Stuart Bingham Chats With Mark White of Taom Time

Stuart Bingham, World Champion Snooker Player, Joins Taom Time’s Mark White in a brilliant talk about some of his adventures!

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] hi guys and welcome welcome to town time with me Mark White and with me today is the 2015 World Snooker Champion Stuart ball run Bingham hi Stuart how you doing mate morning you all right yeah I’m great morning for you of course you’re in Essex and I’m here in Thailand I want to start by asking you Stuart who gave you the nickname ball run and where did where what’s the origin of it um many many moons ago uh when I was at B Snoop Club um there was a lad up there who who was the best player in the club guy called Rob John and um he went away for about six months and in that space of six months obviously I become the be best player in the club and then we end end up having a couple of money matches um which I can’t even remember I think I won and uh obviously had a lot of form that’s what the nickname is about a lot of run a lot of uh lucky shots and things like that so um yeah he end up calling me ball run and it’s stuck ever since do you know how how strange is that because I actually thought it was because you ran so many balls you know made so many clearances never missed but it means you’re lucky a I I used to smash the balls around and just go for everything uh obviously as I’ve improved obviously try and work out what what the balls actually try and do and it’s it’s a totally different game it’s sort of I feel like I don’t get any run anymore but you do obviously you do every now and then but obviously the thing is with a commentator as soon as you get one bit of luck that’s it oh here we go ball run so I end up purchasing the um the number plate ba11 run n uh last July so I’ve got that on the car now so yeah all good what car what car did you drive while we’re on the subject uh I’m an Audi fan so I’ve got a I’ve got a kids bus a Q7 so I’m up and down the M where it’s comfortable and and all that so uh yeah I’ve had I know five or six aies over the years so big fan yeah yeah I thought you’d be a German car kind of guy I was going to guess either MC I was going to say MK actually if I’m honest yeah so 48 years old it all started back in Essex now I can remember meeting you I think you would have been about I don’t know 14 years old I’m guessing at a proam it was either in chelsford or witam snooker Center I can’t remember which one it was how old were you in like 1980 n early 90s how how old were you then um I didn’t start playing until 1990 so it must have been someone else but no it was definitely you yeah yeah know I was I was four just before my 14th birthday I started but I had hair at the time so even though I was about 18 19 I looked about 14 so I used to get used to still get on the buses off price and things like that because I always used to think you looked a little bit like Stuart pman you did you used to have the curtain here no never no I just just a oh I must have been getting you mixed up with somebody else and perhaps it was Stuart pman I’m I’m mixing you up with another cast 92 of course yeah no obviously uh wh days you say when you said that you may probably CH or Wham used to playing them like I say I must have been I must have been about 16 because I think my first ever tour and I entered outside the club was a 16 and under event and I was 16 so um so yeah May been 16 17 it been sort of like 92 993 okay so 1996 World amateur Champion how was that have you got any memories of that do you remember who you played in the semis or the final do you remember any thing about that tournament yeah um I ended up um I ended up turning pro in 95 but because of all the all the pros at the time the amateur game was dying so they let um they let everyone outside the top 128 I believe that uh could enter the amateur events so I end up entering the English amateur at the time it was called the English national because obviously they let Pros in uh I end up beating Peter lions in the final in in braford which then it got me to go to New Zealand for the world amateur and uh I remember beating Steve lemons who sadly passed away um in the semis great game and then I end up beating an Australian guy called Stang gski um I can’t remember the score something like 118 I think something like that um might be 115 um but uh yeah many many moons ago I remember turning up it was all in one like Hotel um and they had the trophies out on on show and I was like wow look at that trophy it was it was a glorified ice bucket I’ve got it up there somewhere um but uh I remember I was seeing it all and took a picture and I’m like wow how good would that be and a week and a half later I got me hands on it so wow amazing of course that was 96 um a little bit of a gap before what I’d call a major I guess uh 2015 of course was The Big Year for you Stuart winning the world title I mean 17 days of absolute torture I always think it is I mean it’s the blue ribbon event of snooker it’s an absolutely brilliant time of the year I have always look forward to it I’ve basically never worked for 17 days even if I was employed I would watch every single match what do you remember from the year that you won it did you go into it in particularly good form did you have high expectations that year or or was it a complete surprise or did you quietly think I’ve got a good chance here yeah the season leading up to it um I end up winning the Shanghai Masters in September time um it’s yeah I think I won the championship league that year um I won a Asian Tour event so I won three events going into it uh and I come off of back-to-back semi-finals as well so um yeah I knew I was getting into it pretty pretty good pretty sharp um remember turning