Climate protesters in England are still eager to be idiots if it will get them attention. Yesterday, protesters interrupted the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, England. If you’re not familiar with snooker it’s similar to pool in that it involves hitting balls with a cue, but in snooker the tables are larger and the balls are a bit smaller. In any case, there were two tables in the center of the room separated by a divider. A protester got on top of one of them and spread orange powder all over it.

Two “Just Stop Oil” protesters invaded snooker’s most famous arena shortly after play began in two matches in the evening session.

On one table, where Robert Milkins and Joe Perry were playing, a man leapt onto the table — scattering the balls — and threw orange dye over one half of the baize as boos and jeers came from the audience.

On the other table, featuring a match between Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi, a woman was stopped from getting onto the table by the quick-thinking response of referee Olivier Marteel.

Here’s video of the incident:

Never seen anything like this. Absolute scumbags.pic.twitter.com/lHUsWm642H

— SnookerInfo (@SnookerInfo147) April 17, 2023

The table itself was cleaned but it was determined it couldn’t be used. It was recovered overnight in time for the start of play Tuesday morning. The match that was ruined by the protesters was replayed today. Because the referee kept the other protesters from getting onto the table that match was able to be finished.

What was the point of all of this? It seems the whole thing was for the sake of a pun. Here’s Just Stop Oil’s statement on Twitter: “New oil and gas will snooker us.”

🎱 NEW OIL AND GAS WILL SNOOKER US

🦺 At around 7:20pm, two Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, interrupting play. The pair proceeded to cover the tables in orange powder paint before being removed by… pic.twitter.com/xWJXjW82jf

— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) April 17, 2023

As always, you have to wonder if they haven’t done more harm than good. I doubt anyone watching the World Snooker Championship was impressed. And people who don’t care about snooker probably weren’t watching. One of the players summed it up this way, “I feel like even talking about it is giving them airtime they don’t deserve because they are just idiots.” He added, “What are they trying to gain from what they have done? I am sure there are better ways to get their point across.”

Just Stop Oil has been involved in a number of stunts including protesters who glue themselves to famous paintings. That’s another tactic that mostly seems to have made people who might otherwise agree with the protesters angry.

There was another sporting event disrupted just a few days earlier. Saturday more than 100 people were arrested at the Grand National horse race.

The start of the annual Grand National horse race was briefly delayed on Saturday after a large group of animal rights protesters forced their way into the Aintree grounds to disrupt one of the highest-profile sporting events in Britain.

Police said they had arrested 118 people on suspicion of offences including criminal damage and causing public nuisance after protesters sought to scale the perimeter fence and access the track to prevent the 40 horses from starting the race.

Officers were seen pinning some protesters in pink tops to the ground while others were pulled from ladders. Television footage showed a few protesters making it on to the track and trying to attach themselves to a fence, before being dragged away by officers.

The race was delayed briefly but that was about it. Here’s a video showing some of the arrests from the Telegraph.

Update: The president of the World Snooker Tour wants to see the protesters get jail time for this stunt.

The World Snooker Tour president Barry Hearn has called for activists who disrupt sporting events to be jailed to prevent copycat attacks after incidents at the Grand National and World Snooker Championship…

“We’re such a soft touch as a nation – smack their wrists, give them a small fine, maybe a bit of community hours, maybe a month in prison. It’s a ludicrous situation but what do you do about it?” he said. “The problem is there’s not enough deterrent out there for these people to do anything but get away with it.”…

However, Hearn believes without tougher action, nothing will change. “It might cost them a few hours of their freedom,” he said. “But there’s no serious deterrent and, for that reason alone, expect more of these, not less.

He’s right of course. These fanatics think they’re saving the world. A slap on the wrist won’t be enough to stop them.