I have to confess I took against Anthony McGill. The chief reason being that the first time I saw him he acted in a way, towards debutante Jamie Clarke, that I thought was tantamount to passive-aggressive bullying. The video above collects several incidents from that match into one compilation and asks ‘what went on’?
I think my dislike for McGill, at that juncture, had very valid roots. But, shameful as it is to admit such churlish traits, I think I also disliked his Scottishness, his ginger-ness, his pallor, looks, demeanour, even his choice of a Smiths track as his walk on ‘choon’. And then, later on (in his career, not the above mentioned match!) with baldness encroaching, he shaved his hair.*
[* It’s a pet peeve of mine that we’re living in an era – I call it Toryland – that is, to my mind, undergoing neo-fascist levels of anti-intellectual crassness and dumbing down. To me such things as gambling, tattoos, and the prevalence of the skinhead look are all parts of this.]
Could it get any worse? Well, yes, it could: he could defeat two of my favourite players, Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski, in this years World Championship! Which he duly did.
But I have to concede that he may not be quite the pantomime villain my initial perceptions had him down as. First of all he’s a tremendously talented snooker player. And as a fan of this particular sport I can’t deny the skill and prowess he’s bringing to his game. Secondly, when I hear him talking – with my Babel-fish in-ear ‘Glaswegian to Sassenach’ switched on – he comes across pretty well. And, most importantly of all, he’s switched his entrance music to Lionel Ritchie’s Dancing On The Ceiling!
Anthony McGill, all is forgiven (like he gives a sh!t what I think!). But seriously, I was probably just being a lowdown fool, writing him off as I was (‘though I do think he acted a bit of a dick in the Jamie Clarke match). And I’m not too proud to admit the error of my ways.
I was glad to see Gary Wilson, another ginger slap-head, albeit one I warm to more than McGill (at least he’s not Scottish!), defeated by Mark Selby. Although in all honesty I’d rather Selby had beaten McGill, and Wilson had triumphed over Lisowski. But that’s obviously just in the realms of fantasy!
Selby came across, as he pretty much always does, as a very solid and affable chap, in his post match interview. My active dislike for McGill has thawed and mellowed. But I still vastly prefer Selby, both as a player and a human being. Judging from what I see on screen. Besides, I much prefer a Leicester accent to a Glaswegian one!
Both these matches were threatening, at times, to be rather one sided. McGill’s initial dominance over Lisowski was not too far from Higgins’ trouncing of poor old Kyren Wilson! But Jack fought back. And whilst Wilson was never really getting massacred, Selby won comfortably in the end, as did McGill.
A slightly strange evening of Snooker, for my money. Neither match really having that magical pizazz the sport can offer. And yet, for all that it was sometimes plodding and attritional – with more safety play than I generally like – it was still good sporting fun.