New snooker world champion Kyren Wilson was hoping that he wouldn’t need to buy a drink in his hometown of Kettering ever again after success at the Crucible, but is set to be left disappointed. An 18-14 victory over Jak Jones saw Wilson pick up his first world title and the 32-year-old is enjoying all the rewards that come with his new champion tag.
Winning the World Championship final saw Wilson pocket a cool £500,000 cash prize in addition to the sport’s top honour, while there has also been some chatter over possibly awarding Kettering’s snooker son the Freedom of the town.
Labour town councillor Clark Mitchell believes that Wilson’s historic victory in Sheffield should be recognised in the Northamptonshire town’s history timeline. He could join the granting of the market charter in 1227 and the formation of Kettering Town FC in 1872, joining famous sons and daughters such as comic artist Frank Bellamy and singer Faryl Smith.
Wilson thought that one of the perks of the bestowment would be that he didn’t have to pay for a pint of alcohol in Kettering pubs again, but upon discovering the unfortunate news that such a privilege won’t be the case, he couldn’t find his disappointment.
“There’s talk of trying to get me the freedom of the town, and stuff like that,” Wilson told the Metro. “I was hoping that means I can have a free pint wherever I want, but I don’t think it does.”
Labour politician Mitchell has already explained that he has got “the ball rolling” on plans to honour Wilson, having emailed the town council group leaders, the mayor and the clerk, even though the snooker champion feels that an additional reward should be free pints.
“It’s about showing Kyren the town is proud of him – we need to do something to acknowledge this, because otherwise it could just go away and we can’t let that happen,” Mitchell said. “I would absolutely adore something like that to happen (but) that would be up to Kyren if he wanted to do it.”
Wilson has not confirmed whether he would be interested, following the discovery that his drinks in Kettering pubs will still cost the same price as before his Crucible win, but has lapped up the celebrations after detailing the initial moments after winning snooker’s top prize.
“My phone went absolutely mental,” he explained. “I got back from Sheffield and just quickly looked at my phone. Someone had put up my winning clearance. My brother ran over and sobbed like a big baby, which set me off.
“(My son) Finley ran over and was shouting: ‘Dad you’re world champion, you’re world champion!’ Just watching it back on my phone, it really sunk in and then I couldn’t start sobbing! It was weird.”
