“Men wanted to be him and women wanted to bed him. But Higgins couldn’t love. He didn’t just hate Davis – he hated himself most of the time, too”.
The Belfast Post
Introduction
Rivalry is healthy in any sport, it brings out the best in players and helps them play at their best. However sometimes the war of words can spill out into the media, especially before a big sporting event and there have been several instances of this over the years in snooker. For the purpose of this piece, I want to highlight one of them and analysis why and if this feud was genuine or just a show to grab a headline.
Steve Davis versus Alex Higgins
This was a feud that existed between a people’s champion and a world champion. Both players played a style of snooker that was light years apart from each other, one attacking and the other, a methodical and calculated approach. Perhaps Higgins hated himself than Davis but on and off the table, there was always an atmosphere when these two met. Their rivalry was not about how many balls each could pot but a battle for the very essence of the sport.
Alex Higgins was often characterised as a chain smoking and often inebriated player whereas his rival, Davis was clean cut and only dabbled in taking sips of water during a match. Davis under the watchful eye of his manager, Barry Hearn was all about the project, to win as much silverware and money as possible. Davis was a potting machine who never rocked the boat whilst Higgins raged with the game and the establishment that ran it. Yet both players can be judged brilliant in their own ways of playing snooker, Davis rarely lost and Higgins dragged a match back from the brink with flair shots and magical snooker that has been seen rarely since.
Davis became more popular the older he got whereas Higgins became unpopular because of his outbursts. In order for Higgins to beat Davis, he literally had to call on every sinew of his body and mind and literally empty the tank. Davis didn’t need to please the crowd but Higgins felt it was his loyal duty to do and this not only put an immense toll on Alex but almost suffocated his victories. The crowd bayed for blood and some more when they watched the Irishman. Davis often lulled the crowd to sleep with his robotic play and was clinical rather than mesmerising to watch.
Steve Davis has spoken openly about Alex Higgins since his death, saying that he was actually scared of. He was unpredictable, you didn’t know if he was going to behave or blow a gasket. No more was this shown when the pair once shared a flight. A flight where there was amicable conversation but as soon as alcohol entered the equation, Higgins’ mood changed and he became the Mr Hyde of his persona.
Davis and Higgins met 31 times in matches and Davis won 25 of them. Probably the best meeting, came when the pair met in the final of the 1983 UK Championship. Higgins was 7-0 down in the match but then played a style of snooker that was rarely seen by him. He played Davis at his own game and matched his safety game. This change of tactic worked and he won the final 16-15. However rather than a start of a comeback, this was the start of the slippery slope that led to Higgins’ downfall in the sport and ultimately outside it too. Ultimately the demons of drink, gambling and eventually malnutrition led to Alex parting this world far earlier than he should but he did leave a legacy and a style of play that inspired many a player, a naughty snooker that some still play today, Jimmy White and Judd Trump being obvious examples.
