Robbie Capito has reflected on becoming embroiled in the most controversial moment of the recent Arizona Open Championship, where he was penalised by the referee for alleged soft-breaking.
Capito was called by the match official in the seventh rack of his last 32 victory over Jayson Shaw whilst leading 6-0, with the referee explaining that only one ball had passed the head string.
The former UK Open champion became involved in a relatively heated discussion with the referee, explaining that he simply made a thinner connection with the one ball, which caused the balls to spread in that manner.
Shaw was aggrieved by the situation and accused Capito of breaking without force throughout the match, saying post-match: “When you’re breaking soft, I can’t do anything about it”.
Capito ultimately fluked the nine ball from a jump shot with all nine balls on the table to defeat Shaw 10-4, before bowing out in the last 16 at the hands of eventual runner-up Aleksa Pecelj.
“It wasn’t the result I wanted, but I played a great tournament and was happy with the level I showed throughout,” Capito reflected via social media. “In my last match, my opponent simply played better and got the best of me. That’s pool.
“I do, however, want to address the break foul that was called against me. I strongly disagree with the decision. After watching the replay, I genuinely believe there were no soft breaks in my match.
“The foul was called because not enough balls passed the bottom line after I made contact with the pack on a thinner hit, not because I intentionally played a soft break. In my opinion, the ruling was incorrect and completely unnecessary.
“And, as the referee so confidently put it at the time: ‘That’s my opinion’. Well, unfortunately, when you’re refereeing at this level, it can’t simply come down to opinion, at least have some level of understanding of the game.
“My reaction after the rack came from the frustration and disappointment of seeing years of preparation affected by a decision I genuinely believed was wrong. I accept that emotions got the better of me in that moment, but I also believe players have every right to expect the rules to be understood and enforced properly.
“As players, we travel thousands of miles, invest countless hours, and dedicate our lives to competing at the highest level. We put everything into these tournaments, so getting a major decision wrong because of a lack of understanding and attention extremely frustrating.
“If we want this sport to continue growing, everyone involved needs to be held to the same high standard – players, officials, everyone. We cannot have a situation where the players know the rules better than the people responsible for enforcing them.”
