Posts tagged Alex Higgins

Snooker legend Alex Higgins passes away

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552 days
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Two-time world champion Alex Higgins passed away on Saturday at the age of 61 after 12 hard-fought years battling against throat cancer.

Born in Belfast, “Hurricane” Higgins burst onto the professional circuit at the age of 22, and won his first world championship at his first attempt in 1972, beating John Spencer 37-31 in the final. His quick style of play accompanied with flair and flamboyancy around the table caught the eye of the public, who were seeing someone different to the traditional snooker player.
With an unorthodox technique, Higgins revolutionised snooker throughout the 1980s, packing out audiences whenever he played and making the sport extremely popular. In 1982, he would beat Ray Reardon 18-15 in the world championship final at the Crucible, lifting his second world title.

His life was plagued with controversy both on and off the snooker table. He once punched a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) official, head-butted a tournament director and threatened to have fellow Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor shot. As well as a heavy drinker and smoker, and an excessive gambler, he had divorces from two women, Lynn and Cara, and was stopped from seeing his two children Lauren and Jordan.

Towards the end, Higgins’ health rapidly deteriorated. He only weighed around six stone, and resorted to eating baby food because he had no teeth. Money had been raised so he could have teeth implants, but that will now be used to pay for Higgins’ funeral.

WPBSA chairman Barry Hearn said: “He was one of snooker’s great champions and one of its great characters. He did so much to make snooker popular and drag it out of the doldrums in the early 1970s. He didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the authorities, but there is no doubt that the sport owes him for where it is today. He will be sadly missed by the players who knew him and of course his friends and family.”

Higgins beat Jimmy White in the semi-finals 16-15 en route to his second world crown, and produced one of the greatest breaks in snooker history, a 69 clearance when he was 15-14 down and the score at 59-0. The passing of a snooker great has saddened White. “I was crying all yesterday [on Saturday]. I’m absolutely devastated. I was in awe of him. I didn’t always agree with what he did but I loved him. I have lost a friend and I will remember him forever. Alex took snooker in the 1970s to the heights which it reached in the 1980s – that was all down to him.”

Even though Taylor felt the full force of one of Higgins’ diatribes, he insists all is in the past. “The argument between us is history now. We had a lot of good times together as well. Alex and I go back many years. We are virtually the same age so we came up through the snooker ranks together. Alex was a complete one-off, a special talent. There will never be another Alex Higgins.”

Three-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan revealed the reason why he picked up a snooker cue was because of the Hurricane. “Alex Higgins was one of the real inspirations behind me getting into snooker. He is a true legend and should be forever remembered as being the finest ever snooker player.”

Steve Davis felt Higgins was “a breath of fresh air” which brought the public to watch snooker. “To people in the game he was a constant source of argument, he was a rebel. He was an inspiration to my generation to take the game up. I do not think his contribution to snooker can be underestimated. He was quite a fierce competitor – he lived and breathed the game, very much a fighter on the table.”

The original “People’s champion” , Hurricane Higgins has left his mark on the green baize.

Cue outrage for snooker’s ne’er-do-wells

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764 days
by in Uncategorized

“Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you…”

While the bad boys of snooker aren’t particularly dangerous, their many deeds still shock people. Because snooker is a gentlemanly sport, the acts of the bad boys are perhaps looked upon more severely compared to, let’s say, boxing.

So what is the worst action ever committed by a professional snooker player? Well, there are quite likely a few things that never reached the public and that will be forever buried in the past.

There are also a lot of different categories, most of which involve match-fixing. Australian Quinten Hann might be the worst case ever revealed. He agreed to lose a match with Ken Doherty in the 2006 China Open in return for money, but gave himself away during an interview with an undercover journalist. He ended up with a £10,000 fine and an eight-year ban which has probably marked the end of his career.

There was a similar incident involving Peter Francisco who was banned for five years after being found guilty of match-fixing in a World Championship match against Jimmy White. His uncle, Silvino Francisco was accused of match-fixing as well, but was never found guilty.

