From shoulder barges to apology denials - Ali Carter explains how Ronnie O'Sullivan feud evolved to 'no hate, no nothing' relationship
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Published 22/09/2026 at 22:41 GMT+1
Ali Carter has revealed the origins of his famously tense snooker rivalry with Ronnie O’Sullivan and insisted that ”there is no hate” between the veteran players because ”there is no relationship”.
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Carter and O’Sullivan have crossed paths over a snooker table since the 1990s, with several high-profile, controversial clashes along the way.
A meeting at the Crucible in 2018 during the World Snooker Championship included a shoulder barge and angry exchange between the players at the table, described by Eurosport commentators as ”a bit ugly”.
After O’Sullivan beat Carter in the 2024 Masters final, he was quoted calling his rival ”a f****** nightmare” who ”needs to sort his f****** life out”.
But Carter insists there is ”no hate” between them as the relationship is ”nothing.”
”I think it’s the Ronnie fans, and not necessarily snooker fans, that generally want to put the knife in,” Carter told the Talking Snooker podcast.
”I mean, me and Ronnie…we’re not fine, there’s nothing. There’s no relationship there, there’s no hate, there’s no nothing.”
The two players have had differing levels of success in their careers, with seven-time world champion O’Sullivan widely regarded as the greatest snooker player of all time.
Carter, three years O’Sullivan’s junior at 47, has won seven ranking titles during his career, including a victory at the English Open earlier this month.
However, his two runs to the World Championship final both ended in defeat to his arch-rival O’Sullivan, in 2008 and 2012.
Looking back on how it all started, Carter said: ”Me and Ronnie, we used to practice together, as a 17-year-old at Witham Snooker Bowl. We played every single day.
”That was what led up to winning the Benson & Hedges Championship [in 1999]. That was a big tournament then and if it wasn’t for him getting me prepped up, I probably would never have won that tournament.
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”After spending a lot of time with Ronnie, and he probably knew at the time how good I was, I just felt that when we went to tournaments, he wasn’t really the same towards me.
”Looking back, I probably took it personally. I think he’s like that with everyone, it wasn’t just me. But I’m not everyone, am I? I can only speak from my own perspective.
”So, I just thought, well, if he can’t be bothered to talk to me, then I can’t be bothered to talk to him. That’s fine. We both know where we stand then.”
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Reflecting on the shoulder barge incident at the Crucible, he said: ”Ronnie is a master of table-craft, really owning and dominating the arena.
”On that given day, I thought, no, I’m not having this, I’m not going to be bullied.’ We brushed shoulders, had the infamous ‘shoulder barge.’
”I managed to win that match. Afterwards, he came up to me. We had a couple of words afterwards. He said, ‘Oh, good luck.’
”Anyway, then we were at the Novotel in York, and he was with Damien Hirst and all his cronies, and I was having breakfast.
”Ronnie came over to me, he said, ‘Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened in Sheffield.’
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”I said, ‘Mate, it’s all heat of the moment stuff. The temperature’s running high. You want to win, I want to win. It’s no problem.’
”Then lockdown happened in 2020 and all the tournaments were in Milton Keynes, so I played Ronnie in the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open at Milton Keynes – it wasn’t in Northern Ireland.
”I had done an interview with Alan McManus before, and he said, ‘It’s always a needle match between you and Ronnie.’ I said, ‘No, not at all. He came up to me in the Novotel in York and he apologised and I apologised. It’s all water under the bridge.’
”So, anyway, he beat me, then the next tournament was the Grand Prix. I’ve come out of the tournament office. He must have seen my interview and he’s gone, ‘Oi Al, I never apologised to you. That was your fault.’
”I said, ‘What? So I just made it up then, did I? That you came up to me in York and apologised?’ He went, ‘Yeah, you did’ and had a little laugh and that was that.
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”You can’t comprehend what’s just happened. Is he getting me at it or what? And I just thought, right, okay, he wants to say that, whatever.
”The only way I can take myself out of that situation is just have nothing to do with it any more, not speak to him. It’s pointless.
”Then I had a little chat with him, actually, at the German Masters when we was walking out to play last year.
”I just thought, ‘Oh, I’ll speak to him, I’m bigger than this.’ We had a bit of chat and look, we’re snooker people, aren’t we? We’re competitors."
Carter was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2013 and was subsequently given the all-clear following surgery that summer.
But he was then diagnosed with lung cancer a year later, in May 2014, and returned to action in October after having chemotherapy treatment.
The 47-year-old revealed that he had received a surprise phone call from O’Sullivan’s father while undergoing treatment.
”‘I get on so well with his dad, spent a lot of time with his dad in Sheffield this year, had a lot of coffees with him,” Carter said.
”When I was going through my cancer treatment, I had four missed calls on my phone. This number kept ringing me, so obviously I thought I’d better answer this, it might be a consultant.
”He went: 'Ali, it’s Ronnie O’Sullivan senior. This is unconditional, anything you want, anything I can do for you, consider it done. You’re an Essex boy, and I just want you to know, anything I can do.'
”I had never met the guy! I went: ”Thanks, Ron, that’s really nice of you to say.” So there you go.’”
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