O’Sullivan’s ‘scary’ three-day jolly with Beckham left snooker icon staggered
Stars attend green carpet for Ronnie O'Sullivan documentary
Ronnie O’Sullivan and David Beckham were snapped side by side this week, nearly three decades after their first encounter. The pair posed for photos at the premiere of O’Sullivan’s gripping new documentary, ‘The Edge of Everything’, which was backed by Beckham’s production company Studio 99.
“If I’d have looked at the contract before doing this and it said I had to do a premiere, I probably would have said, ‘Right, that’s me out’,” O’Sullivan told Express Sport hours before taking to the red carpet. “It’s not my sort of thing to be honest with you.”
It’s certainly a far cry from when Beckham and O’Sullivan, both up-and-coming in their respective sports at the time, convened for a get-together up north in the 1990s, or indeed when O’Sullivan’s mum made them cups of tea during a shoot around on the practice table.
“I stayed at David’s house in Manchester before he got super, super famous,” the Rocket continued. “I’ve met David a few times. He went his way and I went mine, but he’s done really well.
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“We met each other in [Walthamstow nightclub] Charlie Chan’s, chatting away. It was just before he scored that goal [against Wimbledon in 1996], and after he scored it he said ‘come up to Manchester’. So I went up there and stayed with him for two or three days.
“The fame was just off the charts. Him and [Ryan] Giggs, I thought ‘this is scary’. They were like the Beatles, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I’m not really cut out for that. I run for the exit when I see things like that, so I spent my few days and got out of there. It’s on another level.”
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O’Sullivan has had to embrace microphones and camera flashes this week for the superb fly-on-the-wall documentary’s release, which captures his run to the 2022 World Snooker Championship in fascinating detail.
Like O’Sullivan, however, Beckham recounts the fondest memories of their friendship occurring away from the spotlight. “When I wasn’t playing football, I was playing snooker,” said the former England captain.
“I was always a fan of Ronnie and I was able to spend a little time with him over the years. One of my favourite nights as a Manchester United player was when we’d played in London, we went out for a couple of beers and I ended up back at Ronnie’s house.
“His mum was making a cup of tea for us and we had a few frames. That was one of my favourite nights because I got to spend a few hours with Ronnie and got to know him.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything is released on 23 November on Prime Video, and on 24 November in UK and Irish cinemas.
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