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Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby LDS

SnookerFan wrote:What happened in 1985 again?

I forget.


Ivy the Terrible made her first appearance in The Beano and would go on to become one of the comic's most regular comic strips.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Reg Varney

SnookerFan wrote:What happened in 1985 again?

I forget.


Eastenders began

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Juddernaut88

English football clubs were banned from playing in Europe as well in 1985, I think it was 1990/1991 when they were allowed back in.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby SnookerFan

Juddernaut88 wrote:
SnookerFan wrote:What happened in 1985 again?

I forget.


Stephen Hendry turned professional.


Who?

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Iranu

SnookerFan wrote:
Juddernaut88 wrote:
SnookerFan wrote:What happened in 1985 again?

I forget.


Stephen Hendry turned professional.


Who?

Former World Seniors semi-finalist.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Wildey

I lived through the 80s boom first got in to Snooker in 1981 and after Alex Higgins won the WC in 1982 that was it for me and yea the 80s was a very special time to be a snooker fan. Barry Hearn said it all when he said Dallas with Balls but to suggest nothing happened after 1990 was far removed from any reality.

The only mention Ronnie had a note on flowers he sent in Alex Higgins Funeral and John and Mark who? Did they exist did i make that up?

Snooker has evolved players got better and without disrespecting Tony Knowles he was World no 2 but way way behind Steve Davis as a player.

I Think Tony at his best would struggle to make top 32 today.

Snooker has never been more competitive than it is today when we start next season that will be the best season ever with crowds back the tour on the move and the top 4 in the World going at it trying to win tournaments, but there is a very strong supporting cast headed by Shaun Murphy, John Higgins and Kyren Wilson.

Yea it will never be what it was in the 80s the Honeymoon Period, but we are getting stronger as a sport with the Golden Anniversary approaching in 9 years.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby SnookerFan

Iranu wrote:
SnookerFan wrote:
Juddernaut88 wrote:
SnookerFan wrote:What happened in 1985 again?

I forget.


Stephen Hendry turned professional.


Who?

Former World Seniors semi-finalist.


Factual.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Prop

Wildey wrote:I lived through the 80s boom first got in to Snooker in 1981 and after Alex Higgins won the WC in 1982 that was it for me and yea the 80s was a very special time to be a snooker fan. Barry Hearn said it all when he said Dallas with Balls but to suggest nothing happened after 1990 was far removed from any reality.

The only mention Ronnie had a note on flowers he sent in Alex Higgins Funeral and John and Mark who? Did they exist did i make that up?

Snooker has evolved players got better and without disrespecting Tony Knowles he was World no 2 but way way behind Steve Davis as a player.

I Think Tony at his best would struggle to make top 32 today.

Snooker has never been more competitive than it is today when we start next season that will be the best season ever with crowds back the tour on the move and the top 4 in the World going at it trying to win tournaments, but there is a very strong supporting cast headed by Shaun Murphy, John Higgins and Kyren Wilson.

Yea it will never be what it was in the 80s the Honeymoon Period, but we are getting stronger as a sport with the Golden Anniversary approaching in 9 years.


I concur.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Dragonfly

Wildey wrote:I lived through the 80s boom first got in to Snooker in 1981 and after Alex Higgins won the WC in 1982 that was it for me and yea the 80s was a very special time to be a snooker fan. Barry Hearn said it all when he said Dallas with Balls but to suggest nothing happened after 1990 was far removed from any reality.

The only mention Ronnie had a note on flowers he sent in Alex Higgins Funeral and John and Mark who? Did they exist did i make that up?

Snooker has evolved players got better and without disrespecting Tony Knowles he was World no 2 but way way behind Steve Davis as a player.

I Think Tony at his best would struggle to make top 32 today.

Snooker has never been more competitive than it is today when we start next season that will be the best season ever with crowds back the tour on the move and the top 4 in the World going at it trying to win tournaments, but there is a very strong supporting cast headed by Shaun Murphy, John Higgins and Kyren Wilson.

Yea it will never be what it was in the 80s the Honeymoon Period, but we are getting stronger as a sport with the Golden Anniversary approaching in 9 years.


