Ronnie O’Sullivan won the Snooker World Championship for his seventh time last week.
The ‘Rocket’ claimed his championship title with an 18-13 win over Judd Trump. The 46-year-old now holds the record as the oldest Crucible championship winner.
But his triumph in the final came alongside some controversy as O’Sullivan received an official warning from the referee, Olivier Marteel, for making a gesture during the eighth frame of the final.
He denied the offence, telling Eurosport: "I just think he (Marteel) seems to be looking for trouble. I just get that vibe from the guy.
O’Sullivan’s clash with the referee during the final isn’t the first time the snooker star has made headlines for his behaviour.
Ronnie is well known for a string of controversies throughout his career, we’ve taken a look back on some of his most controversial moments to date.
Assaulting a press officer at the 1996 Embassy World Championships


One of O’Sullivan’s most notable controversial moments was when he assaulted a press officer during the 1996 Embassy World Championships.
It was alleged that the then 20-year-old snooker player physically assaulted the assistant press officer, Michael Ganley, after he was asked to remove a friend from the press room and an argument took place.
He admitted his involvement in the assault and was subsequently given a £30,000 fine and a two-year suspended ban.
Shortly before this, O’Sullivan also caused controversy after he played one frame left-handed against opponent Alain Robidoux.
Removing his shoes at the 2015 Betfred World Championships


One of the most amusing of his controversial incidents came during the 2015 Betfred World Championships.
Ronnie had a 4-2 lead over his opponent Craig Steadman when he complained that his shoes were hurting and promptly took them off.
He was told that he could not continue to play in his socks as he was in breach of the Crucible dress code.
"Has anyone got a size eight or nine?" he asked the crowd.
Fortunately, he was allowed to continue playing after tournament director Mike Ganley supplied him with some new shoes.
Walking out of the 2006 Maplin Championship


During the 2006 World Championship O’Sullivan simply decided he’d had enough and walked out of the event.
The player was down 4-1 in frames against Stephen Hendry when he confused fans by inexplicably deciding to concede the match.
He shook hands with both Hendry and the referee before walking out of the arena.
Reflecting on the walkout in 2020 O’Sullivan said: "I just was out there playing Hendry and thought "I'm not going to win this match, I'm not feeling it, I don't want to be here, I just want to get out of here," I shook his hand and off I went.
"I just wasn't in the right frame of mind at all. There was a lot of stuff going on in my head that was upsetting really. That could have happened three of four matches before Hendry."
Inappropriate comments during the 2008 China Open


During a press conference following his exit from the 2008 China Open, O’Sullivan was caught making a number of inappropriate and lewd comments while his questions and answers were being translated.
In defence of the incident, he said that he didn’t know that cameras were running or that his microphone was on.
As a result, he was ordered to pay back his prize money from the event and was also docked 700 ranking points.