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How did you come to love snooker

Postby Rocket_ron

Hi everyone.

With sonnys statement Here It made me think back to when i came to love snooker.

It happened in may 1999 it was the final of the 1999 world snooker championship, and i loved it. I was 13 at the time and parents being parents said "come on its bed time" I was gutted & i was just getting into it, i can remember my mum coming in my room to wake me up to tell me "stephen hendry has won, come on I'll let you watch it" which led me to think hang on why didn't you just let me stay up i've only been in bed an hour, and secondly a bit dissapointed that hendry had won cos i was really impressed with mark williams. I can remember laughing when david vine interviewed mark williams and mark williams saying something about "I will have to send back the ferrari back I've orded."

That was it no more snooker on tv till autum. well at the time i was a paperboy and I can rember going to the shop the next morning and my friend was in there collecting his round, i said to him did you watch the snooker which he replied "yes, i wish i could have a ferrari" I laughed and said "do you like mark williams then?" he said "yes and i like Ronnie O'Sullivan" I can remember thinking i haven't got clue who this o'sullivan bloke is so i will stick with williams. all that summer me and anthony robinson played at our local snooker center called spot on. i went out and brought a plain cue, then he went and brought a jimmy white bce cue. So then I wanted a bce cue so i went to local sports shop for a bce cue, to find the only bce cues they had were Ronnie O'Sullivan bce cues, so i brought that any way. We continued to play snooker in the six weeks holidays whenever we could 9 times out of 10 i would beat him, i can remember him being a sore loser and just walking off leaving me to collect the balls and play.
Well the summer was over and the new snooker season started, my family didn't have sports channels so could only view bbc snooker but i wasn't disappointed i loved seeing mark williams win matches that season he was runner up to higgins in grandprix but won the uk and world and i also remember ken doherty missing black for 147 in the masters. I was happy that mark williams won the world championship to go one better than the year before. That was it another season gone and i had mark williams and ken doherty as my top favourite players. how that was about to change.

the next season came and the first tourney was on itv instead of bbc and it was the champions cup and in the final was my fav player mark williams and this ronnie o'sullivan..... well well well a BIG turning point ronnie won the match and i can remember him crying about this win is for his dad etc. I was both touched and impressed by this fellar that i wantrd to know more. around that time my dad had the internet installed... sorry dad but your not having a go on it. I can remember making my own little folders with stats photos etc most from off WWWSnooker and google.
Somehow and i cant remember why but i droped mark williams for ronnie and i was ronnie mad, dont forget i had already got a ronnie cue.at school i would be turning up at morning registation walking in the room shouting "come on ronnie" "ronnie's won this Ronnie's done that" i can remember taping some footage of ronnie's 1997 147 onto a vhs and taking it into school, i made my mates watch it in the sicence store room, of course they didn't even understand what a 147 was never mind 5mins 20secs.
I have contiued to follow snooker since then, but as i have said before i became fanatical about ronnie to the point that i hated his opponants. And as everyone knows since 2000 onwards ronnies major rivals was mark williams and higgins so i hated them.
But i have grown up now 11 years later i enjoy snooker in a different view now, i've grown up and out of ronnie and i now view mark williams and higgins like i used to. I like most players o'sullivan, williams, higgins, robertson, Ding, ,murphy. the only players i cant seem to like is ebdon and selby. but i'm working on selby but ebdon a defo no no.

so thats how i came to love snooker. I would be happy to read other peoples stories

Re: How did you come to love snooker

Postby Roland

That is great stuff excellent_rocketron - so good I think it deserves a spot on the blog. I'll have to reassess in the morning though because I've had a few Nut Brown Councils tonight.

Seriously though I really enjoyed reading that from the perspective of an influential teenager and how I remember that time. When I was 13 everything revolved around Jimmy White, I hated it when he got beaten and I hated all his opponents, especially Hendry! I also missed the 1982 final because I had to go to bed, obviously 1983 finished a session early but I was allowed to stay up for 1984 and I can remember me and my mum cheering on Jimmy but when it got to 17-16 we both felt sorry for Davis and started cheering for him, but when he won I was gutted! And I missed out on 1985, I'd followed it the whole way through. I'm sure if my parents had known what was to come I would've been allowed to stay up but I had to leave the action at 15-15 I think. I woke up the next morning and I had a message by my bed which said "Dennis won!" and I was so happy.

