Scots snooker star rapped by bosses over ‘frightening’ boozy bust-up with world champion rival
SCOTLAND’S top female snooker player has been rapped by bosses over a boozy bust-up with a world champ, we can reveal.
Louise Foster, 57, was accused of “intimidating” rival Tessa Davidson, 55, as they enjoyed drinks after a tournament.
A hearing heard she “stared at” the three-time UK title holder then confronted her over claims about her private life.
Davidson said she was approached by Foster outside a loo as competitors relaxed following the Women’s Open in Bruges in January.
The two-time World Women’s Seniors winner told the hearing: “She stood in the door and stared at me for about ten minutes — which I found quite unnerving.
“She then came up to me. She kept repeating, ‘We need to sort this out.’ I was becoming more agitated. I think she was trying to goad me into a reaction.
“I said to my friends, ‘Why doesn’t she just f*** off and leave us alone?’ [Foster] was quite intimidating. It was quite frightening.”
Fellow pro player Kate Le Gallez told the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association conduct panel she tried to defuse tensions by taking Foster’s arm and leading her away.
But the Scots ace then dropped to the floor and claimed she was injured — prompting venue boss Olivier van den Berheid to phone for paramedics, the hearing was told.
The Belgian snooker club’s owner said Foster, from Edinburgh, got up from the floor when they arrived. He told the hearing: “As soon as the paramedics arrived, not even 10 seconds later, she was on the chair.”
Le Gallez, from the Channel Islands, told how she had intervened because she felt that Foster had “outstayed” her welcome.
She recalled: “I pulled her, she pulled back. I hold my hands up, I took her arm — but I was not pushing her. I was pulling her, saying, ‘You’ve got to leave.’
“She would have been arrested if she had been in Guernsey, put it that way.”
Foster denied taking “other people’s drinks” and insisted it was “lighthearted fun”.
The hearing was also told she had formed a friendship with Davidson, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, via online message boards.
But it seemingly soured amid gossip that Foster allegedly “stalked” an ex and sent a festive gift containing details of a woman’s alleged affair to her husband. Ayrshire-born Foster insisted she approached Davidson to quash their row.
She recalled: “I thought, ‘We need to sort this out.’ But she told me to go away. I don’t have any issues with Davidson. We used to message, we were friends. I regarded her as a friend, albeit an online friend.
“I confided in her, we messaged and we talked on the website.”
Asked about her injury, Foster said: “I began to feel sick, probably because of the severity of the manhandling I’d just experienced.
“I just wanted to release myself from Kate’s grip.
“I needed to get out of that situation [so I dropped to the floor].”
Foster denied “harassing” people but was found to have “brought the game of snooker into disrepute”.
She was handed a three-month WPBSA ban, suspended for six months.
The panel concluded: “The event was important in the snooker calendar and players were expected to behave appropriately.”