by elliott west
Snooker is probably one of the most difficult games to play and an even harder one to win. I have been to many snooker tournaments and the most common question I hear is; “Who is the greatest player in snooker?”. This is such a difficult question because it relies not only career records but also personal perception. In this blog I would like to dissect this question and put some of the player’s that people mention under the snooker microscope. The most common response to this question is Ronnie O’Sullivan. Everyone who reads my blogs knows my feelings on Ronnie but I can’t fault his career success. He is probably the most gifted snooker player that has ever picked up a cue but he has struggled with his own mental demons on and off the baize. For a modern fan who has never seen any of the other greats play, it would be easy to plump for O’Sullivan as your natural choice. However, Ronnie does have faults in his game as he freely admits. His biggest downfall is his concentration, a fault that has expanded with age. He can easily come out of the zone and lets the pressure of expectations get to him, a good example being his poor performance and first round dispatch by James Cahill in this year’s World Championship.
My second candidate for this esteemed title is Stephen Hendry. When I first started watching snooker in the late 1980’s, I was a massive Jimmy White fan and so writing about Hendry could be described as a bitter sweet experience. White lost multiple World Championship finals to Hendry and had he not been on the scene, I do believe Jimmy would have raised the trophy. However, White had his own personal problems with drugs and alcohol and this did sadly impact his performance. Back to Hendry, this Scottish player was mesmerising to watch and expanded the Davis machine form of play. He put his opponent in a metaphorical vice and literally squeezed the play out of them . When you lost to Stephen, you knew about it and probably had to lie down in a dark room for a week to recover. The Scott was wise to retire when he did as he knew in his heart of hearts that his game was failing.
Steve Davis is another contender for this title. I caught Davis as a player towards the end of his career but I did catch glimmers of his genius and have since caught up on old footage of his matches. His impressive play especially in his first World Championship title in 1981 and his first televised 147 in 1982 are just a small sliver of this great’s portfolio. The lanky lad from Romford was spurred on by his Dad’s love of snooker. However, don’t be fooled by innocence because if you blink it will knock you down and Davis proved this with his snooker victims. They were spat out and thrown twice around the room, usually landing like a pile in the corner.
Ray Reardon is probably my favourite player of all time and has in recent years gone off the snooker radar. Behind the mannerisms and the infectious grin was a talented player who won the World Championship six times and probably would need an articulated lorry to transport all his trophies. The former miner and policeman from Tredegar was and is a pioneer of snooker and brought the game into the modern age. He took the snooker message to countries such as Canada and Australia and showed that this game was a serious sport.
I talked about Alex Higgins in my last blog and he is definitely my favourite player of all time but as discussed before, his drinking demons got in the way of true success. Had he beaten them, he would be in the top spot but sadly this wasn’t the case. His fiery nature was played out on the green baize and for the most, won him a trail of titles but his career was stopped short by controversy, cancer and malnutrition. A sad end to a man who created and mastered exciting snooker.
My final contender is Joe Davis who should be dubbed as the “Grandfather of the modern game”. The multi-titled champion dragged snooker from smoke filled room to the modern arena and used his years of experience as a billiards and snooker player to inspire the modern day players to pick up a cue and play snooker. The Leicester Square Hall acted as a foundation for snooker moving to the Crucible in Sheffield and Joe had a stamina that few modern players would be able to manage. One snooker final would give the seventeen days at the Crucible a run for its money. He also showed that snooker should be played with multiple contenders and not just the small clique that played when he was at his height.
I won’t formally name the overall choice for this title as it is a debate that runs and runs but it is safe to say that any of these players and probably more that I have failed to mention could take up this prestigious mantle. Snooker is not for the faint hearted and these players definitely prove their worth in the snooker history books!
