Ronnie O’Sullivan and Alan McManus react to Jimmy White clash with referee at Northern Ireland Open

Jimmy White clashed with referee Ben Williams during his second round defeat to Luca Brecel at the Northern Ireland Open, receiving a warning, but Ronnie O’Sullivan and Alan McManus were both sympathetic towards the Whirlwind.

White was beaten 4-0 by the Belgian and struggled to find any form at all on a frustrating afternoon for him in Belfast.

It was frustrations boiling over that saw him clash with Williams, after a seemingly innocuous incident in the fourth and final frame.

White was on a colour and Williams called out ‘blue ball’ before Jimmy corrected him by saying he had nominated the brown.

Realising his mistake, Williams declared brown and laughed at the error, clearly thinking that White would also see the funny side of it, but he didn’t.

The 60-year-old was not impressed, asking three times: ‘What’s funny about that?’ He then threw his hand in the air in frustration, which Williams took exception to.

Williams said: ‘Jimmy, I’m going to give you a warning, for sticking your finger up at me there. If you do anything further it will be the frame to your opponent.’

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>“What’s funny about that!?” ð¡ Ronnie O’Sullivan and Alan McManus give their thoughts on the heated incident between Jimmy White and the referee #NIOpen | @ronnieo147 | @AlanMac1990 pic.twitter.com/32PjNmmgFe

It was all very unnecessary, with the player showing frustration due to the match and the referee misjudging his reaction to his own mistake. In the majority of match situations, laughing it off would have been fine, but not this one. However, Jimmy undoubtedly overreacted.

Both O’Sullivan and McManus felt for White, though, and thought any problem could have been avoided by the referee simply correcting his mistake