Snooker stars John Higgins and Ken Doherty were asked to disembark from an Air Malta aircraft following complaints by other passengers that they were drunk and not fit to travel.
Several UK media reports explained that the two players who had been in the Malta Cup Final spent the night celebrating with a few drinks. Higgins still wanted to celebrate even though he lost the Malta Cup Final, 9-8 to Doherty.
Guardian Unlimited reported that Higgins stated, "I thought we were fine but apparently it was one British holidaymaker who complained to the crew." He was also quoted as saying, "That was the reason why the captain thought we should be taken off the flight. It's perfectly reasonable for him to be thinking about the safety of his passengers but I couldn't see any problem."
The Sun quoted a fan of the players as saying, The crew decided John was not fit to fly. Ken, who seemed more sober, began to protest. Given the choice to get off or shut up, he got off.
In a press statement, the Maltese national airline Air Malta stated that in the interest of both the offloaded passengers and all other passengers travelling on the flight it was decided to re-route the offloaded passengers on a later flight.
The players had to wait almost nine hours for the next Air Malta flight to London.
See also: MaltaMedia's Sport Section.
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