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Cyril's Top 50!

Postby badtemperedcyril

Important to establish what constitutes greatness before attempting to rank players from different era's. Modern day players have the advantage of learning from everything that's gone before them. Joe Davis on the other hand, had to learn it all for himself. I'm pretty sure that the great "Champions" will generally rise to the top regardless of era because of their self belief to succeed and be the best.

Cyril's Top 50...

1 Ronnie O'Sullivan
2 Stephen Hendry
3 John Higgins
4 Steve Davis
5 Joe Davis
6 Mark Williams
7 Ray Reardon
8 Mark Selby
9 Alex Higgins
10 Judd Trump
11 Jimmy White
12 Neil Robertson
13 Fred Davis
14 John Spencer
15 John Pulman
16 Ding Junhui
17 John Parrott
18 Peter Ebdon
19 Cliff Thorburn
20 Terry Griffiths
21 Shaun Murphy
22 Ken Doherty
23 Walter Donaldson
24 Matthew Stevens
25 Stuart Bingham
26 Paul Hunter
27 Dennis Taylor
28 Graeme Dott
29 Stephen Maguire
30 Doug Mountjoy
31 Joe Johnson
32 Horace Lindrum
33 Ali Carter
34 Eddie Charlton
35 Mark Allen
36 James Wattana
37 Alan McManus
38 Tony Knowles
39 Neal Foulds
40 Barry Hawkins
41 Stephen Lee
42 Marco Fu
43 Kyren Wilson
44 Nigel Bond
45 Gary Owen
46 Pat Houlihan
47 Sidney Smith
48 Willie Thorne
49 Perrie Mans
50 Kirk Stevens

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby Johnny Bravo

This is a nice list.
Nice of you o include Joe Davis, he probably deserves cause of what he has done for the sport. :-)

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby SnookerEd25

A very considered & intelligent list, probably the best i’ve seen of it’s ilk.

Nice one, Cyril <ok>

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby Ck147

Swap Robbo and Trump and you have a decent list, but be ready to swap them back in the next 12 months :)

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby Cloud Strife

SnookerEd25 wrote:A very considered & intelligent list, probably the best i’ve seen of it’s ilk.

Nice one, Cyril <ok>


Yes, I believe Cyril's list should now be considered the official one as far as the all-time rankings are concerned.

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby chengdufan

Good list, I like this one. Will be interesting to see how many places Jimmy rises after he wins the WC.

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby Dragonfly

I have doubts about having Kirk Stevens on any list of greats. He's fondly thought of by snooker fans. Ultimately never won anything

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby The_Abbott

Should I know who Horace Lindrum is? Should I be ashamed?

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby badtemperedcyril

The_Abbott wrote:Should I know who Horace Lindrum is? Should I be ashamed?
Horace Lindrum was Australian and nephew of Walter Lindrum, the greatest billiard player who ever lived. Horace was the first world class snooker player to provide a serious challenge to Joe Davis. He won his first Australian Professional Snooker title in 1931 aged 19, came to England in 1935 and became an instant hit with the British public. He easily won through to the final of the World Championship at his first attempt, where he led Joe going into the last day 27-24 but Joe won ten straight frames to retain his title, 34-27 (winning lead at 31-27). The following year, he and Joe met in the final again, this time Joe winning 32-29 (winning lead 31-28). After the war, in 1946, Horace reached the final for a third time, where he again lost to Joe, 78-67 (winning lead 73-62). Joe then retired from Championship play. In 1952, there was trouble between the leading professionals and the governing body, the Billiards Association & Control Council. The players believed they weren't getting a fair share of the gate money from Championship matches and that the game wasn't being run properly on a commercial basis. There were also disputes over the "play again" rule, which the BA&CC refused to adopt. It all came to a head when the players (under Joe Davis's chairmanship of the Players Association) decided to boycott the BA&CC sanctioned World Championship in favour of their own event billed as the World Professional "Match-play" Championship. Lindrum, meanwhile had fallen out with the other players over his handicap in the News of the World tournament (also his wife was employed as secretary of the BA&CC) and therefore submitted his entry to the Championship in the usual way. Clark McConachy, the veteran New Zealand billiards player, also entered, out of a sense of loyalty to the BA&CC after they'd given him the opportunity to win the vacant World Professional Billiards title. Thus, Lindrum and McConachy were the only two entrants with the former winning a farce of a match at Manchester's Houldsworth Hall, by the marathon score, 94-49 (winning lead 73-37). For the next five years he toured extensively all over not only Australia but also South Africa and Asia as the "World Champion" until relinquishing the title and handing the trophy back to the BA&CC in 1957. There's little doubt, Horace Lindrum is by far the most travelled billiards and snooker player ever and his exhibition matches were good value. He had a great repertoire of trick shots and amazing "finger spins" - aided by the fact he had double jointed fingers. In 1970 he became the first man to make 1,000 century breaks in public matches - although this feat has been since disputed. He died in 1974 age 62.
Last edited by badtemperedcyril on 10 Nov 2020, edited 4 times in total.

