By Elliott West
Introduction
Bill Werbenuik is infamous in snooker for his love of alcohol and could drink any player under a snooker table. He once challenged the Scottish player to a drinking contest and managed to win by knocking back 43 pints of lager. On his 42nd pint, he turned to Sinclair and said :
“I am away to the bar for a proper drink”
Bill Werbeniuk
Part of the Canadian triumvirate, that included Kirk Stevens and Cliff Thorburn, ‘Big Bill’ as he was fondly known, Werbenuik travelled to England to seek success on the green baize and despite his large frame, was a fine player. The table may have groaned a little when he leant over it and he was known to break wind on the shot but he was a character and that is something that an audience love.
Behind the Mask
However behind this personality, lay a very solitary character that became reclusive after his retirement. Like Jocky Wilson, the darts player, he literally shut his front door on snooker and even his best friend Cliff Thorburn, could only communicate with in short telephone conversations, refusing to meet face to face.
Like any pressure in life, people turn to a crutch to lean on to alleviate the sadness in their lives. Bill always claimed the alcohol was to reduce the tremor in his hands, supposedly prescribed by his doctor but maybe this sadness just crept into his game. Unless you have been a professional snooker player, it would be hard to describe the rollercoaster of emotions you go through in a match, win or lose.
It would be easy to write Bill Werbenuik off as just another famous alcoholic but that would be a cruel and unfair assumption. Bill showed his natural talent on the table and rose as number eight in the world rankings in 1983. He reached the quarter-finals of the world championship on four occasions made a 143 break at the 1985 tournament, came runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1983 Lada Classic and was part of the victorious Canadian team in the 1982 World Cup.
However, his fate was sealed when regular drug testing was introduced into the sport. Inderal, a medication that Werbenuik used to control the tremors in his arm, was banned and Bill would play his last professional match against Nigel Bond in a preliminary round of the 1990 World Championship, losing 10-1.
Bill returned to Canada, living with his mother and brother. Now out of work and on disability benefits, Werbenuik rarely left the house and spent most of his time watching sport on the television. Despite his reclusiveness, he never lost that integral part of being a best friend with Cliff Thorburn commenting:
“We didn’t speak that often after Bill retired from the game but whenever we did, it was as though we had never been apart.”
Cliff Thorburn
Summary
Bill Werbenuik, like Alex Higgins, left this earth too soon, passing away at the very early age of 56 after losing his life to heart failure. A cult figure in snooker, this player from leafy Winnipeg, Canada, had an illustrious professional career from 1973-1992, cutting his teeth on the cloth, splitting his trousers on the way and entertaining the thousands that came to watch. His infectious smile was a delight to see but it is so tragic that he couldn’t be happy with himself. A burden that so many people with depression have to bear. A player who is deeply missed but always remembered in snooker conversations.
