By Elliott West
“It took me six months to get over it”.
Mike Hallett
Introduction
The year was 1991, the first Gulf War was raging and Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of Russia, signalling the end of the Cold War. In snooker, Stephen Hendry was the dominant force, having already won ten ranking titles to date and two crowns at The Masters. A player who grew in stature year on year, clinical, brutal and a potting machine. So who was going to challenge him? Most had faced the full force of this Scottish typhoon and were still licking their wounds in defeat. So by the time the calendar reached The Benson and Hedges Masters at Wembley Conference Centre in February of that year, the crown looked safe in the reigning champion’s hands and the number one seed was in no mood for anyone to get in his way.
When play began at this iconic venue, it seemed Stephen could do no wrong. He wounded and spat out everyone in his path, dispatching John Virgo 5-1, Tony Meo 5-0 and Jimmy White 6-1 before reaching the final. With Steve Davis already defeated by Neal Foulds in the last 16, the bookmakers had pretty much written this tournament off in terms of a surprise winner. The only hope lay in the hands of either Terry Griffiths or Mike Hallett.
The Man from Grimsby
Terry ended up losing to Mike 3-6 in the semi-finals and the weight was put on Halletts’ shoulders to try and inflict a fatal blow on Hendry’s mastery of snooker. Mike had already reached the final of The Masters once before, whitewashed by Steve Davis 0-9. Determined for this not to happen again, Hallett decided to pace himself after being “buried” by Davis. Six weeks prior to the tournament, he put his nose to the grindstone and went into practice mode, playing umpteen best-of-35 frames. He knew that couldn’t go into this prestigious tournament, playing on a half-tank and by the time he reached Wembley, he felt good, striking the ball well and he knew that it would take someone very special to beat him.
Mike knew Hendry’s game very well, largely due to them being doubles partners. So he was probably the best candidate to unpack the wiring of this Scottish genius. As they say, you never settle until you get your first frame on the board and Mike took the opening frame. It turned out to be the highlight of Mike’s career. The former number six took a commanding 7-0 lead in the afternoon session, never missing a ball. One of those historic leads that only a master could claw back.
The Snooker Migraine
“I wish I never switched over, because I was sitting in my chair in the evening session thinking about that interview. I wish I just kept it on the football”.
Mike Hallett
Returning to his hotel room, Hallett riding on the crest of a wave, decided to turn on the television. The snooker coverage was still showing on the BBC. Tony Gubba was speaking to John Spencer. When asked by Tony what Hendry needed to do to come back, John replied by saying that the Scot needed to win the first two frames of the evening session. It was a comment that stuck in Mike’s head and one that he took back to the Conference Centre.
Although this comment didn’t appear to faze him, Hallett had to get over the winning line, the hardest task for any snooker player. The tide gradually started to change directions with Mike on the brink at 8-2 up. Surely nothing stop his first Masters victory? The moment came when Mike got a winning chance, a moment where he could see himself lifting the trophy. However, he cleared to the blue and missed the pink with the rest. Hendry sensed a weakness in his opponent’s game by the way that Hallett didn’t pot the blue cleanly. Stephen took the frame to make it 8-3 to Mike.
The Final Chapter
All the way back to the dressing room, Mike kept banging his cue on the floor in frustration. Hendry was right behind and could see that Hallett was rattled. The Scot devised a game plan of just winning one frame at a time and leaving Mike out in the cold. The plan worked and little by little, Stephen chipped away at his opponent’s lead. 4-8, 5-8 soon became 8-8 and when your opponent throws numerous punches at you, it is very hard to get. The mindset had been broken by a player who had won back-to-back tournaments and an amazing mental strength. The seeds were sown and Stephen won the match 9-8.
Broken
“I was massively disappointed. I went home, and found out that my house had been burgled. So it wasn’t a great day. It was a great week, but not a good last couple of hours”.
Mike Hallett
Mike’s face at the press conference displayed his utter disappointment. A man who looked like he had a brick wall with ultimate force. Not only that, he received a phone directly afterwards to tell him that his house had been burgled. Mike went on to win two major invitational events, the 1991 Scottish Masters, beating Steve Davis 10-6 and the 1991 Belgian Masters, defeating Neal Foulds 9-7. However, it had taken six months to come to terms with his crushing defeat. Mike would end up dropping out of the top 16 the following year and drifted away from the elite.
