Why is Ronnie O’Sullivan speaking in an Australian accent?
O’Sullivan has taken social media by storm
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s off-table antics have grabbed the headlines once again this week, so why exactly is the five-time World Champion conducting interviews in an Australian accent?
O’Sullivan went viral on social media last week after a series of bizarre Instagram videos in which he spoke in an Aussie accent and emphasised his desire to gain ranking points by any means possible.
That then transcended into him keeping up the accent during his post-match interviews at the Coral Players Championship in Preston, with the continued theme of “ranking points”.
There have been numerous suggestions as to why ‘The Rocket’ has opted for this unusual approach, with one theory being a potential appearance on this year’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here series or perhaps a new series of his Hustle show – this time in Australia.
Others, meanwhile, believe it is a mockery of the current ranking system, which is based on prize money earnings as opposed to the traditional points system.
“I just dip into a bit of cockney, a bit of Australian and a bit of scouse,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport.
“I should have been an impersonator!
“I just feel totally positive, when you talk Aussie – they’re just winners and you’ve got to love a winner.
“Our English, we love a loser, so I just thought I’m fed up of being a loser so I’m going to talk like a winner.
“Get the Ashes won, mate!”
In a further interview with tournament sponsors Coral, he added: “I’m really looking forward to this series, you know, plenty of ranking points available.
“I’m going to try and get myself down to Gibraltar and try and nick a few there and see if there’s a little wildcard available for Beijing because there’s a few more rankers out there.
“It’s getting quite a busy part of the season and these ranking points are just so exciting, mate.
“Loads of ranking points up in Sheffield mate. I’ve still been looking on Amazon, I can’t find any on there.
“I’ve spoke to Jeff Bezos and he reckons he’s going to put a few up for sale. So I’m just waiting, I’m on that web quite a lot mate!” he continued.
O’Sullivan takes on top seed Mark Allen at the Preston Guild Hall on Saturday evening aiming to set up a show-down with his Aussie compatriot Neil Robertson in the final.
Live Snooker (@Livesnooker) March 2, 2019