Ronnie O'Sullivan's killer dad's 6-word message for distraught son at trial

23 November 2023 , 18:00

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Ronnie O'Sullivan breaks down in tears on his new documentary sharing the moment his dad (pictured) was locked up (Image: Facebook)

Ronnie O'Sullivan tearfully recalls his dad's parting message before he got locked up for murder in his new documentary.

The world snooker champion was just 16 years old when his dad, Ronnie O'Sullivan Snr, was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing Bruce Bryan - the driver of London gangster Charlie Kray - to death in a nightclub. His father was his 'biggest driving force' and was the man who got him into the sport, often dropping him off at the snooker hall like it was a children's creche.

In his new Amazon Prime documentary, titled Ronnie O'Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, the seven-times Masters champion candidly speaks about their early father-son relationship and breaks down in tears sharing the message his dad made sure was relayed to him, as he was escorted down to his prison cell to serve his 18-year sentence.

Opening up about his heartbreaking recollection of that day, Ronnie recalls: "My dad was being carted off, he'd been sentenced, he just looked up to the woman and... [wipes tears] you get a bit emotional sometimes don't you..." After a long pause, he continues: "He just said 'Tell my boy to win'. Typical. 'Just tell my boy to win'. That was it. F***ing 30 years ago."

The snooker legend adds: "Part of me was thinking 'f*** you and f*** this, just f*** everybody'. The healthiest thing for me to do was probably to stop playing snooker. But I didn't, I just felt compelled to stick with it." Following his dad's incarceration, youngster Ronnie suffered with his mental health greatly and turned to drink and drugs to cope.

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"I didn't want to blame everything on that situation with my dad, but I was thinking, 'l'd rather not have the snooker', just a normal family, forget the snooker, whatever normal life is," the star admits. "Because… it was a dream, but looking back, it was a nightmare. I wasn't good at having all this stuff locked inside me. People could see that I was imploding."

Ronnie would turn to his dad in prison for pep talks. His father says in the documentary: "I knew what he was going through. I've shared all his snooker tournaments, in his bad times and good times, I've been on the phone to him, in prison. And I've heard the anxiety in him, just totally collapsing on the phone. I used to put the phone down, totally in bits. A lot of that was my fault. I blame myself for that, going to prison, it wasn't good for him. And he'd say he'd had enough, he wanted to put his cue down, done."

He continues: "I'm jack him up. I'd go, 'Come on, what's up with ya? Stick around for a little while longer mate. Because it's like a visit for me. I can watch you on the telly and it's nice to see ya'. I said 'Win or lose, I watch you and it's fantastic. And if you win it's even better'." Ronnie went on to forge arguably the greatest career in snooker history and his dad was released from prison in 2010 after serving his life sentence.