Jimmy White fumes at referee after he laughs at his own error

Referee Ben Williams laughed after incorrectly nominating the blue ball instead of the brown after White potted a red in the fourth frame.

Jimmy White was not happy with the referee in Belfast (Zac Goodwin/PA) (PA Archive)

Jimmy White was warned about his behaviour after taking exception to the referee laughing during his 4-0 defeat by Luca Brecel in the second round of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.

The 60-year-old was already 3-0 down when referee Ben Williams incorrectly nominated the blue ball instead of the brown after White potted a red in the fourth frame, then laughed at his error when corrected by the player.

White was annoyed by the referee’s conduct, asking him several times, “what’s funny about that?” before appearing to stick a finger up at Williams in footage posted on Twitter by Eurosport.

He was then handed a warning for “gesticulating”, with words also being exchanged at the end of the match after all parties had shaken hands.

White missed the brown following the incident with the referee and ended up losing to Brecel, who had breaks of 106, 50 and 59.

John Higgins came from behind to beat JacksonPage 4-3 after mounting a late comeback in the sixth and seventh frames.

Earlier in the match Page had made a 128 clearance to level at 1-1.

However, in the sixth, he missed a red to allow Higgins to clear up and force a decider, which he then won with a 124 break.

In the morning match, Pang Junxu beat Matthew Selt 4-0.