The 1972 and 1982 Crucible king said: “I’m still in touch with top agents in the game and the only thing they’ve said about this is, “How greedy do you want to be?” I know of at least four pros who have taken big bribes to chuck games. The names would shock the public if it was proved they were on the take.”

“Just because they wear crisp white shirts doesn’t make them clean — it’s all going on right under people’s noses. I know there are plenty of repulsive professional players who have thrown games for bookies.”

Speaking to the Irish media the Hurricane believes corruption in the sport is widespread and confessed that he was once offered £18,000 to lose a quarter-final at the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1979 and £20,000 to cheat at an Irish Masters.

“I wanted nothing to do with any of them. I couldn’t live with myself if I did it” added Higgins.

Hearn, speaking after the News of the World published a story on world number 1 and last year’s World Champion Higgins, which allegedly shows him agreeing to lose 4 frames of snooker in exchange for a cash payment of £261,000, said:

“Obviously the guy is in bits and I can sympathise with him because it’s been his whole life – the guy is number one in the world”

“As a friend – which I would classify myself to John Higgins because I’ve known him for 20 years – it doesn’t look good.”

“We all watched the video – I can only judge on the visual evidence in front of me. If he is found guilty it will carry the most severe of penalties.”

“I actually believe he’s an honest man – but I can’t ignore the evidence in front of me and the damage it could do to the game.”

Higgins has since released a statement protesting his innocence, which read:

“Can I say that I have never been involved in any form of snooker match-fixing. In my 18 years playing professional snooker I have never deliberately missed a shot, never mind intentionally lost a frame or a match,” he said in a statement read out on the BBC before the start of today’s World Championship final.”

“In all honesty I became very worried at the way the conversation developed in Kiev. When it was suggested that I throw frames in return for large sums of money, I was really spooked. I just wanted to get out of the hotel and on to the plane home.”

“I didn’t know if this was the Russian mafia or who we were dealing with. At that stage I felt the best course of action was just to play along with these guys and get out of Russia.”

“Those who know me are aware of my love for snooker and that I would never do anything to damage the integrity of the sport I love. My conscience is 100% clear.”

If you haven’t already – check out the video below!

One sport that has eluded them is snooker. But that all changed with Neil Robertson’s 18-13 victory over Scotland’s Graeme Dott on Sunday. ‘The Thunder from Down Under’ described the achievement as ‘absolutely incredible’ after picking up a cheque for £250,000 for his efforts.

“I seriously can’t believe it. In my last-16 match, I was 11-5 down to Martin Gould and after my match with Ali Carter I was really disappointed I couldn’t have any of my family over for the final.

“Then I got a voicemail from my mum to say that when I was 15-9 up overnight against Ali, she had jumped on a plane, so it was quite lucky I finished the job off!

“My mum and her partner have travelled for ages and they only got two hours’ sleep before the final, so for them to be here makes it absolutely perfect” said Robertson.

Relive the final frame below.

Hearn, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, has plans for his Matchroom Sport business to take a 51% share in the sport, with the remaining stake leftover to players and fellow promoters.

But 2002 world champion, Ebdon, is unhappy with Hearn’s company having such a stranglehold on the game: “You cannot possibly give control of the association away under any circumstances” said the Englishman.

“If I went to Barry Hearn and said, ‘Look Barry, you know that company that you’ve built up over 20-30 years, Matchroom, you don’t mind giving me 51% do you?’, he’d tell me where to go. It’s not really the done thing.”

“I want him to do a great job for snooker. He’s passionate about doing well and passionate about success. But I don’t think members should give up control of the membership for that.”

“I think he’s asking an awful lot for the players to hand over 51% of the commercial rights to World Snooker, which is worth millions of pounds each year.”

Hearn’s plans will be put to a vote in the near future.

Speaking to The Independent, Higgins said: “He wants a lot more tournaments for less prize money. We’ve all got to get away from this idea that the big money’s still around.”

“It was fantastic when I came into snooker, when tobacco was throwing lots of money at it, and even when they fell away we thought others would come in because of all the TV exposure.”

“But it didn’t happen. And now we need to grow the sport again because if we don’t, it might not be around in 10 years’ time.”

Higgins begins his Crucible campaign against Barry Hawkins.

Click here for the full first round draw.

Elsewhere, defending champion John Higgins begins his campaign against Barry Hawkins, while qualifier Ken Doherty faces a battle against Mark Selby to reach the second round.

Steve Davis will be making a record breaking 30th appearance at this year’s World Championships and opens up against Mark King.

The tournament gets underway on the 17th April.

World Championship 1st Round draw:

John Higgins v Barry Hawkins
Mark King v Steve Davis
Neil Robertson v Fergal O’Brien
Marco Fu v Martin Gould
Ali Carter v Jamie Cope
Joe Perry v Michael Holt
Ding Junhui v Stuart Pettman
Shaun Murphy v Gerrard Greene
Stephen Maguire v Stephen Lee
Peter Ebdon v Graeme Dott
Mark Allen v Tom Ford
Ryan Day v Mark Davis
Mark Selby v Ken Doherty
Stephen Hendry v Anda Zhang
Mark Williams v Marcus Campbell
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Liang Wenbo

The 10-6 defeat leaves Parrott in the precarious position of 65th in the world, one place away from a spot on the tour next season and the 1991 Crucible winner was resigned in chances of competing again in the future.

“If I’m off the tour, it’s fairly certain that I’ll retire. I certainly won’t be playing any lower down. I still have the utmost respect for the game. I’ve just lost in the world championships and I’m not going to stand here and spit the dummy out. But playing-wise, I don’t enjoy the hours of practice any more” said Parrott.

“My children got all my old trophies out downstairs and put them on the cabinet. I can look back and say I was UK, European and world champion all at the same time, so if you can find anywhere else to be a champion then let me know.”

An official announcement on his retirement is now expected if Parrott does not climb back into the top 64 in the world rankings.

Selby played some truly breathtaking snooker in the last 4 frames of the match to complete an unlikely 10-9 victory and pocket €150,0000 in the process.

After clinching his second Masters crown he said: “I thought I was dead and buried at 9-6. To play Ronnie anywhere it’s a great atmosphere but this was special. I just took it a frame at a time.”

“I kept calm and took it one frame at a time. I knew if I had to scrap it out that’s what I would have to do and that’s how it turned out” added the Jester from Leicester.

Ronnie O’Sullivan, who was been self-critical of the way he has been playing all week, said “I suppose I have to look at the bigger picture and that I got to the final against my expectations.”

“As far as I’m concerned, the game’s up. I’ll pitch up at tournaments, I’ve got too much of a competitive instinct [not to] but the consistency has gone. Defeats like this used to hurt a lot more. Now it’s just about seeing out my career and filling up my life with something more important” continued O’Sullivan.

At the start of the week World Snooker’s new chairman Barry Hearn said he was on the look out for a new ‘flag bearer’ for the sport. After last night’s performance, Mark Selby, might just be his man.