During
the fifties and sixties snooker suffered a lengthy decline
in its fortunes, primarily due to the lack of positive marketing
and promotion but also because of the lack of new players
for viewers to watch. There was little or no snooker coverage
in the national press and the national game was seemingly
more interested in developing amateur stars, rather than
the six active professional players at this time.
Things
began to change in the late sixties as a number of corporate
bodies began to consider the sport as a useful media tool
to reach their target audience. Although press coverage
remained non-existent, John Player (a tobacco company) began
to sponsor individual professional players in exhibition
matches, in an attempt to reach the large market which snooker,
social and and working mens clubs represented.
Around
this time in 1968, a new snooker player was beginning to
emerge from the amateur ranks. His name was Alex Higgins
and he would become one of the most famous sporstman in
Britain and arguably the nost famous snooker player of all
time.
Soon
after the 1968 World Championships Higgins became the youngest
ever winner of the Northern Ireland Amateur title at the
age of 18 and followed this up by almost single-handedly
winning the British Team Championships for Belfast YMCA.
Following
Reardon's 37 - 33 victory over Pullman in the 1970 World
Championships, and Spencer's win against Warren Simpson
in 1971, Alex moved from Ireland to Lancashire, England
in an attempt to break into mainstream British snooker.
He was the talk of the county as no-one had previously seen
a player seemingly so reckless, but who seldom seemed to
miss. Off 14 start, he played Spencer in numerous challenge
matches for £200 a match, winning the first 23-18.
The
1972 World title began in its new format in March 1971,
within Higgins drawn to play Ron Gross at a snooker club
in Ealing. Higgins was
never in danger and won easily 16-5. Gross was a three times
English amateur champion in the 1960,s but never looked
like beating Alex.
A
break in the World Championships, saw Alex play Jack Rea
for the Irish title. Higgins beat him 28-12 to become Irish
champion, but was then drawn to play him again, this time
in the World Championships, with Higgins winning 19-11.
Into the quarter finals, Higgins then played John Pullman
and defeated him 31-23 to move into the semi finals against
Rex Williams. This match was extremely close throughout,
with Williams 12-6 up, then 26-25 behind, befoe the match
levelled at 30 frames apiece. The last frame was a little
scappy due to the extreme pressure of the occasion, but
Higgins potted the final green to book his place in the
final against John Spencer.
Spencer
was the pre-match favourite but Higgins was in superb form
and playing with huge confidence. Early in the final session
Higgins clinched the title 37-32 and became the game's youngest
ever snooker world champion. No-one would envisage a ten
year gap before Higgins was crowned world champion again.
Following his title victory Higgins quickly became the highest
profile player in the sport, enhanced when a Thames TV documentary
about him took 25th place in the television ratings for
that week.
The
build up to the 1973 title again centred around Alex but
there was to be no repeat victory. After beating Fred Davis
16-14 in the quarter finals, Higgins lost 23-9 to Eddie
Charlton in the semi's. Reardon meanwhile was defeating
Spencer in the other semi-final and after numerous twists
and turns defeated Charlton 38-32 in the final.
Alex
meanwhile was making the news wherever he went. Broken committments,
damaged hotel rooms and excessive drinking stories seemed
to follow him daily. The 1974 championships saw him beat
Bennett 15-4 in the second round but lose to Fred Davis
15-14 in the quarter finals. Reardon however was making
steady progress on his way to the winning his second consecutive
title 22-12 against Graham Miles.
The
1975 championship saw Alex beat David Taylor 15-2 in the
second round and then Rex Williams 19-12 in the quarter
finals. In the semi final Higgins drew Ray Reardon and the
match was evenly poised at 10-10 before Reardon won 9 of
the next 13 to win 19-14. Reardon went on to beat Charlton
31-30 to win the title for the third consecutive year.
1976
saw the first Embassy sponsored snooker world championships,
with Higgins reaching the final after wins over Thorburn
15-14 in the 
second
round, Spencer 15-14 in the quarter finals and Charlton
20-18 in the semi finals. The final did not go well for
Alex with Reardon playing a steady if unspectaular game
on his way to winning, with a session to spare 27-16 . In
numerous frames Alex conceded frames with reds still on
the table.
Following
the first Embassy sponsored championships, Reardon won the
Pontins Professional, whilst newcomer Doug Mountjoy won
the Pontins Open for the second time in three years and
also the Welsh Amateur. Higgins beat Reardon to win the
Canadian Club Masters, which was subsequently shown by Yorkshire
television. Charlton beat Reardon to win the World Professional
Matchplay championship, a result which created confusion
as to who was now the official world snooker champion.
The
1977 championships were moved from the venue in Wythenshaw
which held the '76' final and relocated to the Crucible
Theatre in Sheffield. This decision immediately proved to
be hugely successful with 20,000 spectators watching over
the fortnight of the competition.
Alex
lost a pulsating first round match with Doug Mountjoy 13-12.
From 10-12 down Higgins won the next two to level at 12-12.
