By Elliott West
Introduction
Held at the Derngate in Northampton between the 4th to 15th December, 1985, the World Doubles Championship was televised on ITV and was a non-ranking tournament. An event that was held between 1983 and 1986 and for a further year in 1987 as the Fosters World Doubles. The winners’ prize was £40,000 and the defending champions were Alex Higgins and Jimmy White. However their hopes ended at the qualifying stage and so left the tournament wide open for two new champions. With players competing on a worldwide basis, this was a fast and furious thriller that had the audience in the arena and at home, on the edge of their seats.
The Tournament
Not much remains of this event on film as there was an electrician’s strike in the latter stages of this tournament. I have attached a clip I found on YouTube of an LWT advertisement for the event which gives you a flavour of the play and the excitement involved. Returning to the 1985 event itself, with Alex Higgins and Jimmy White dispatched in the qualifiers, the last of the 16 players made interesting viewing. The likes of Steve Davis/Tony Meo, Cliff Thorburn, and Willie Thorne, Cliff Wilson and Warren King, Tony Jones and Ray Reardon, Tony Knowles and Joe Johnson, were paired up with each other, to battle it out on the green baize. These matches panned out as follows:
Last 16 (Best 0f 9 frames)
Davis/Meo v E. Hughes/M Smith 5-4
Werbenuik/Charlton v Parrott/Foulds 4-5
Thorburn/Thorne v Wilson/King 5-2
Stevens/Virgo v S Francisco/P Francisco 3-5
Reardon/Jones v Taylor/Hallett 5-0
Fowler/West v Campbell/Mans 4-5
Taylor/Griffiths v Spencer/Newbury 5-0
Knowles/Johnson v Mountjoy/Jones 4-5
Quarter-Finals (Best of 9 frames)
Davis/Meo v Parrott/Foulds 5-3
Thorburn/Thorne v S Francisco/P Francisco 5-2
Reardon/Jones v Campbell/Mans 5-4
Taylor/Griffiths v Mountjoy/Jones 5-2
For the purpose of the piece, let’s concentrate on one these matches. This being the Davis/Meo v Foulds/Parrott saga. This match was initially delayed as the ITV electricians pulled the plug on the cameras at three o’clock. This was long before the thirty minute first frame could be completed. A match that at times could have been described as a slog-fest, included the fifth frame where play was drawn out for sixty-one minutes. Neal Foulds eventually resolved the situation by taking the last red and colours to the pink, to take a 3-2 lead.
However, Steve Davis and Tony Meo, bravely fought back to recover the match to 4-3 with Davis’s break of 103, deciding the seventh frame. Players were then told that if the score line didn’t reach 4-4 by 1855, the match would have to be postponed. This was seen as prejudicial to the trailing pair. This decision left Geoff Foulds, Neal’s father, commented at the time, saying:
“Ever since they were told that, the boys have gone to pieces. They’re playing for £6,000 here, it’s diabolical to do this when they’ve started half an hour late to suit television anyway”.
Geoff Foulds
This decision was taken by the WPBSA in response to a telephone call made by the Tournament Director. Davis and Meo duly won the eighth frame for the match but Neal Foulds later complained that when the cameras were put back on, the lighting was intensified. In fact, the match ran for so long, they had to change referees.
Semi-Finals (Best of 17 frames)
Davis/Meo v Thorburn/Thorne 9-6
Reardon/Jones v Taylor/Griffiths 9-6
Griffiths and Taylor got over a disastrous start to their match, which saw them fall four frames behind. It seemed that despite their friendliness off the table, there was a rivalry between the two on it. Jones’s breaks of 81 and 44 were decisive in the second and fourth frames with Reardon potting a long pink to win the first and Jones, a long black to win the third.
The favourites quickly pulled back to 2-4 but Reardon’s 34 break, combined with Jones’s earlier potting of three reds and blacks, left their opponents in a hopeless position in the seventh frame. Jones and Reardon then pushed forward to 7-2. This left one punter very nervously hiding behind his betting slip, as he had £75 on at 33-1 for Reardon and Jones to win the tournament. However further mistakes were to ensue for the partnership, including a fatal in-off by Jones. This brought their opponents to 5-7. The match was finally sealed when Reardon made a crucial 47 break and the partnership went on to win the match 9-6.
In the other semi-final, the strategy of the Thorburn/Thorne partnership was for Thorburn to contain Davis and for Willie to make the breaks. Thorne made a good start with breaks of 59, 124 and 61 in the match and one point, the two led the game 5-4 but WT made several mistakes and it was Davis that seized on the opportunity and clinched the last two frames to win it 9-6.
The Final (Best of 23 frames)
Davis/Meo v Reardon/Jones 12-5
This was a final that sadly is famous for all the wrong reasons. Ultimately because there is no footage of the match due to industrial action by the television crew. The game itself by all accounts was very tactical with play being long and hard. The highest break was by Steve Davis who made a break of 62. The Jones and Reardon partnership nearly pulled the match back to 6-7 but the onslaught of Davis clinching the last two frames of the afternoon and the first of the evening session, left the pair stunned and never able to show their true worth in the match. The last two frames were crucial for Davis and Meo, making them laboured and tactical. Reardon and Jones couldn’t recover and it left the previous winners to win the match 12-5 and to lift the trophy.
Summary
The Doubles tournaments were very successful as a televised event but less so as a ticket one. Despite a long run, the powers to be, pulled the plug on the tournament after it last ran in 1987. Despite numerous calls over the years to bring it back, all have fallen on deaf ears. This was an event that showcased the best players of the time, in an era when snooker was extremely popular. Long gone have the days when cigarette companies and alcohol manufacturers sponsor tournaments and only the liquid consumed today in a match, is of the H20 variety. An event that is one of the greats of the period and warmly remembered by the fans and players.