up the first match against Robbie Williams bit under the weather and uh hope jet Lagos Ain coming coming back from China um and I remember just getting through great game obviously watched it back a few times and uh Robbie played really well I think I ended up winning 107 I think and I I remember having about four or five days Gap so I come home I was on the honey honey and lemon uh hot like hot drink to sort of try and yeah make myself better and uh I remember sort of going back up had a bit still had a bit of a cough but I remember um playing Ground Dot and and beating him 135 I think and I thought that’s a good win because I I rate ground very highly so um I remember I obviously I knew I was like I was playing well at the time and then obviously come up against Ron in in the quarterfinals couple of years before that he he pumped me 134 same round so it was like well if I can just keep with him then I’ve got half a chance and uh remember I think I was five3 up then eight all after the two sessions and then going into the last session he he won the first frame to go 98 and then I didn’t miss a ball for the next five frames so uh and then once I once I beat him it was it was a dream to get to the one table setup um obviously seeing a few friends s of uh Barry ains and and uh Ricky Warden getting to that one table set up and I was like I’ve got to get there one day sort of so it’s it’s like what we’ve always watched growing up and things like that so after beating Ronnie I remember looking at the draw thinking I’ve got Jud and the other the other sort of semis was Shaw Murphy and Barry Hawkins and I thought well what a great chance I’m playing well I’m not scared of Jud um and I was on a bit of a free will and uh obviously just produced like say m the best snooker for the sort of next five days and end up getting me hands on the trophy yeah amazing and jump forward to just last month a couple of months back and Crucible again semifinal now I must admit I really thought that the run you had this year and the people you beat I thought your names on that trophy again I could I couldn’t see anyone beating you there was it was four kind of semi-finalists okay kind of kyen Wilson’s been there before he’s been in a final before I know that but when you got to the semi-final I looked at them four and I thought I don’t know I really fancy Stuart to win it this time did I want to ask you a question were you tired did did fatigue play a little bit of a part in this this year’s World Championships for you personally do you think or not yeah it is it’s a bit of a grand Hog Day obviously I had two qualifying matches and obviously only just scraped through them really even though it was good both were good matches um I’ve scraped through 10 n 108 and then uh yeah which got me in in a good sort of space really um going into that tournament and obviously a 10 10 five Victory I think over Gary Wilson good 1310 or 1311 over Jack and then um again beating Ronnie 1310 I I think I think looking back at it it’s still a bit raw it still hurts because it’s like you say it’s only about a month ago but uh I think I think like I sort of had too much pressure on myself looking at that like semi-final draw um it was obviously kir Kiren looked like he was playing well all the way through so he I think he deserved the win no no disrespect to Jack uh Jack Jones or or Dave Gilbert um but uh I think Kyon May probably deserved that but looking at the draw for me yeah it it was like what a chance to get me hands on that for a second time and I think I put a bit too much pressure on myself obviously when in t match three new up should have gone 40 up uh obviously could have been a whole whole lot different story but uh yeah just sort of Maya like I say put a bit bit more pressure on myself to to sort of get through and and just didn’t perform well simple as that yeah it’s tough isn’t it I don’t want to go on about it too much but coming off the backat of a great win over Ronnie yet again and then you must have thought oh this is this has got to be it I know you don’t want to count your chickens and all that but you you you can’t help but look at the draw and think you know you could have been up against I don’t know Kiren or or Mark Selby or Jud or somebody like that you know but obviously they’d all gone out as well but yeah I really I really was pulling for you then mate I was really open especially for Morin as well your mom I know she’s your biggest fan she’d have been made up of course and the money the money wouldn’t have been too bad either would it I know yeah to be honest even the semi-final helped me out a lot um so yeah looking at yeah looking at things like that plus I think the difference with um the other four obviously the other three semi-finalist I’ve done it and been there I know what comes from it obviously everyone else it’s all a bit of a new experience so I knew what what comes from it and it it have been great to to get me hands on that for a second time um it would have been unbelievable but uh it’s good to know that the game still in there somewhere um coming off ofly a couple of bad years really but it’s good to S of get through beat obviously Ronnie um obviously Jack lazowski and other good players so U the game still there and and um hopefully I can kick on next year and and sort of get back in the 16 yeah I mean you’ve been ranked as high as number two right I believe you was there for a couple of years at number two so You’ got to take a lot from the World Championships that you’ve just had I mean you you did beat some great players yet again and you showed you know you’ve come through the qualifiers as well which is never easy we know that you can get tripped up in those a couple of tough matches there as well how far what number are