After leading for most of the frame a missed pink allowed
Doug in to recover to make it a black ball shoot out. Afetr
two or three shots apiece, Mountjoy potted the black to
win. Meanwhile Spencer was making steady progress, defeating
Virgo 13-9, Reardon 13-6 and Pulman 18-16 to meet Cliff
Thorburn in the final. Thorburn in his first final played
very well, but Spencer's experience stood him in good stead
as he recorded a 25-21 victory.
Following
the 1977 championships, Higgins won the Pontins Professional
from 864 entries and the Canadian Open after beating Reardon
and Spencer in the last two rounds. The BBC had committed
to televising the final of the Benson and Hedges Masters,
(which Higgins won 7-5 against Thorburn), Pot Black and
the final of the UK championships. BBC's decision to cover
daily sessions of the 1978 Embassy championships however,
gave snooker wide spread media coverage, raising profile
and awareness of the game to a new level. This was the single
most influential decision made in the history of snooker.
Broadcasting
live matches was still deemed to be extremely risky, as
a boring frame could eat away valuable airtime. This was
overcome with 
the
two-table coverage and selected moments form matches being
shown on the television. No-one could possibly anticiapte
the television success story of the 1978 championships.
On the first Monday there was an audience of five million
for the recorded highlights. On the Wednesday, six million
people tuned in and by the end of the championship fortnight
over seven million people were regularly watching sessions.
In
the first round their were two last frame losers. Unfortunately
for the viewers, Alex lost 13-12 to Patsy Fagan from 12-10
in front. The 23rd frame was won on a tie-break the 24th
on a black ball finish and the decider on the last pink.
The other last farem loser was Willie Thorne, defeated 13-12
by Charlton from 12-9 in front. The tension was unbearable,
the coverage impeccable. Televised viewers loved it.
Fred
Davis and Perrie Mans progressed to one sem-final, whilst
the other was between Eddie Charlton and Ray Reardon. Mans
came through 18-16 against Davis, while Reardon beat Charlton
18-14. The final was split at 10 all, before Reardon built
up an 18-14 lead at the end of the fourth session. Mans
recovered to 18-17 before Reardon responded with seven frames
out of eight to win his sixth and last world crown 25-18.
Unfortunately,
this championship saw the great Joe Davis taken ill whilst
watching his brother Fred in the semi-finals. Complaining
of back pains Joe was taken from the arena to his hotel
and the following day to the hospital. An operation saw
him through the crisis, but he never fully recovered and
died six weeks later. A true sporting gentleman and one
of the primary reasons for snooker's growth and success,
Joe's death was a tragic loss to the game.
Alex's
form in 1979 was somewhat sporadic. Doug Mountjoy defeated
him in the Uk championship's at Preston and Perrie Mans
beat him 8-4 to take the Benson and Hedges Masters at Wembley,
without making a 50 break in the entire competition. Reardon
beat him 11-9 to take the Daily Mirror Champion of Champions,
but Alex responded by winning the Tolly Cobold Classic and
the first prize of £750 in an open tournament at the
Castle Club.
The
build up to the 1979 World Championships saw a number of
new players introduced into the tournament. One of them
was Steve Davis. 
Slowly
but surely the status quo was changing, with the older established
players finding things harder as fierce competition raised
the overall standard. Another new entrant was Welshman Terry
Griffiths, playing in his first world championships. For
him to go on and win the title was a remarkable achievement
for someone with very little experience of long matches
condensed into a fortnight's play. After beating Perrie
Mans in the first round he was then drawn to play Alex in
round two.
Higgins
lost the first frame after a 61 clearance from Terry, but
then made consecutive centuries of 105 and 112 and looked
all set for a third until he broke down unexpectedly on
45 in the fourth frame. Griffiths cleared with 63 to win
on the black and levelled at 2-2. Higgins then won the next
four to finish at 6-2. The next session Griffiths won the
last three to level at 8-8, before the next six frames were
shared with the match level at 11-11. The following session
saw all the frames shared before Griffiths clinched the
decider with a break of 107. Many argued that this was one
of the best matches ever seen at the Crucible Theatre.
Griffith's
then defeated Charlton in a titanic struggle in the sem-final,
a match that was in stark contrast to the quarter final
with Alex. Long bouts of safety play and tactics saw the
final session last over five hours, but Griffith's stayed
focused and emerged triumphant 19-17. In the other semi-final
Dennis Taylor beat John Virgo 19-12 to book his place in
the final for the first time after suffering the disappointment
of two losing sem-finals.
The
final was the best of 47 frames, spread over three days
as opposed to the 35 frames over two days format, which
would take place in 1980. After levelling at 15-15, Griffith's
then moved into a 17-16 lead before winning the next seven
frames on his way to the title and a winning margin of 24-16.
No
individual is bigger than the game, but every now and then
along comes a special player whose name becomes synonymous
with their chosen sport.
Alex
(Hurricane) Higgins is one such player.
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