By Elliott West
“I’m in the final now, you know!”.
Terry Griffiths on reaching the 1979 World Championship final
Introduction
Terrence Martin Griffiths is probably one of the most underrated snooker players and is seldom spoken about when a debate is had about the greatest players. His rise to the top is impressive, being the second qualifier since Alex Higgins to win the World Championship in 1979 and subsequent victories in the 1980 Masters and the 1982 UK Championship to complete the Triple Crown, making him part of an exclusive club, making him one of only eleven players at the time to have achieved this Triple Crown status.
Career
Born 1947 in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Terry had a number of occupations before becoming a snooker player. These included being a postman, insurance salesman, miner and bus conductor. As an amateur, the Welshman had an impressive record, winning the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and the English Amateur Championship in 1977 and 1978.
Turning professional in 1978, Griffiths started out by making a big impression of the UK Championship qualifiers that year. In his match against Rex Williams, Terry led the match 8-2 but a defiant Williams fought back winning the match 9-8.
However the real fireworks were left for the 1979 World Championship. Terry wasn’t even on the bookmaker’s radar for this tournament and the Welshman defied the odds and sailed through the qualifiers. In the main rounds, Perrie Mans, Alex Higgins and Eddie Charlton, all fell foul to the Welshman’s cue. This left a final between himself and Dennis Taylor. However Taylor was the weaker of the two players during this snooker marathon and it was the qualifier that won the day, defeating Dennis 24-16.
Griffiths, jubilant from his Crucible victory at the first attempt, Terry joined the Welsh dream team of himself, Ray Reardon and Doug Mountjoy for the World Cup. A tournament that they romped home in, beating England in the final 14-3. The Welshman also reached the final of the 1979 UK Championship, losing to John Virgo in a tight finish 13-14.
1980 was a great year for Griffiths. It started with a bang when he started the year by winning the Masters. Terry was jubilant in front of 2,323 spectators at the Wembley Conference Centre, defeating Alex Higgins 9-5. This would be his first appearance here and his only win at the tournament. Masters must be have been his lucky word because he went on to win the Irish Masters, defeating Doug Mountjoy 9-8. He went on to retain the World Cup in 1980 and also won the Irish Masters again in 1981 and 1982.
Terry continued his winning streak with a 16-15 victory in the final of the 1982 UK Championship. This win sealed his Triple Crown and was ample compensation for losing to Willie Thorne in the first round of the World Championship. However this was the last of Griffiths’ professional titles. His other titles were all non-ranking, including the 1984 Malaysian Masters, 1984 Singapore Masters, 1985 Hong Kong Masters and the 1986 Belgian Classic.
Griffiths was also very successful in the Welsh Professional Championship. He won the event on three occasions in 1985, 1986 and 1988. He also won Pot Black in 1984. He again reached the final of the World Championship in 1988, defeating Steve Longworth, Willie Thorne, Neal Foulds and Jimmy White. However in the final, he lost to his old rival, Steve Davis in the final 11-18.
By the 1990s, Terry Griffiths’ form started to dip and he started to dip down the rankings. He did reach the semi-final of the 1992 UK Championship but lost to Stephen Hendry 18-14. Griffiths last professional appearance at the Crucible was in 1997, he got through the qualifiers to the first round but then lost to Mark Williams in a deciding frame 9-10. Terry Griffiths played a total of 999 frames at the Crucible.
Griffiths retired as a professional in 1997 and went on to become a very successful coach, working with Mark Allen, Marco Fu, Barry Hawkins and Ding Junhui, to name but a few. He now works locally with some players but passed on his coaching work to his son, Wayne.