If only I'd known then what I know now :redneck:

Once it got to 1986 I was allowed to stay up so I remember all the finals. By 1999 which is when you first joined the action Mark Williams had taken over from Jimmy White as my favourite player a couple of years before. I just remember Hendry being awesome in the final. He was way more methodical than he was previously, he'd slowed down and he didn't look like missing a ball. He was clearly on a mission and Williams did well to get 11 frames. I was gutted but not, because I was old enough to appreciate how well Hendry played, and I got my reward the following year with that masterful comeback from 13-7 by Williams.

Anyway, I'm pleased you've come out the other side of the O'Sullivan thing. He is a genius and everyone loves watching him but if he retired tomorrow it's complete bullocks that snooker would die without him. He's a legend but so was Alex Higgins who famously said when asked the question "can you live without snooker Alex?" replied "can snooker live without me?"

The answer was obviously yes.

Re: How did you come to love snooker

Postby Wildey

2 great stories

someday ill write mine but at the moment i haven't got the patience to write it

Re: How did you come to love snooker

Postby Tubberlad

Well rocketron, amazingly, I began watching snooker during the 1999 World Championships also, I was only around six at the time. I remember being totally in awe at how good John Higgins was, and couldn't believe it when Mark Williams beat him in the semi-finals. Was delighted Hendry won the final <laugh>

Re: How did you come to love snooker

Postby Rocket_ron

thetubberlad wrote:Well rocketron, amazingly, I began watching snooker during the 1999 World Championships also, I was only around six at the time. I remember being totally in awe at how good John Higgins was, and couldn't believe it when Mark Williams beat him in the semi-finals. Was delighted Hendry won the final <laugh>


6 year old, makes me feel old. ;) yes i can remember a few frames of that semi with williams, can remember higgins getting rarther upset

Re: How did you come to love snooker

Postby TobyDunmoreSnookerjunkie

:D :D :D :D Snooker still makes me very happy I follow it above 7 years mark-Williams:Ken Doherty at the worlds was my first complete match some short sessions before this.
I am a great fan of the tactical fellows like Doherty Ebdon and currently Selby or so. But as a true follower of passion nth excels Hendry or Ronnie or Higgins if they are on top.
Ive come to love Eurosports as I am in a wheelchair I can't play myselves..
This forum lokks very competent not so much nonsens as on the BBC site.

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Postby TobyDunmoreSnookerjunkie

Where are u from?? I am a proud Scot living at the outskirts of Inverness. I am still sorry I missed the 80s and 90s in Snooker spotted many finals on Youtube or DVD but as I was not familiar with snooker( and our family men soccer or rugby fans) these classic battles ran without me watching :ashamed: No Davis-Taylor climax for Toby :grrr: But I caught up with it later as I am prob a good candidate for the Asperger debate this may not surprise u :)
However Ronnie Mark Williams I predict for sunday ev Ronnie to win 9:7
Cheers see u
Toby

Re: How did you come to love snooker

Postby gallantrabbit

My first glimpse of snooker was in about '79. I was one I think :sad: no I wasn't. I was 10.
I was hooked from minute one. Don't know if it was the hushed atmpsphere the colour contrast or what but I was glued. I think I saw pot black first and someone like Graham Miles first; never one of the game's more glamourous characters, but I was still glued.
So I was already sunk. Committed to years of marriage to snooker by Graham Miles.
And then one day Alex Higgins was on. And I was lost forever....Rock and f@#%ing roll!! Incredible. I even supported him against Jimmy in the 1982 semi which I just can't comprehend now!!
That was my beginning <cool>

Re: How did you come to love snooker

Postby Rocket_ron

gallantrabbit wrote:My first glimpse of snooker was in about '79. I was one I think :sad: no I wasn't. I was 10.
I was hooked from minute one. Don't know if it was the hushed atmpsphere the colour contrast or what but I was glued. I think I saw pot black first and someone like Graham Miles first; never one of the game's more glamourous characters, but I was still glued.
So I was already sunk. Committed to years of marriage to snooker by Graham Miles.
And then one day Alex Higgins was on. And I was lost forever....Rock and f@#%ing roll!! Incredible. I even supported him against Jimmy in the 1982 semi which I just can't comprehend now!!
That was my beginning <cool>

very enjoyable read there gallant <ok>