Jimmy White: Whirlwind loses cool with referee during Northern Ireland Open

Jimmy White is one of the biggest names in the snooker world, becoming one of the best players in the sport during the 90s, although that major crown, the World Championships always eluded him.

The general consensus in snooker is that The Whirlwind is the best player of all time to not win the World Championships, with very few in disagreement, he’d certainly be a multiple world champ if it wasn’t for the dominant Stephen Hendry.

A former world number 2, White still competes on the tour at 60 years of age, but his best days are certainly behind him, but it’s great to see such a legend of the sport still put the time in to see what he can still achieve.

The Whirlwind was taking on The Belgian Bullet in the third round of the Northern Ireland Open, with the games played over a best of seven, so there’s little leeway in the match, you need to get off to a good start as it’ll be over sooner than you think.

Luca Brecel did just that, taking the opening frame with a century break, before taking the next two frames with half centuries, leaving White needing all four remaining frames to prevail.

It was far from vintage from The Whirlwind who was whitewashed, failing to make any sizeable breaks, with his best being a 36 in the second frame.

During the fourth and what was the final frame, White was the first to draw blood with an opening red, after assessing his options he walked around the table, and referee Ben Williams called ‘blue ball’.

White looked at him confused and said ‘brown’ so Williams quickly corrected himself, White appears to make a comment not picked up by the cameras, causing the referee to break out in laughter, but the player was far from impressed.

He turns around and faces Williams and says: “What’s so funny