World Snooker Championship

The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England. In the modern era, the best record is that of Stephen Hendry, who has won the title seven times, while Steve Davis and Ray Reardon have both won six times. The current champion is John Higgins, who has won the title four times.

History

The first championship was held in 1927 and Joe Davis helped to organise the event. Matches were held at various venues, and the final took place at Camkin's Hall, Birmingham. Joe Davis won the event, beating Tom Dennis 20–11. His prize money was £6.10s.^[1] The highest break of the tournament was 60 by Albert Cope.

In subsequent years, finals were held at various venues. Joe Davis won every year until 1940. Despite an upsurge in interest in snooker there were only two entrants for the 1931 professional championship. The event was staged in the back room of a Nottingham pub, owned by Tom Dennis.^[1] The fact that he was playing on his own table didn't help as Joe Davis ran out a 25–21 winner for his fifth consecutive victory.

In 1940, Joe Davis just beat his younger brother Fred 37–36. No tournaments were organised during the remaining years of World War II and it only resumed in 1946 when Joe Davis won again for the 15th time, a record that still stands. Joe Davis never contested the World Championship again, though he continued to play professional snooker.

Walter Donaldson won in 1947, but it was Fred Davis who dominated the next few years, winning it three times in 1948, 1949 and 1951.

In 1952, as a result of a disagreement between some of the players and the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC), two tournaments were held. The Professional Matchplay Championship, organised by the players and widely viewed as the "real" world championship, continued until 1957. The BACC event only lasted one more year. Meanwhile the 'official' World Championship did attract only two entrants, Horace Lindrum from Australia beating New Zealand's Clark McConachy – and Lindrum's name is inscribed on the familiar trophy.

Snooker then went into a period of decline, and no tournament was held between 1958 and 1963. In 1964, with the approval of the BACC, Rex Williams revived the championship on a challenge basis, a format which lasted until 1968.^[1] This meant that matches took place on an irregular basis, sometimes more than once a year. John Pulman completely dominated during this period, overcoming all challengers in a total of seven matches.

Following the formation of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association which took over regulation of the professional game from the BACC, the championship has been staged as a knockout tournament since 1969 on an annual basis, with all the seeded players coming in at the same round. That year it was won by John Spencer, but it was Ray Reardon who was to dominate over the coming years, winning six times between 1970 and 1978.

1976 was the first year the championships were sponsored by the cigarette brand Embassy. The following year, the event moved to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and the BBC started providing major television coverage. The Crucible seats fewer than a thousand people with the front row of seats only a few feet from the players. This was about the time snooker started attracting very large television audiences and for many fans it is synonymous with snooker. The most successful players at the Crucible are Steve Davis, who won six times in the 1980s, and Stephen Hendry, who won seven times in the 1990s. Recently, the tournament has been more open, with six different players winning in the 2000s. In the 1985 final, Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis 18–17 on the final ball of the final frame, in one of the most closely contested matches of all time. It finished at 00:19 but was superseded as the latest finish first by the 2006 final (00:52 BST), then the 2007 final (00:55 BST).

A legislation in 2003 has placed restrictions on tobacco advertising, including sponsorship of sporting events. Embassy had a special dispensation to continue snooker sponsorship until 2005. The Championship is currently sponsored by Betfred.com, after 888.com pulled out of their five year sponsorship deal after three years.^[2]

On 15 April 2009, the World Snooker website announced that Betfred.com would be the new sponsor of the World Championship for the next four years.^[3]

On 27 April 2009, it was confirmed that the World Championships would stay at the Crucible for at least another five years (until 2014).^[4] On 30 April 2010 it was announced that this agreement was extended to 2015.^[5]

Winners

Top performers of the modern era

The 'modern' era is considered to start in 1969, when the championship reverted to a knock-out tournament format from a challenge format. In the modern game, the best record is that of Stephen Hendry, who has won seven times to date. Steve Davis won six times in the 1980s, as did Ray Reardon in the 1970s.

• Active players are shown in bold.
• Only players who reached the final are included.

General records and statistics

• The greatest number of wins of all time is fifteen, by Joe Davis. This was in an era when there were few professional players and far fewer matches required to win, and is unlikely to be beaten.
• The first maximum break in the championship was achieved by Cliff Thorburn in 1983. Ronnie O'Sullivan (1997, 2003, 2008) and Stephen Hendry (1995, 2009) are the only players to achieve the feat more than once. Jimmy White (1992), Mark Williams (2005) and Ali Carter (2008) are the other players to have made a maximum break at the World Championship.
• O'Sullivan's maximum in 1997 was, at 5 minutes 20 seconds, the fastest ever recorded in the professional game.
• The 2008 Championship was the first ranking tournament to produce two 147 breaks in the latter stages. They were scored by Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter.
• Fergal O'Brien is the only player to score a century in his first frame at the Crucible, which he did in 1994.
• The longest ever frame at the Crucible lasted 1 hour, 15 minutes, and was played between Stephen Maguire and Mark King in 2009.^[6]
• Stephen Hendry was the youngest ever champion when he won in 1990 aged 21.
• In the 2009 Championship, Stephen Hendry won his 1000th <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">frame</dfn> at the Crucible Theatre, against Ding Junhui.^[7]
• There have only ever been four champions from outside the United Kingdom: Horace Lindrum of Australia in 1952; Cliff Thorburn of Canada in 1980; Ken Doherty of Ireland in 1997 and Neil Robertson of Australia in 2010. Lindrum's official title is often discounted, as most of the best players did not compete.
• Surprise winners at the Crucible include Joe Johnson and Shaun Murphy, who won in 1986 and 2005 respectively against odds of 150–1 each, and Terry Griffiths, whose 1979 victory came in only his second professional tournament.
• Jimmy White has reached six finals, but has never won. The closest he came was 17–18 in 1994 against Stephen Hendry, on his 32nd birthday.
• Ronnie O'Sullivan is the only multiple finalist in the modern era to have never lost in a final.
• Ken Doherty is the only player to have won the world title at junior, amateur and professional level.
• Stephen Hendry holds the record for the longest unbeaten run at the Crucible Theatre. He won the Championship every year between 1992 and 1996, and continued unbeaten until the 1997 final.
• John Parrott is the only player to have recorded a whitewash in the final tournament. He beat Eddie Charlton 10–0 in the first round in 1992.
• Since the tournament has been held at the Crucible only two players have successfully defended the world title: Steve Davis in 1984, 1988 and 1989, and Stephen Hendry from 1993 to 1996. No player has successfully defended his first title at the Crucible, a fact known as the Crucible Curse.

Television coverage

BBC coverage of the competition was hosted from 1976 until 2000 by David Vine, with commentary by Ted Lowe, John Spencer, Clive Everton, Jack Karnehm, Ray Edmonds and others. From 2000–2009 the BBC coverage has been hosted by Hazel Irvine or Ray Stubbs. Since 2010 Hazel Irvine has taken over with highlights presented by Rishi Persad. Commentary is by a raft of ex-pros and current pros including Willie Thorne, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, John Parrott, Steve Davis, Ken Doherty, Stephen Hendry, Terry Griffiths and Neal Foulds. The BBC will continue to televise this event (along with three other tournaments) until at least 2011. IMG Media (initially as TWI) have produced the BBC's snooker coverage since 1998. Eurosport also provides coverage of the event.

References

External links

• Official website
• BBC Sport Snooker