Olivier Marteel, a former snooker official who later worked as a bouncer at the Crucible, once said that he considers sports “like a holiday” while balancing his duties as a nurse with officiating, know his salary and partner
Fans shouted “don’t mess with him” as a referee for the World Snooker Championship dragged a protester off a table.
Hero snooker referee Olivier Marteel who dragged the Just Stop Oil protester from the table is also a nurse
A Just Stop Oil protester barged into the table where referee Olivier Martell was seated at the Crucible on Monday night when Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi were engaged in their first-round match.
While security rushed in, Marteel intervened quickly, grabbing the protester as they attempted to climb the table and pulling them back.
After she displayed courage, Marteel’s admirers showered her with admiration on social media, with one user tweeting: “Don’t mess with Olivier Marteel.”
Another one wrote: “Saved the evening. Everyone who bought a ticket tonight, plus everyone hoping to watch snooker tonight, thank this man!”
Who is snooker referee and nurse Olivier Marteel: Net worth, salary, bio, age and partner
Marteel intervened at the Crucible during a match between Joe Perry and Robert Milkins to prevent a repeat of what had happened at the other table.
By climbing up on the table and covering both themselves and the table in powder, that protester was able to sabotage the match. The game was postponed as a result and rescheduled for another time.
The match between Allen and Fan got underway after the protesters were escorted out of the Crucible, and the third-seeded Allen quickly took the lead in the best-of-19-frames contest.
Snooker fans at the Crucible and those watching the action at home were incensed by the demonstrations, and many of them resorted to social media to share their opinions on the bizarre happenings on Monday night.
Donโt mess with Olivier Marteel ๐๐ปpic.twitter.com/EUewRt5J86
— Live Snooker (@Livesnooker) April 17, 2023
Incredibly perplexed, seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry stated:
“I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first.”
He further said that It was “scary”. Just cross your fingers that the cloth can be saved from that. He said that they were all caught off guard by it, and then something occurred.
As a snooker player, his first thought is always, “Is the table recoverable? What is on the table is unknown to them.
Olivier Marteel (born 10 May 1969) aged 54 is a Belgian professional snooker referee who officiates on the World Snooker Tour. He is married and has a child as well.
His full time job is as a nurse at the AZ West hospital in Veurne and he usually works in radiology but, as the pandemic took hold, he was asked to play a different role.
While his salary and net worth isn’t known, the salary of snooker referees at the professional level is a base rate of roughly ยฃ20,000.
Those refereeing the biggest matches can receive over ยฃ500 per fixture, which racks up over a tournament like the World Championships.