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby The_Abbott

badtemperedcyril wrote:
The_Abbott wrote:Should I know who Horace Lindrum is? Should I be ashamed?
Horace Lindrum was Australian and nephew of Walter Lindrum, the greatest billiard player who ever lived. Horace was the first world class snooker player to provide a serious challenge to Joe Davis. He won his first Australian Professional Snooker title in 1931 aged 19, came to England in 1935 and became an instant hit with the British public. He easily won through to the final of the World Championship at his first attempt, where he led Joe going into the last day 27-24 but Joe won ten straight frames to retain his title, 34-27 (winning lead at 31-27). The following year, he and Joe met in the final again, this time Joe winning 32-29 (winning lead 31-28). After the war, in 1946, Horace reached the final for a third time, where he again lost to Joe, 78-67 (winning lead 73-62). Joe then retired from Championship play. In 1952, there was trouble between the leading professionals and the governing body, the Billiards Association & Control Council. The players believed they weren't getting a fair share of the gate money from Championship matches and that the game wasn't being run properly on a commercial basis. There were also disputes over the "play again" rule, which the BA&CC refused to adopt. It all came to a head when the players (under Joe Davis's chairmanship of the Players Association) decided to boycott the BA&CC sanctioned World Championship in favour of their own event billed as the World Professional "Match-play" Championship. Lindrum, meanwhile had fallen out of favour with the other players over his handicap in the News of the World tournament (and his wife was employed as secretary of the BA&CC) and therefore submitted his entry to the Championship in the usual way. Clark McConachy, the veteran billiards player, also entered, out of a sense of loyalty to the BA&CC after they'd given him the opportunity to win the vacant World Professional Billiards title. Thus, Lindrum beat McConachy were the only two entrants with the former winning a farce of a match at Manchester's Houldsworth Hall, by the marathon score, 94-49 (winning lead 73-37). For the next five years he toured extensively all over not only Australia but also South Africa and Asia as the "World Champion" until relinquishing the title and handing the trophy back to the BA&CC in 1957. There's little doubt, Horace Lindrum is by far the most travelled billiards and snooker player ever and his exhibition matches were good value. He had a great repertoire of trick shots and amazing "finger spins" - aided by the fact he had double jointed fingers. In 1970 he became the first man to make 1,000 century breaks in public matches - although this feat has been since disputed. He died in 1974 age 62.


thanks for the info Cyril. He died before I was born in 1975 but I guess that's no excuse when he played a large part in the past like Fred and Joe davis

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby LDS

The_Abbott wrote:Should I know who Horace Lindrum is? Should I be ashamed?


He's number 56/269 in my vid of WSC legends, sandwiched between John Virgo and Ryan Day. I dunno, would you feel ashamed of not knowing JV or RD? If not, then, nah. If so, then yah.

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby badtemperedcyril

I've just acquired a copy of the book "The Uncrowned King" - Horace Lindrum (by his daughter Jan Lindrum. Will be interested to read the story from "the otherside" viewpoint. I've already spotted one or two distortions of truth but we'll allow a little bias for now.

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby SnookerEd25

That’s brilliant, McManusFan :clap:

Re: Cyril's Top 50!

Postby McManusFan

They aren't very clear in those pictures, but a particularly nice touch is the coins along one edge.