What I've always looked most forward to in a year: The world snooker tournament at Sheffield UK.😍

Where to start? Well, from about 1980 until 1998, Every single year, I watched the world snooker championship over the 2 odd weeks from the last 32 to the final table which is usually around the first week of May. I've also been to the "Final" 2 days on two occasions: 1992 and 1998 with my lovely dad who was the man that introduced me to the game of snooker at the age of 9 ....by the age of 26 I was playing semi-pro matches and quite dedicated to the sport one might say.😎

Nowadays, since I live abroad, I rarely see the matches blow by blow as I did televised in the UK, but I watch the highlights, talk to my mom about it as she still watches every year many of the matches over the 2 odd weeks at the age of 88 (she got hooked because of me and my dad were mad for it lol) and so to this day, even though I'm a very rusty player I still enjoy it immensely and look forward to that time each year; watching a bit but more importantly chatting with my mom about it from 10,000 km's away.😍

Now to the three favourite moments of world snooker from my memory. Yep some good and some bad too, one on the telly and two when I was actually there.😍😍😍

1985: Dennis Taylor versus the number one Steve Davis.

Well, lol, I made a post on this some months ago in SNOOKER and POOL if you wish to view. This is recognised by many as the most nail biting finish in snooker history and probably the best final there ever was. The final score was 18-17 to Taylor over Davis, who at this time in the 80's was unstoppable. It all came down to the very final ball being the black and to quote Wikipedia: "It finished at 00:19 and, with an audience of 18.5 million, it remains the most-watched programme in the history of BBC2, and holds the record for a post-midnight audience for any channel in the United Kingdom" ...and yes, I was one of those 18.5 million. It was incredible to watch, I loved every minute of it egging on the 'underdog', and kudos to Dennis for this one off victory being world champion in his life. Hey you only have to do it one time eh, all the others are just gravy IMO.😍 

1992: Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White. Get ready for a long story😎

I'd been playing at a high level for some 2 years, winning amateur competitions, playing in Pro-Am tournaments too with some respectful quarter-final results (often 128 starts so not too shabby). So I was good😎 My local club, which was a club in the Ritz snooker chain of clubs in Southern England (about 20 from memory) held a competition called "Speed Snooker": 3 official attempts only at potting yellow to black (6 balls off the spots) in the quickest time you could achieve. The competition run simultaneously the same night across all the Ritz clubs with about 900 players giving it a go ...the prize: An all expenses paid trip to the world final at the crucible in Sheffield.😲 A huge prize for its day as tickets and hotels weren't cheap and like rocking horse shit to get tickets for all 4 sessions to the world final. Lol, I won it outright with a time of 24.9 seconds on my 2nd attempt (afaik the world record is about 19 seconds) and that is pretty effing quick😲 If you ever want to try. let me know how you get on with this😂😲🙄

So, for 2 people, and a no-brainer, take my lovely dad with me. So off we went for the 3 nights at the Grosvenor hotel which was also the official hotel for the world snooker and the 'after party' too. We watched Jimmy White up against the then unstoppable number one Stephen Hendry and so it was a real treat as Jimmy was one of my favourite players at the time. After the first day and 2 sessions he was 14 to 8 in frames up against the final 7 time world champion Hendry ( a record that Ronnie O'Sullivan just recently equaled) and looked to be cruising his way to grab his 1st world title which he so deserved (to this day, he never became a world champion; so deserved to be yet wasn't meant to be). The next day Hendry came out like a beast and from memory also made 7 century breaks in the next 10 frames to then beat Jimmy White 18-14; it was just unbelievable sitting there watching this right in front of your eyes and being able to do nothing to sway the result. All credit to Stephen Hendry to come out 'guns a blazin' like this, but sad for the fans like me and my dad too. That was the bad part to the story, but the after party, which me and my dad had VIP passes to also was great🍺🍺🍺. It was such a treat for me and my dad and my dad loved every minute of this trip.😍

1998: Ken Doherty versus John Higgins. Why not, treat my dad😍

This time, "No free ride" but I was doing ok for cash so I treated my dad to another time around. However, tickets again rocking horse shit and even though I requested all 4 sessions, I only got 3; the first day and the final session on the last day. Ok, still going anyhow, no worries😎 Booked what was then a new hotel in Sheffield and only open a handful of months: The Starkis hotel and not so far from the crucible either, and lol was very popular and booked by many of the snooker pros too.😍

So off we go and what a lovely hotel it was. Watched the first two sessions and was good (I forget the score). That night with a bit of luck we were in the lobby/bar area in the hotel for a drink and along comes Cliff Thorburn (1980 World Champion, Canadian and the first non-uk winner of it ever) and we were in luck. Me, my dad, Cliff, and Len Ganley (top referee in world snooker at the time) sat down had a laugh, ate some food, and downed a few drinks. That was priceless and such an honour for me and my dad to be sat with a legend having a casual laugh and a chat.🙏

Our luck didn't finish there🙏 The next day, we didn't have a ticket for the third session, but I said to my dad, let's just go up to the crucible and see if we can buy some tickets outside ..never know yer luck. But nope, no one would sell us these golden tickets.😰 We were just about to admit defeat and leave as only about 5 minutes until the actual start and along comes none other than Sir Jeffery Archer with two body guards; Sir Jeffery was the chairman at that time of  the WBPSA (The snooker association) and walked past me and my dad. My cheeky dad said to him: "Alright for some eh, don't have to buy your ticket !!!". Little did I know at the time, as Sir Jeffery didn't respond, but it struck a chord in him and a couple of minutes later one of his big bodyguards came rushing out and said "Come with me !". Oh blimey, me and my dad were gob-smacked !!!. We were led up to the "royal box" where all the big boys sit to watch the snooker, a place reserved for the famous and so on along with Sir Jeffery. Like wow ! There we were being treated by others as like a "made-man" lol. Sir Jeffery leant across and said: "Now you don't have to pay either !!!" I never saw my dad become that humble so quick and it sure made our final day the most memorable I have of world snooker to this day.🙏

From that too, Sir Jeffery gave me and my dad back-stage passes so we took advantage of that and lol, afterparty passes at the Grosvenor hotel which we went to and I shook hands with John Higgins on his first world snooker victory against Doherty.😍😍😍

So there you have it, and my long essay🙏

Firstly, if you got this far then well done. 😍 I couldn't not mention all my three favourite memories of world snooker as to me they were all amazing in their own right. Dennis Taylor on the telly was awesome, winning the tickets and going was great but bittersweet as to Jimmy's defeat. But the last one with me, my dad, Cliff, and Sir Jeffery was just so super lucky and so memorable that me and my dad talked about this for years to come. It leaves a lump in my throat writing about it now; RIP dad miss you for the last 7 years. But hey, I get to see my lovely mom in person in 8 days time after 3 years apart due to all this covid stuff restricting travel, and sure we'll talk some more green baise. 😍 Snooker: In my heart and in the heart of my family too. 🙏

Cheers, CryptoGlyn. 🦆