By Elliott West
Introduction
Held on Monday 5th February 1973, the final of the Men of the Midlands tournament was staged at the Whispering Wheels Club in Wolverhampton. A final that had Alex Higgins pitched against Ray Reardon. Like many competitions of this period, this one is now sadly forgotten and locked in the annals of time but it is time to brush the dust off and celebrate this event once again.
The Tournament
Played on a round-robin basis, this tournament was made up of four players, Alex Higgins, Ray Reardon, John Pulman and John Spencer. Played in multiple locations with venues in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Redditch, Coventry, Olbury, Hinckley and Penn with Mitchells and Butlers, sponsoring the event in Birmingham.
During the round-robin, twelve matches were played with each player playing each other twice. Ray Reardon won five of his six matches with the one he lost to John Spencer, going to a deciding frame. Within those matches, he also defeated Alex Higgins on two occasions 5-2 and 5-1. John Spencer didn’t play well in this tournament and only won two of his matches. This poor performance can be explained by John having recently lost his mother with her death clearly affecting him.
With Ray Reardon winning the round-robin stage and Alex Higgins coming runner-up, John Pulman and John Spencer had to settle for the prize money offered to this placing, £300 each. This left their opponents, Alex Higgins and Ray Reardon to battle it out in another final with the match being fought out in front of a crowd of a thousand spectators. Alex got the better of Ray on this occasion, winning the match 5-3 and picked up a cheque for £500 whilst Ray walked away with £400.
Summary
There are so many tournaments in this era that may have been short-lived but formed part of a much-needed income for professional snooker players at this time. Prize money was often poor and audience numbers low but unless you were actually at many of these cramped venues, you wouldn’t be able to appreciate the enthralling atmosphere that they created. This was working-class country and the players were literally part of the audience with the table in close proximity of the audience. Magical times and much missed, from an era when snooker was evolving into the modern game.
Thanks to Mark Watterson for providing the research and photograph for this piece.