There have also been a few cases of drug use throughout the years. The 1980 world champion Cliff Thorburn was banned from two ranking tournaments after having taken cocaine. Bill Werbeniuk, who suffered from essential tremor, used to drink eight pints of beer before every match. Alex Higgins is another infamous example of a heavy drinker. Ronnie O’Sullivan was tested positively for marijuana after having won the 1998 Irish Masters against Ken Doherty. The title was taken away from him and given to Doherty who, however, refused to accept the trophy.

Spats are another quite frequent occurrence in this context. Hann once wanted to go outside to fight with Andy Hicks after a match, and O’Sullivan has sure had his arguments with other players and referees. But the most violent player has to be Higgins, who once punched a referee in the face and threatened to have Dennis Taylor killed.

The most harmless of all the bad boys of snooker is probably Tony Knowles. Knowles was a lover, not a fighter. The women admired him and Knowles had no intention of disappointing them. He eagerly shared passionate stories about his bedroom activities with those who wanted to hear and those who didn’t. Eventually he went over the line and was fined for bringing the game into disrepute.

Bad boys are a distraction from the game and mostly a bad one. But one has to admit that some of these stories – like the ones about Tony Knowles – do add a certain spice to the sport.

Hendry white hot at 6 Red World Championship

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782 days
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The 6 Red World Championship continues as we’re approaching the final on Friday. One of the more successful players has to be Stephen Hendry who so far has beaten Itaro Santos, Shea Brereton and Lucky Vatnani. He also beat Irishman Patrick Lally 4-0 and made it to the next round.

Just as John Higgins was beginning to get over the fact that he was beaten by the women’s world champion Reanne Evans, he lost to young upcoming star Adiyta Mehta from India. Higgins has, however, advanced to the next round.

John’s namesake, Alex Higgins, quickly recovered from the loss against Alex O’Donoghue and beat Jim Stewart 4-0.

All the 25 professional players participating in 6 Red have now qualified for the knockout phase. Most of them seem to appreciate the different format of 6-red snooker. The reason why some of the pros seem to have a hard time winning matches is that there is hardly any room for mistakes. One miss is very likely to cost you the frame. That way it seems more random but it’s also faster and more intense, which organisers hope will attract new fans.

Sixes and Evans

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783 days
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This Sunday, Ding Junhui beat reigning world champion John Higgins in the UK Championship final and the snooker world was slightly shocked.

Last night, Higgins faced defeat once again, this time to a less obvious player. Reanne Evans, one of the world’s finest female snooker players came out victorious in this year’s battle of the sexes, or shall we say sixes, against Higgins in the 6 Red World Championship.

Evans, who has a daughter from a previous relationship with world top 16 player Mark Allen, has been dominating the women’s snooker scene for a while. She won the match against Higgins 4-3 with a 51 break, which is quite high considering the format. Before beating Higgins, Evans defeated Aaron Doran 4-1 and will most likely move on to the second round. Fans of women’s snooker are excited over these results and believe that she might even have a chance on the pro tour.

The 6 Red World Championship is being played between the 15th and 18th of December in Killarney. The event is sponsored by 888sport.com and 130 players from all over the world will be participating.

In 6-red snooker, also known as Super 6s, only six red balls are used. Aside from that, the rules are the same as in regular snooker. The format was invented to speed up the game and make each frame shorter with the intention of increasing the popularity of the sport.

One of the organisers of the tournament is Irish snooker star and former world champion, Ken Doherty. He started off yesterday by beating John McBride 4-1. Another legend who’s participating in the championship is the notorious but still very respected Alex “Hurricane” Higgins, who won the World Championship in 1972 and 1982. His didn’t get quite as good a start as Doherty as he lost his opening match 4-0 to Alex O’Donoghue.

The 6 Red World Championship will be decided on Friday and €10,000 in prize money awaits the winner.

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