Shaun Murphy criticized the Netflix documentary about Matchroom: Snooker was shown as a distant relative.

Shaun Murphy criticized the Netflix documentary

According to The Sun: Shaun Murphy expressed dissatisfaction with the new Matchroom documentary on Netflix due to its biased coverage.

The new show titled Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen covers the worlds of darts, boxing, and snooker. However, according to Murphy, snooker was left on the sidelines.

In an interview on the onefourseven podcast, Murphy noted:

“What surprised me was... I was a little upset... it seemed that some Matchroom executives were mocking the venue [in Brentwood] in the Netflix documentary.”

In the show, boxing and darts were presented in an appealing light. In particular, one scene showed Eddie Hearn meeting Ronnie O'Sullivan in Saudi Arabia.

However, in another part of the film, it was shown that the promoter did not want to attend the English Open Championship in Brentwood, which was a surprise to Murphy.

The 2005 world champion added:

“I was disappointed. I thought snooker was shown in quite a negative light, given that Matchroom was created because of snooker. Without snooker, Matchroom would not exist.”

Murphy also emphasized that

“Barry Hearn would be an accountant that you would never have heard of, and of course, you would never have heard of Eddie Hearn.”

Since it is harder to portray the drama of snooker than to do so with boxing or darts, Murphy believes that there was no effort towards such a presentation in the film.

Expert Commentary

These concerns are shared by commentator David Hendon, who expressed his opinion on the Snooker Scene podcast:

“I think this series is a real disaster for snooker. It poorly represents snooker. Partly because it hardly appears at all.”

Hendon believes that

“neglect is one of the worst things that can happen, and that is what has largely occurred.”

Moreover, he stressed that the documentary does not convey that snooker is significant to Matchroom, although it is actually the foundation of the organization.

Thus, the criticism from Murphy and Hendon indicates that the perception of snooker in popular culture remains a concern. The lack of proper attention to this sport in large-scale projects may affect the popularity of snooker and its development in the future.