Former world snooker champion John Higgins has been cleared of fixing matches, but has been fined £75,000 and banned from the sport he loves for six months. In May this year, Higgins was secretly filmed by the News of the World, agreeing to fix frames on purpose in Kiev.
The meeting had been set-up by Higgins manager Pat Mooney. However, the match-fixing allegation was thrown out, after investigators accepted Higgins explanation that he only agreed to the deal, because he was in a “intimidating atmosphere” and had no intention whatsoever of following the deed through.
As the Scot, world champion twice has been suspended from the sport since the allegations broke cover in the days leading up to the World Snooker Championship final in Sheffield, he is clear to play again from November onwards. Mooney has since resigned his position for his role in the scandal. After the two-day hearing, Higgins read out the following statement:
"This has been a traumatic time for me and those close to me." "I am pleased (it has been) concluded after a thorough investigation that I was not guilty of any dishonesty and had no intention of fixing a match and no intention of doing anything corrupt. "In November I will return to snooker with a stronger determination to succeed and I plan to hold up many trophies and the coming years."
There is no doubt that John Higgins has lost a load of fans and mutual respect from some of his closest friends in the game. However, his explanations seem valid and I hope he has learned his lessons from this scandal which is something that the sport simply didn’t need.
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