Snooker tournaments have been played for almost a century so you would expect all possible and impossible combinations of situations to have occurred at some point on the table.

It does however happen from time to time that a referee makes a decision that causes players, audience and commentators to wonder. The rules apparently don’t cover every possible scenario and sometimes the referee has to make an interpretation of the rules rather than a definite verdict.

This Saturday’s UK Championship semi-final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins involved one of those strange incidents that will make people talk for weeks to come. A change of the rules might also be necessary.

It was in frame 13 that O’Sullivan snookered himself. He first missed the brown and the yellow balls six times. On the seventh attempt, O’Sullivan accidentally touched the black ball and Jan Verhaas, the referee, called a foul but not a miss as there hadn’t been a shot. O’Sullivan was then told to remain seated while the table was left to Higgins who had to play. The balls weren’t replaced.

Verhaas has been a professional referee for 16 years and should know the rules. Experts are now discussing whether there might be a loophole in the rules. If a player could just touch a ball to get a foul and get out of a difficult situation, then there’s a problem. Even though snooker is the kind of sport where cheating is very much frowned upon and where most players are sportsmanlike and wouldn’t even dream of trying, the rules still have to be crystal clear and make sure cheating isn’t even possible.

More importantly, the players shouldn’t be distracted by confusing decisions by the referee. Higgins lost that frame, not just because of the rules but because he lost his focus and that’s one of the worst things that can happen to a snooker player.