you now do you know um I think I’m 25 I end up the year 25 but I’m provisionally 17 oh so I’ve got yeah good start hopefully to to get back in the 16 for for the start of next year yeah and you’re you’re feeling confident of course and you’re also playing Stuart a couple of other sports as well you’re not just confined to Snooker anymore now I know I Met You in China a couple of months back and and you really seem to enjoy that I got to say I love it it’s now my favorite sport to commentate on I really do love the Chinese eightball but you’ve also dipped your toe into the American pool scene as well so tell us a little bit about your your journey into these other sports enjoying it have you got any kind of delusions of of going far in in one of those tournaments any ambition I should say not delusion ambition yeah definitely um like I say Obviously we met in in in China uh I’m back out there on Friday to play another event of the ha ball so um yeah I think with what I’ve done in my career I’ve got half the game I’ve got the Q action obviously got the um the sort of fire in my belly still to sort of do well um it’s just sort of learning the different sort of rules and different tactics of the game so and things like that they that does that does sort of tick my box to try and learn something to sort of get involved and and learn the different ways so again as for the obviously the Chinese eight ball and the nineball um just trying to find my feet with a get the right queue that I’m happy with um I end up obviously trying mcder Q um they sent me over a couple and uh just could really get on with it at the UK open Nall but they sending me over some some new stuff soon so um hopefully once I get used to a queue that I can uh obviously start going a little bit far in toron and compete with some of the top guys I feel like I’ve been watching the N ball for years sort of when the mcone cup was in bason uh I know if that was 95 96 um so um been watching it there ever since and uh obviously at the time they big pockets they seem to tighten up now so you got to be obviously on your game but I think give it a couple of years obviously at the moment’s in Saud um with the World Championships I think it’s called World Championships yeah um world pool Masters um so uh I think it’s only going to go one way and it’s going to improve and it’s going to get bigger and bigger obviously we’ve Matt Drew and Emily Fraser taking over I think it can only be good and um sort of if I can get my sort of foot in the door now it could be my sort of retirement game once I sort of finish snooka in a few years or whenever but uh yeah I was going to ask you that because I can’t see any snooker player leaving the tour in their Prime to go and commit 100% to Paul because as you say the man is just not in it but but as the pockets get smaller the money is getting bigger I mean they’re playing for quarter of a million dollars for the for the winner of the World nineball Championships in Saudi which is going on now so as you say match room getting involved in it there is more money coming there I would love to see people like you Mark Williams has already had a go as well he seems to like it Chris melan has been playing it for a little while now as well I’d love to see Ronnie as well have a going I I think he has played in one of them I think maybe one of them but it’s going to take I think it’s a sport where you can’t play snooker and Paul at the same time you need to kind of is would you agree with that would you think yeah definitely you need to you need to sort of do you need to practice it uh for me the sort of amount of time um I’ve I’ve played it I feel like I’ve done okay but you may need a good two or three weeks before a tourament to practice it um I’ve entered the uh there’s a tour nineball tour coming up in Finland beginning of August and then on the uh straight from there I’ll be playing in the European nine ball um in Germany so it’ be nice to sort of see where my game’s at for the second one if I get a chance to have a little practice I’ve got a friend who lives about 10 minutes away that’s got a nice setup he’s got like a snooker table an eightball table and a B table all in one room so um it’s obviously I was meant to do that after the World Championships just because I had a obviously had to run to the semis I didn’t have a chance to practice the nine ball so uh I I was a bit gutted tur up at the UK and and not really didn’t really compete really um obviously got beat n90 my first match um one my second match and then uh John the guy Canadian guy John MOA who’s pretty good um he ended up beating me 87 and I missed a nine ball sort of down the row it was like where the tables are getting tighter it just rattled and stayed there so uh yeah got I didn’t go again go further in that I felt like I just sort like finding finding my feet with a queue so um yeah but it’s all looking forward to different events and just keep the arm in really did you know John MOA used to be right-handed and he had a bad shoulder injury in had to swap hands and now he’s learned to play I mean that’s Quite a feat that isn’t it unbelievable yeah obviously I end up exchanging numbers got a friend in common Hunter Lombardo who I’ve met and uh obviously he was introducing me to all these friends and and obviously they’re all big snooker fans that helps that way and yeah he was telling me that yeah I didn’t know he had an accident I thought he just he couldn’t sort of play right-handed anymore he got a bit of like qart as I say but yeah yeah it wasn’t an accident it was just a uh he had problems with his with his right shoulder so he had to swap swap was quite quite actually his father do you remember a snooker player back in the 80s Mario MOA that’s it yeah yeah he said obviously we