Jimmy White v Kirk Stevens 1984 World Semi

Found this little beauty on youtube





They are pretty much going for everything in sight. Kirk was a hell of a potter. Note a young Willie Thorne in commentary in the first four frames whose voice sounds almost female.

I've watched the first part which is the whole of session 2 (of 4) in the Friday afternoon Crucible slot as it was broadcast live on BBC2. Well worth a watch for those that remember it first time around as well as those too young to remember.

Is that all of it? Because if it is that's 30 frames in 3 and a half hours.

Donald Sutherland came in to the Conference Centre came in to the arena when White was leading 5-3, saw Kirk's 147, and then left. It was the only live frame of snooker he has ever seen!

I was in the 3rd year of school at the time, and bunked off school to see Kirk's first round match with 'The Silver Fox', which Kirk won 5-1. As the match was one sided, the 2 players agreed to play an exhibition frame after the match. This wouldn't happen today.

That was the Masters a few months before this Crucible clash.

No Skullman, it's a 7 frame session in the first clip which Kirk wins 5-2 (5-3 down to 8-7 lead), then the second clip looks like a late night BBC non-live coverage possibly after breaking off from live coverage of the first 4 frames of that session earlier in the evening. So the second clip is from 14-12 to White to 16-14.

Roland wrote:That was the Masters a few months before this Crucible clash.

No Skullman, it's a 7 frame session in the first clip which Kirk wins 5-2 (5-3 down to 8-7 lead), then the second clip looks like a late night BBC non-live coverage possibly after breaking off from live coverage of the first 4 frames of that session earlier in the evening. So the second clip is from 14-12 to White to 16-14.

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Sorry, I didn't fully read the article. I remember both players were ill at the start of the World Semi. White had food poisoning, and Stevens had a throat infection. White went 5-1 up, and Stevens did well to reduce that to 3-5 after the first session. Stevens played very well in the second session to lead 8-7, and 11-8, but got tense, and Whit capitalised.

Saw this match a few months ago on Youtube and yeah it was absolutely amazing, players going for everything, safety only when there truly was no pot available. Bit similar to that classic match also Jimmy had with Alex 2 years prior to that in 1982 when Alex made that famous 69 clearance.

Kirk was such a good player it was a shame his drug and cocaine problems prevented him from reaching new heights in the game, he could have definately won at least one of the Big Titles like Masters, UK or even Worlds.

Anyway, fact is this will forever remain a classic match at the Crucible.

You can see that they wouldn't get away with such games today, there are moments when they both lash at the white and miss the pot by miles but get another chance because the opponent does the same. But when they start potting you can see these were two talented kids back in 1984.

Roland wrote:You can see that they wouldn't get away with such games today, there are moments when they both lash at the white and miss the pot by miles but get another chance because the opponent does the same. But when they start potting you can see these were two talented kids back in 1984.

Times have changed, conditions have changed. If a player has the mental resolve, and the skill, they would adapt to playing in any era.

The entertainment these guys gave were better than anything you will see today.

I'm not saying Kirk or Jimmy wouldn't adapt today, and the conditions haven't changed so much that you can't play today's game on that table because you pretty much can. What you wouldn't see today is such cavalier snooker. It's great to watch but a lot of mistakes go unpunished.

I'd say they'd be in the 65-128 bracket today playing as they do in that semi-final. It's like watching a match between two lower ranked pro Chinese kids today.