Matthew Selt has been removed from his role on the WPBSA Players board, it was announced earlier this week.
In a short statement released on its website, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association revealed that Selt would be removed with “immediate effect”.
“On 6 May 2025 The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (Players) Limited (the “Company”) held a general meeting of its members at which an ordinary resolution to remove Mr. Matthew Selt from the office of director was passed, with immediate effect,” the statement said.
“The Company will proceed in accordance with its governance and regulatory obligations following this change and no further comment will be made at this time.”
Matthew Selt had previously occupied the role of vice chairman of the WPBSA Players, having been voted onto the board in December, 2023.
However, it doesn’t seem like the other players had much of a say in the decision to remove the 40 year-old from his position.
“Although factually correct,” read a post on X from fellow pro Mark Allen, “the WPBSA’s players only member is the WPBSA. No players got a vote on this.”
Selt has been caught up in a number of controversial incidents recently, but it’s unclear whether any of these contributed to his downfall on the committee.
Earlier this year, the former Indian Open champion was fined £21,000 and given a three-month ban, which is being suspended until the conclusion of the 2025/26 campaign.
The Englishman was found to be in breach of the WPBSA Conduct Regulations in addition to his contract with the World Snooker Tour.
A statement released by the WPBSA in February explained that the case stemmed from incidents that took place during his involvement at the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
Selt was adjudged to have been “aggressive in his behaviour and was rude and abusive in his language towards a Matchroom Senior Executive in the presence of an important WST Partner.”
It was also revealed that “he sent an abusive text to a WPBSA Member.”
There were other high-profile cases involving Selt during the recently concluded 2024/25 season.
He was ridiculed for his wild behaviour at the German Masters qualifiers in Sheffield in December.
After exiting the competition with a 5-4 defeat to Artemijs Zizins – a teenage rookie from Latvia – Selt could be heard shouting in anger while loud bangs were also audible in the widely shared footage.
Then at the recent World Snooker Championship qualifiers at the English Institute of Sport, Selt revealed that opponent Jimmy Robertson had made a complaint about him during their dramatic Judgement Day encounter.
Trailing 8-3 and 9-6 in the final round of qualifying for the Crucible, Selt launched a gritty comeback to defeat his countryman 10-9 on the final black.
In his post-match interview, however, he revealed that Robertson had made a complaint that his behaviour during the match had been “distracting”.
“I have to apologise and say sorry to Jimmy,” Matthew Selt told the World Snooker Tour immediately after the match ended.
“He said that I was distracting him and putting him off. So this win, there is no good feeling whatsoever towards it.”
“I feel genuinely gutted to be honest. I’m happy to win but not to the point where my actions may have contributed towards his declining performance.
“That’s sport, I suppose. I wasn’t doing anything completely out of order. But my feeling is pretty flatline, and I just want to send my apologies to Jimmy.”
Selt went on to appear the Crucible Theatre for the fifth time in his career, but he duly lost 10-4 to Xiao Guodong.
He ended the season with a world ranking of 34.
Featured image credit: WST
