Masters champion Shaun Murphy isn't the first snooker player to complain about toilet breaks during matches. Murphy, 42, recently lambasted what he described as an "epidemic" of tactical breaks in the game, bringing up memories of Graeme Dott's fiery outburst against Davis back in the day. Murphy was furious with an unnamed rival at the German Masters, who allegedly had the nerve to take two toilet breaks during their match after the first and fifth frames.
He's not alone in this grievance as Dott once famously branded Davis' frequent comfort breaks and slow play as "scandalous", even suggesting it bordered on cheating. Dott's verbal rampage proceeded a 10-6 Crucible defeat in 2000. Fast forward to the present day and Murphy went on a similar rant to the 2006 World Champion. In 2000, an angry Dott said: "It was scandalous, bordering on cheating. I couldn't believe how slowly Steve was playing. It was beyond belief.
"He crawled round the table and went to the toilet after every frame. I shouldn't have let it get to me, but I did. I think he was totally out of order.". At the time, an amused Davis responded to Dott's insinuation and said: "The only reason I go to the toilet is to empty my bladder. I drink a lot more water these days because I used to just sip it, and that leaves you dehydrated. I don't do it to put someone off. But it's marvellous if he thinks I'm doing that.".
Murphy's recent tirade had echoes of Dott's fury all those years ago. Speaking on the 147 podcast, Murphy said: "Toilet breaks. We have to talk about the epidemic of toilet breaks that are spoiling snooker action. It is now getting ridiculous, guys. It is getting totally out of hand. It is ridiculous how many times players are leaving the arena to go to the loo. "And here's where it gets spicy, because most of these exits from the arena have got nothing to do with players needing to go for a wee, it's good old-fashioned gamesmanship. My opponent last week went to the toilet after the first frame of the match, then after the fifth frame after the interval.
"You've had 20-odd minutes to be ready to play. What's going on? It's getting ridiculous. It's a joke. I think it's ruining the game, I've got to be honest, I think it's one of the biggest blights on our sport.". The 'Magician' also highlighted how such behaviour would be unacceptable in other industries, including musical theatre, saying: "I go to the theatre quite a lot. "Imagine if you went to see a show and 15 minutes in, the lead said: 'Sorry guys, I'm just going to nip off'. It can't happen in any other form of entertainment. It's totally ridiculous!".