Same for me. I began to watch snooker in 1983 and was instantly hooked. I thought it was the most interesting and fascinating sport I'd ever seen. It was so huge in the 80s, often making the front page of newspapers and leading stories on the main evening news.

I agree 100% about Knowles. He was number 2 in the world at one stage. But there was a chasm in standard between him and Davis, even taking the infamous 10-1 result into account. I think any top 64 player of today would beat the Knowles of 1983.

It's incredible really how far the standard has progressed. Remember the excitement if someone made 147 in the 80s. Nowadays we expect to see a dozen in a season, and all the top players have made multiple maximums.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby lhpirnie

Dragonfly wrote:...
It's incredible really how far the standard has progressed. Remember the excitement if someone made 147 in the 80s. Nowadays we expect to see a dozen in a season, and all the top players have made multiple maximums.

Yes, my first snooker memory was Terry Griffiths in 1979, and I remember all the matches from the 1980's vividly. But I've moved on now and after so many retrospectives I can no longer watch it.

However, I still have tremendous respect for the great players then, as I do for the greats we have seen in 'our' era in the early 21st century. Each generation raised the bar, as they needed to do.

Similarly, if snooker is able to progress, there will be stronger players yet to come. The game needs a future if history is not to be forgotten.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Prop

Mid-late 80s I started watching. I’ve just turned 40, and players like the class of 92 in their mid 40s now would have been drawn to that same era as kids.

The natural question is whether today’s snooker is going to inspire youngsters to get into the game like it did in the 80s. Or perhaps whether we’re likely to see players coming through soon that watched Ronnie in his prime as kids ten years ago for example. It’s difficult to pinpoint an era in recent years that might have anywhere near the potential to inspire as much as the 80s did. Going back further than say 2004 we’d probably be already aware now of any players that were inspired by the sport as youngsters at that time. The point I’m struggling to make is that we’re unlikely due an influx of new young snooker players any time soon. Nothing like we saw in the 90s on the back of the inspiration of the 80s.

As much as a sport can ignite interest and create future stars, it’s difficult to ignore the fact there were only 4 TV channels in the mid 80s. Snooker doesn’t have that advantage now.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby KrazeeEyezKilla

There will never be a generation like the one from the 90's again. There aren't anywhere near as many people watching Snooker and it isn't as accessible as it was plus there's isn't really the same structures for young players to develop. That's the reason why the 80's still casts a shadow.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby badtemperedcyril

Snooker Academies are great, like the two in Sheffield. How are they financed though? Presumably it’s not like a club where you put 50p in the meter for the table light. Setting them up as registered charities would open up various funding steams. Creating more academies over the UK is the way forward but it would need the support and backing of WSA.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby lhpirnie

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:There will never be a generation like the one from the 90's again. There aren't anywhere near as many people watching Snooker and it isn't as accessible as it was plus there's isn't really the same structures for young players to develop. That's the reason why the 80's still casts a shadow.

I disagree, but we don't really know. I guess you're mainly talking about the British scene.


If snooker does become fully international, there is huge potential. But I do agree that the structures at the moment aren't helping the players develop. Basically, it's all just about the current top guys, who are ageing.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Dragonfly

lhpirnie wrote:
KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:There will never be a generation like the one from the 90's again. There aren't anywhere near as many people watching Snooker and it isn't as accessible as it was plus there's isn't really the same structures for young players to develop. That's the reason why the 80's still casts a shadow.

I disagree, but we don't really know. I guess you're mainly talking about the British scene.


If snooker does become fully international, there is huge potential. But I do agree that the structures at the moment aren't helping the players develop. Basically, it's all just about the current top guys, who are ageing.


Yes, while I always enjoy the World Championship, one the the things missing in recent times is the emergence of an outstanding talent.

Trump of course isn't old. But he's been around a while now. Yan is obviously one to watch!!!. We could do with a really gifted new face or two.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby badtemperedcyril

I agree it would be nice to see a young player burst on to the scene and gave a really deep run at the Crucible, in the way that Kirk Stevens (1980), Jimmy White (1982) and Andy Hicks (1995) did.

