Ronnie O’Sullivan calls for female referees and umpires to stick to women’s sports after Serena Williams row
Snooker legend 'Rocket' believes a female umpire would have understood better how Williams was thinking during her U.S. Open rant at male official Carlos Ramos
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN reckons women referees and umpires should stick to women’s sport.
Superstar Serena Williams claimed sexism is rife in tennis following a row with male umpire Carlos Ramos during last week’s US Open final.
While ‘The Rocket’ had no complaints about Chinese ref Peggy Li after his Shanghai Masters semi-final victory yesterday, the five-time world champ said: “Female referees are very good but maybe females should referee female matches because they understand how a woman thinks.”
But O’Sullivan, 42, who beat Kyren Wilson 10-6, added: “Maybe men should just referee men’s matches because they know how men think.
“This was what I was thinking when Serena Williams was playing.
“Men and women are different. They think differently. And men don’t really understand women.
“If a woman was refereeing another woman then she can go: ‘Oh, I can understand maybe how she is feeling’.”
A World Snooker spokesman said: “Many excellent female referees have taken charge of matches at the very highest level. We have more than 10 top referees across the World Snooker Tour.”
