There was no handshake between Mark Williams and Darren Morgan on Tuesday afternoon. Though, that was no surprise.
Williams had just beaten Mark King in the opening round of the Welsh Open. Post-match, Williams stepped into the BBC Wales studio to speak about the win. Seated next to the world number six was Morgan. The 51-year-old is working as an analyst for the tournament.
Earlier in the week, Morgan had referred to Williams as a "bully" and a "keyboard warrior". This was due to Williams bemoaning Morgan receiving a wildcard for the Welsh Open rather than Welsh teenager Jackson Page. That was despite Morgan securing a wildcard by beating Page in the Robert Harrhy Memorial tournament last month.
"I know he's fighting Jackson's corner but he's a total joke," Morgan told BBC Wales on Monday. "And it's quite disappointing to us."
He's saying things, trying to get me chucked out of the event saying Jackson should be in it. At the end of the day, I won a tournament and I'm ranked number one in the men's [Welsh] rankings. It isn't my fault.
I've been trying to get to this Welsh Open for the last four years.
So why Mark decided then get on his high horse when I beat Jackson in the final is beyond me really.
He thinks it's a bit of banter but there's consequences to everything people do and say... but where he thinks it's banter, to a lot of people it's cyberbullying... he is abusing his position.
He's a bully. He's a keyboard warrior... but he gets away with it.
Morgan lost out to fellow Welsh man Rhydian Richards in a pre-qualifier match. Earlier this month, that was a tie which at which Williams had laughed. It was the type of "cyberbullying" to which Morgan had referred.
Morgan v Richards in the welsh, tha should bring the crowds in 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀
— MARK WILLIAMS M.B.E (@markwil147) February 13, 2018
This was what led to the frosty atmosphere in the BBC studio on Tuesday. Not a word was said between Morgan and Williams during their time together on camera.
Williams also refused to comment on Morgan calling him a bully. That was despite the best efforts of presenter Ian Hunt.
On Monday, via Twitter, Williams did have a few words to say about Morgan. When asked by on Twitter user, "Who, the fuck, is Darren Morgan?" Williams responded: "I think he was tha fella who used to impersonate a snooker player about 30 years ago."
Williams campaigning for 16-year-old Jackson Page to receive a wildcard did work out in the end. Following the withdrawal of Joe Swail, Page got the call. He is now in the second round of the tournament.