Maybe a young Chinese player could do it soon, like a Zhao Xintong - he’s the kind of player that could capture the hearts of the Crucible crowd.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby shanew48

badtemperedcyril wrote:I agree it would be nice to see a young player burst on to the scene and gave a really deep run at the Crucible, in the way that Kirk Stevens (1980), Jimmy White (1982) and Andy Hicks (1995) did.

Maybe a young Chinese player could do it soon, like a Zhao Xintong - he’s the kind of player that could capture the hearts of the Crucible crowd.


Who can forget that memorable Andy Hicks WC run back in 1995 and as you say "burst on the scene"... it would seem most people, I wasn't even aware he did have a run, he should have burst onto that scene dressed more like Elton John at his concerts in the 80's in the states, then we would all remember that WC run! as it is it wasn't that memorable unfortunately.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby KrazeeEyezKilla

lhpirnie wrote:
KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:There will never be a generation like the one from the 90's again. There aren't anywhere near as many people watching Snooker and it isn't as accessible as it was plus there's isn't really the same structures for young players to develop. That's the reason why the 80's still casts a shadow.

I disagree, but we don't really know. I guess you're mainly talking about the British scene.


If snooker does become fully international, there is huge potential. But I do agree that the structures at the moment aren't helping the players develop. Basically, it's all just about the current top guys, who are ageing.


Yeah if Snooker was more international then you would see more players coming through.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby chengdufan

shanew48 wrote:
badtemperedcyril wrote:I agree it would be nice to see a young player burst on to the scene and gave a really deep run at the Crucible, in the way that Kirk Stevens (1980), Jimmy White (1982) and Andy Hicks (1995) did.

Maybe a young Chinese player could do it soon, like a Zhao Xintong - he’s the kind of player that could capture the hearts of the Crucible crowd.


Who can forget that memorable Andy Hicks WC run back in 1995 and as you say "burst on the scene"... it would seem most people, I wasn't even aware he did have a run, he should have burst onto that scene dressed more like Elton John at his concerts in the 80's in the states, then we would all remember that WC run! as it is it wasn't that memorable unfortunately.

I was 13 at the time of the Hicks run and do remember it well. It was very exciting as he played exceptionally good snooker to get that far. I desperately wanted him to win the whole thing and thought he was playing well enough to.
He didn't build on that run in his later career, but it is very memorable to those of us who were engrossed in the event at the time.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby badtemperedcyril

He reached the World, UK and Masters semi-finals yet bizarrely, his departure from the higher echelons was almost as sudden as his arrival. He didn’t even make it into the top 16 in the rankings. Exciting and fluent player nonetheless.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby KrazeeEyezKilla

It was the first World Championship I watched so I remember it. He was in the provisional Top 16 but missed after failing to qualify in 1996.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby HappyCamper

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... of-snooker

My cultural highlight of recent weeks has been the brilliant BBC documentary Gods of Snooker, about the time in the 1980s when the sport was a national obsession. Today’s puzzle describes a shot to malfunction the Romford Robot (above left) and put the Whirlwind (above right) in a spin.

Baize theorem

A square snooker table has three corner pockets, as below. A ball is placed at the remaining corner (bottom left). Show that there is no way you can hit the ball so that it returns to its starting position.

Image

The arrows represent one possible shot and how it would rebound around the table.
The arrows represent one possible shot and how it would rebound around the table.
The table is a mathematical one, which means friction, damping, spin and napping do not exist. In other words, when the ball is hit, it moves in a straight line. The ball changes direction when it bounces off a cushion, with the outgoing angle equal to the incoming angle. The ball and the pockets are infinitely small (i.e. are points), and the ball does not lose momentum, so that its path can include any number of cushion bounces.

I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution. (Do check it out, it presents a lovely ‘wow’ moment.) PLEASE NO SPOILERS. But feel free to comment about snooker.

One extra puzzle, for language lovers. When I lived in Brazil, I discovered that the Portuguese for ‘snooker’ is sinuca, pronounced ‘snooker’ even though the English and Portuguese words only share two letters, the ‘s’ and the ‘n’. In other words, only 2/6, or 1/3 of the letters in the translated word are in the original English word.