follow each other on Facebook and he said he put post on saying like the commentators at the worlds mentioned him and it’s really nice that the respect and all that so yeah yeah obviously goes back to then so yeah it’s good like I say unbelievable how he’s there he’s changed to left-handed um and still competing at a higher level so let’s talk a little bit about the chalk Town chalk V10 it’s taken the the Q Sports World by storm over in recent years I mean it really is a a fabulous product isn’t it I just wondered how you came about using it and what do you think of it do you think it’s something you’ll always use without a doubt now um it’s definitely been a game changer in our game uh we was getting to a point where it was getting kicks uh bounces off the cushion um it was just a bit of hot luck and um I remember Robin Hall um when he was still playing he come up he sort of I think I think might have gave a bit to like Alfie burden saying there’s this new chalk coming out and uh I remember seeing it and obviously when when you’re used to a cube the triangle Cube chalk you go to the little round one it just felt really weird but now we’ve played with the obviously the T chalk you go back to a like a triangle choke or Master choke and it’s feels like it’s like a chunk in your hand so um yeah it’s definitely sort of changed the game to for the better um obviously the different grades you could see the Improvement as well so I believe that they might be bringing like a V10 blue chalk out I think soon um so uh yeah looking forward to seeing that but uh yeah they’ve come up now with a V10 and it’s it’s it’s 10 times better than the first chalk um and yeah I won’t be changing to anything other than sort of the the T CH again yeah good to hear now a couple of other little things I’d like to ask you about Stuart who do you think is your best Victory what what’s the best Victory you’ve ever had what would you put down as the most memorable um Looking Back May probably my first ever ranking event win um at the time uh Mark Williams was number one so to beat him 98 um from 85 down in the final of Australia um that that that’s up there that’s up there with there always always sort of nice remind Mark about that to sort of because he does like whing people up so got one got one on in there but uh yeah obviously that even even down to like you say the English amateur the world amateur rates highly um but yeah the worlds the worlds and the Masters was um was yeah extra special and just yeah who’s your who would you say is your toughest opponent who’s the hardest person to be that you’ve come up against I think I think everyone’s tough these days um sort of May looking back obviously like pet people like Peter Edon was tough to play um but uh yeah obviously the likes of Ronnie John Higgins um that’s in the game now like you say you’ve got to play 110% to have a chance against them even if you play 110% you’re not guaranteed to win um which you can’t really say a lot about anyone um that you like feel like if I play well I can beat anyone but sort of them two really that uh stand out that even if you play that well you’re not guaranteed to win so like they’re the best game best in the game and they have been for the last 30 odd years now I was doing a little bit of research about you and I found out a lovely little story I do like my little stories I read that you are the only Sportsman or sport person to win two events at the same venue in different sports do you know do you know this one no no no I hope it’s I hope it’s right championship league snooker in the function room at kondon Park Golf Course in stock yeah and you also won a golf event there as well you’re on the board at the go in in the golf as well is that true that’s true actually yeah yeah statman I’ll leave that to I’ll leave that to Phil Yates do you so do you still get to play golf are you still a bit of a golfer do you regret not taking up golf maybe because I know you were pretty good right yeah I got down to five I think 4.6 was the best I got to um it like people s i remember at the time people and you should take golf up like give s up and even though I was 4.6 or whatever it was it I I was still miles and miles and miles away from being any good at golf people sort of think oh yeah single figure you’re really good but when you’re when you’re talking about the top players you’re seeing people even local players that are plus three plus four and and they ain’t got a chance of making it and and you might s go or plus four that’s like eight shots it ain’t it’s about 80 shots difference that’s that’s how that’s how level they are it might be between like well I’ve seen you play po I’ve seen you put a few balls but it’s it’s more probably like playing snooker like me me and you it’s like you’re a good player but where obviously professional it’s a totally different kettle of fish and uh like I say I got to a good Standard Club level but um you when you’re talking about Pro Golf it’s it’s different K of fish so yeah I never had any dreams of of making anything in golf it was just bit of fun good hobby um I don’t play much these days uh I played that in Thailand the last time I played that was in in March um I’m itching to play but just ain’t got time uh like I say going to China on Friday um just ain’t got time to play at the moment but when I get back hopefully get a few rounds of golf in now the weather’s picking up I’m a bit of a fair weather go ala so um when the when the sun comes out the shorts are on um the you wear the plus fours do you oh no even though I’m that older I don’t do that look Stuart I don’t want to keep you too long it’s lovely to have a chat with you but if you don’t mind I’d love for you to show your fans around your room at the moment I mean obviously