that greedy?
Worth remembering that Mooney was Higgins’ business partner and not, as conveniently portrayed, his manager. They were, and had been, setting up ‘World Series’ events to fill gaps in the woefully sparse Pro Snooker calendar. Interesting this took place within a couple of days of Higgins losing to Davis in the WC, an eventuality that nobody could have conceivably forecast. The Russian meeting was certainly hastily arranged or, more likely, was arranged ahead of time all along. No disrespect to Steve Davis of course ! A very unpleasant chapter and one that Higgins was fortunate to escape from. The expression ‘thrown under a bus’ could have been written for Pat Mooney. Would love to hear his thoughts.
ronnie osullivan always quotes john higgins in high regard has he not seen this tape? in my view john higgins should not play professional snooker again and also his previous losses should be looked into! as in other sports
@@gordonm6108 whilst i agree he is without doubt one of the all time greats, i just wish the tape didnt exist! enjoy the snooker today its gonna be epic.
Why has this whole episode been erased from snooker? By the standards applied to others John Higgins should have got either a life ban or at least a very long suspension. To even mention Higgins in relation to corruption in snooker is somehow seen as being taboo. All very strange indeed.
Lots of snooker fans turned their backs on snooker with this one single bad decision by the WPBSA, fellow players are equally guilty if they choose to back corruption within the game, regardless of what the WPBSA decide. How can anybody take the game seriously after that level of corruption.
you sir are spot on, and as someone who was a big fan and player myself since the late 60's, this left a bad taste in my mouth that has never gone away.
You can understand Lee fixing matches as he was never going to be world champ and earned half of what higgins did. But for John to fix doesnt make any sense he was in prime of his career earning over half a million quid every year.
So because Lee wasn't good enough to win money on his own you can understand it? That's very backwards thinking. If I was a bad salesman who couldn't sell you a car so decided to steal your money in order to get by, would you say the same? Because its the same thing.
@@steviegbcool That is literally the meaning of condoning his actions, to accept something even reluctantly. Learn basic English before calling other people simple.
Especially when you look at the recent issues with chinese players getting suspensions. Sickens me... How can Barry have the nerve to allow John Higgins to play... But try to make an example of other players... Corruption... Protect their own..
For some time now,I have been more than puzzled as to how John Higgins has been allowed to continue playing snooker. Have his fellow professionals taken a vow of silence. No-one seems to have a bad word for him. One commentator even said that Higgins was a great ambassador for snooker and one of the finest,"sportsmen", ever to come from Scotland. What an absolute joke. He has tarnished this truly wonderful SPORT.
The only wa y I can possible is if , in fact, they _were_ p[laying along and DID report this.. but I don't know this beyond well seeing it now.. I think I might have seen this years ago and forgot about it, but unless the scenario I justmentioend then yes, it's a disgrace he ever played again.
I see your point but it would have been a very dangerous thing to do.If they were trying to expose match fixing by reporting this scenario asap they truly are a pair of Muppets. The correct way would have been to inform the authorities AND the Fraud Squad, BEFORE the interview took place. Total greed and stupidity. I watched the World snooker final on May 7th specifically in the hope that Higgins would get his arse kicked. My dream was realised when Mark Williams beat him. Well done Mr Williams ....a true sportsman.
This always breaks my heart to watch. John Higgins is one of the best players in the history of the game and he does sth like this, Idk the whole story behind it but he seems to be agreeing with everything that’s thrown at him and he’s making suggestions and all that. Ronnie o Sullivan is the greatest snooker player that will ever live, and Everytime you see someone ask him about other snooker players he always brings up the likes of mark williams, mark selby from time to time. He never forgets to mention johns name and the amount of respect he has for him, I wonder what Ronnie thinks of all this. Well he wouldn’t even care really
Last night in the home nations game when Higgins missed that red, I knew he was going to miss & then lose the game. Snooker has died for me :(…& the fake emotion after the game…please wake up people!
Certainly makes you think ! Bearing in mind this meeting took place during the WC. An event JH would conceivably have been expected to be involved in until the final. Having lost to Davis, no end of season family vacation. Instead, an obviously hastily arranged meeting in Russia. A very dark chapter indeed.
@@maxpaddy100 in no way do I think it’s a chapter that is over. Two consistencies, last night, another nail biting final frame decider in the final, what another!?! Haha & then the clear as day missed positions & crucial ball by Higgins. I’ve watched Snooker all my life but today it’s a joke how fixed it is…maybe it always was but with the increasing betting side of things it’s just not fun to watch anymore.
He's clearly taken bribes prior to this meeting. Theres no way the WPSBA conducted a thorough investigation on this case, if they had of done Higgins could have faced jail time. They wanted to make the public believe that the very top players couldn't possibly do these things and that snooker is clean and non-corrupt. However, we as humans know the real story. Sadly its the game of snooker that has been permanently damaged as a result.
He could've been forced into this match fix bollocks for all we know? ....but for me bringing villa mortgages into the chat made me think it was it legit. Hard lines John boy for getting busted but all I can say now ..... 1 rule for 1 and 1 rule for another 👀
For someone who is "scared" he's full of fuckin ideas on payments and assuring this guy of the possibility of missing and looking credible. And who the fuck would "play along" with a stranger, with Higgins stature in the snooker community, when being cojoeled into throwing frames?!?! BULLSHIT!! You're not going to risk your career and play along with this business. That's utter horseshit! Why would someone like Higgins have to even be in a room with sponsors that would even possibly bring up that topic?? Someone was bribed...and I'm sure it was not only Higgins, but someone in the governing body of professional snooker.
The guy didn’t sound Russian and if they were that scared they wouldn’t have pushed for €300k instead of the €200k he said first. His charge was not reporting it to the governing body. GUILTY!!
The chineese players have been banned for life and others have 5 year bans, yet this guy caught on film blatanly fixing matches got a 6 month ban !! And the reigning world champion to boot.....what a disgrace !
He’s an horrible little man , he’s beating kiron Wilson as I’m texting this 12-2 , the horror got no shame, he should be booed every single shot he will then crawl back under Scottish stone forever, once a cheat always a dam cheat 👺
"there's no camera's here lol" now you don't say that for nothing!! He new something shady was going on, he was more worried about getting rid of the 300,000 Euro's form the tax man, mortgages on homes abroad!
The full video was witnessed by the Police Detective on the case. From that, he was able to come to the conclusion that Higgins' only crime was failing to report the approach, which is exactly what he was banned for. People have to remember this sting was set up by the News of the World, a paper so desperate to sell newspapers they once hacked a dead girl's phone for a story. The facts are there, there is zero evidence of Higgins fixing any matches before this video came out and zero evidence of it afterwards either. People who fix matches tend to do it regularly, eg, Stephen Lee or Cao Yupeng.
This video is forever his kids and grandchildren will be proud to know he is a greedy match fixer, only the muppets on the BBC commentary dripple over him but the rest of us know he will go to the grave knowing he arranged to throw 4 frames for 300 thousand Euros....By the way his manager got a lifetime ban from any involvement in snooker.