Does anyone have an example of an English word that has entered another language, and retains its English pronunciation, but has less than 1 in 3 of the original letters? Maybe there is an English transliteration that shares no letters with the English word at all?

(I don’t know if there are any, but would be intrigued to find out. Please post suggestions below the line.)

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Muller

I have always thought that Tony Knowles' number 2 ranking was a little misleading as - aside from that 1982 freak result - I never counted him as amongst Davis' primary challengers and rated him behind Griffiths, Higgins, Thorburn, White and Taylor. He was a decent player though, with a nice fluent style when performing well.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby badtemperedcyril

Muller wrote:I have always thought that Tony Knowles' number 2 ranking was a little misleading as - aside from that 1982 freak result - I never counted him as amongst Davis' primary challengers and rated him behind Griffiths, Higgins, Thorburn, White and Taylor. He was a decent player though, with a nice fluent style when performing well.

He did win 2 ranking titles at a time when there were only 2 of 3 ranking events in a season. Also 3 times World Championship semi-finalist. I think Tony was a serious challenger to Davis but only very briefly, like 82/83. The big Sun story was a big distraction to his career from which he never really recovered.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Andre147

Tony's big big letdown was not winning the 1983 Worlds Semi-Final v Thorburn.

He led 15-13 or something like that, and only one or two pots away from winning the match, and the bottled it badly, reminded me of Mike Hallett at The Masters Final in 1991.

Tony might not have won the title against a prime Davis in 83, but that defeat hurt him for other performances.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby Dragonfly

Andre147 wrote:Tony's big big letdown was not winning the 1983 Worlds Semi-Final v Thorburn.

He led 15-13 or something like that, and only one or two pots away from winning the match, and the bottled it badly, reminded me of Mike Hallett at The Masters Final in 1991.

Tony might not have won the title against a prime Davis in 83, but that defeat hurt him for other performances.


I doubt that Knowles would have pushed Davis too close if he had made it to the 83 final. But I do think he would have made it a closer contest than Thorburn did. I'm thinking something like 18-12 to Davis.

Knowles did have some notable wins at the Crucible. Obviously he had the 10-1 against Davis. I won't go trawling through his records now but I think he beat White there as well.

Re: Gods of Snooker

Postby SnookerEd25

Well, I'm a Knowles fan, so have compiled his Crucible record for the perusal of anybody interested :

1981 (unseeded)
R1 L 8-10 GRAHAM MILES (16)

1982 (unseeded)
R1 W 10-1 STEVE DAVIS (1)
R2 W 13-7 GRAHAM MILES (16)
QF L 11-13 EDDIE CHARLTON (8) (Knowles had led 11-6 at one stage)

1983 (seeded 15)
R1 W 10-3 Graham Miles
R2 W 13-12 RAY REARDON (2)
QF W 13-9 Tony Meo
SF L 15-16 CLIFF THORBURN (3) (never more than 2 frames in it either way, but TK led 15-13 and missed a straightforward pink for a 16-14 win)

1984 (seeded 4)
R1 L 7-10 John Parrott

1985 (seeded 2)
R1 W 10-8 Tony Jones
R2 W 13-6 DOUG MOUNTJOY (15)
QF W 13-10 JIMMY WHITE (7)
SF L 5-16 DENNIS TAYLOR (11)

1986 (seeded 4)
R1 W 10-9 Neal Foulds
R2 W 13-10 SILVINO FRANCISCO (13)
QF W 13-9 KIRK STEVENS (5)
SF L 8-16 JOE JOHNSON (16)

1987 (seeded 5)
R1 L 6-10 Mike Hallett

1988 (seeded 7)
R1 W 10-8 Danny Fowler
R2 W 13-7 Eddie Charlton
QF L 6-13 JIMMY WHITE (3)

1989 (seeded 8)
R1 L 6-10 David Roe

1990 (seeded 12)
R1 W 10-4 Tony Chappel
R2 L 6-13 TERRY GRIFFITHS (5)

1991(unseeded)
R1 W 10-8 JOHN VIRGO (14)
R2 L 1-13 JOHN PARROTT (3)

1992 (seeded 16)
R1 W 10-4 Mark Johnston-Allen
R2 L 4-13 JOHN PARROTT (1)