you’re in your practice room right it’s in a I’ve seen it on Facebook it’s in a building at the end of your garden just can you just have a show us around a little bit don’t worry about being a little bit shaky on the camera that doesn’t matter I just want to see what you’ve have a look at your room see what you’ve got if you could just give us a little guided tour imagine you I’ve paid you good entrance fee now right come on Stuart Bingham show show us around your room see that’s that’s the world amateur trophy oh wow and and I’m I’m a bit anal with it all things like that so they’re the set of balls I won with wow so you can see Stan gski I beat him 115 so I got all the scores at the bottom so normally I’ve got amazing so I’ve got here that’s the Premier League I was the last player to to win that so I got to keep the trophy again near the set of balls and the ref’s gloves who’s the ref who’s the referee was Paul ker oh okay PA Coler yeah oh you’re Frozen I think you’ve hit some I think you’ve hit a but I lost you for a second there sorry go on carry on go on mate I lost you you got performance of the Year in 2012 I think that was I think that was Australia uh Player of the Year 145 uh snoopers writers Player of the Year and Hall of Fame 15 and 16 wow so yeah all little sort of like runnerup medals that’s my little runnerup I can see myself in your TR I’m in your trophy cabinet at the moment I just c a glimpse on myself in there that’s all the runners up trophies and that all the watches I’ve collected over the years from sort of free gifts from uh you got like Shanghai one you got the Royal London watches and things like that amazing of like Tea Chinese Tea Chinese rice wine what beautiful memories beautiful memories eh yeah what’s all the shirts are they all your playing shirts or what are they there they’re all from the shootout oh so most people most people like donate them and and give them to Charities where like I say you can see with all what I’ve got I like to keep everything to look back when I when I retire and I look back at all this it’s good because they’ve got like the rankings as well on on the shirt sleeves yeah 25 12 and then you sort of get to get to number one 01 so uh yeah one for a couple of years and then six four and you can see it start getting a bit worse now like seven don’t know what that is number seven number 10 have you thought of have you thought of wearing any of them for Paul as a Paul t-shirt bring you a bit of luck um I ain’t thought about that to be fair but yeah good good idea that yeah come on get get the shirts out so show us now listen I know every Englishman his castle is somewhere where he goes to read a book to get away from everything is the car the toilet the Cary the WC the restroom now let’s have a look this used to be the trophy room but it’s now it’s the the bank room because I’ve got my all like checks that I’ve won over the years oh brilliant look at this you’re worth a few quid a you I think I read that you’re worth I think you’ve won about 4 million quid I think I saw is that correct well yeah it see it says that I don’t know where it’s all gone I think the misses that are B but yeah it’s all them camping holidays mate it’s all the camping holidays yeah there’s a s room one what there’s a tourament that I played in that has a masters qualifier yeah I won so I’ve got all the all the results there oh beautiful Mark s in the final well look sure I’ve thought of something if if ever I’m back in Essex I’m not back I’m I’m from near you of course near cester if I’m ever back in Essex and and you’re around I’d love to come around there and really have a look and maybe make a nice little video of of all this properly because it’s a real real history there beautiful yeah yeah tremendous around English and wel open w show us the world trophy again before we go oh there’s the mom there’s your mom and dad and family in it for the oh there’s the Masters I just saw yeah yeah look at that all the family Masters yeah oh beautiful that’s what it’s all about mate isn’t it I know you’re a real good family man yeah there’s the little corner and the world trophy the three quarter size as you said and show us the queue very quickly that you want it with yeah the q’s hanging up there is that a John Parry that one no it was a q doctor someone from south end oh wow look we’re about to run out of time Stuart I mean I could really talk to you all day and watch this all day I just want to say thank you so much for joining me good luck in China I’m going to be commentating remotely I’m not going to see you there in person this time I hope you can get some work on that break before you go very quickly right and also get some work on those jump shots cuz I know you enjoyed a jump shot I saw you putt a brilliant three and you’re still very proud of that aren’t you exactly yeah obviously played at the UK I actually poted two balls jumping them so it’s getting it I’m improving all the time anyone you’d like to say thank you to any sponsors or anything how people can contact you before you go um uh I’ve got a new management team uh tww sports management um KY Wilson’s brother Taylor he’s he’s looking after me so um yeah give him a shout out obviously t uh they sponsored me for a few events so appreciated them uh for them two tournaments but uh yeah thanks to everyone who’s watching and and hopefully enjoy the shows thank you so much for your time Stewart always a pleasure mate you are a pure gentleman and forever you will be known as ball run Bingham to me as a man that runs balls not a man that gets good ball rolls all right yeah all right cheers Mark cheers take care cheers by right a revolutionary rack template designed for players who demand perfection in 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