Interesting by Steve Davis
Author:Steve Davis [Davis, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473502482
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
14. THE BLACK BALL AND THE MISSED GREEN
In hindsight, I believe the turning point was a missed green by me in the ninth frame when I was 8–0 up.
It is the 1985 Embassy World Championship final at the Crucible and my opponent, the bespectacled Dennis Taylor, is sitting motionless in his chair as I comfortably work my way towards a 9–0 lead.
I am in full control of the match as I decide to take on a pot down the side cushion to secure, most likely, another frame. My thinking is that, if I miss, I might be safe anyway as the brown is close to and covering the same pocket. So, I talk myself into going for it and – at 8–0 up and cruising – what could possibly go wrong?
I miss it. Dennis, who has been struggling to find the end of his tip with the chalk – never mind the pockets – drags himself up from his chair and proceeds to win his first frame of the match. Relieved, he enjoys the moment and the crowd cheer his valiant effort, happy for him that he has at least one frame on the board.
I sit in my chair and shake my head. I know I have let him off the hook. What I don’t know is that the whole story of the match is just about to change …
Thirty years on, I still wonder if World Championship history would now be different and whether the most famous match in the history of snooker – the black ball final – would have played out the way it did, if I had just played safe on that green?
Improvements to the world ranking system had been a long time coming. It was also vital for the powers that be to recognise that the Coral UK Championship was outdated. It was a closed event for players from the UK. The likes of Cliff Thorburn and Kirk Stevens – ranked third and fourth in the world at the time – couldn’t play in it on account of being Canadian. It was backwards thinking and it needed to change. Thankfully, it did. In November 1984, the event became a ranking tournament for the first time and it was now open to all players from all nations. It was not a year too soon.
All the players had reluctantly accepted the previous situation but I don’t think any of us thought it was right. The Benson & Hedges Masters was invitation only but that competition had its own identity. The WPBSA statement behind changing the UK Championship to an open event was an acknowledgement of what had to be done for the future of snooker. It was a massive turning point. A lot of us had fought our way – tooth and nail – past draconian, historic rules and regulations as amateurs to get to where we were and we were still fighting for more changes to be made at professional level.
This was a significant step in
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