by elliott west
Alex Higgins is my favourite player of all time but unfortunately he fell foul to the evils of alcohol. Watch any clip of him at his height and you will see how good he was. He made the game look easy and when pushed into a corner, he produced shots that were mesmerising and could only be described as those of a genius. This player who looked like he could never pot a ball before taking a shot due to the amount of body movements, remaining completely still just before cueing. An art that you would miss if you blinked. Having started his career literally living out of a suitcase, Higgins travelled around Belfast, hustling for a pint or a few quid and learnt his craft in the notorious snooker club “The Jam Pot”. Discovered by Jackie Rea, Rea persuaded the young Higgins to travel to England and attempt to turn professional. Rea was instrumental in firing the starting pistol for Alex’s career and it wasn’t long before Higgins was travelling with the likes of Dennis Taylor to the towns and cities around Manchester.
The trophy floodgates opened and this Belfast lad won the 1972 World Championship. However, with this title came the support mechanism that the loneliness of playing snooker used to bring. Each match led to neat vodka or Guinness being drunk and a cigarette constantly burning in the ashtray. The once enjoyment became a necessity but at this stage in his career, Alex was able to cope with the long drunken nights and the severe hangovers that would follow the next day. Higgins could literally bear anyone and blew a hole in the old guard of snooker and brought a fresh approach to the game that had never been seen before. The once low key game thrived with Alex on the scene and he was a player that Steve Davis dreaded playing. So the titles flowed and Higgins literally hoovered up every title that was available. His second World Championship title in 1982 was the pinnacle of his career and showed the blood, sweat and tears that he had to produce to bear an in form Ray Reardon. Alex was one of the few players that still won titles during the Davis era and probably has the best You Tube clips ranging from his miraculous 69 break against Jimmy White to winning the Irish Masters in 1989 with a broken leg.
I unfortunately first watched Higgins at the end of his career in the late 1980’s and at this time he was prone to aggressive outbursts and he really was a shadow of his former self. He was often drunk when he played and his analytical brain was starting to fade as he began missing the simplest pots. I remember watching him at the end of a match drubbing at the World Championship, sipping his laced orange juice whilst the table lights were off and the referee was putting away the match balls in the case. Every time I see this clip I weep because this was the start of the final swan song for Alex as he never again won a title on UK shores. This decline was not only due to alcohol but the fact that Higgins had in his heart fallen out of love with snooker and the establishment that ran it. Rather like Ronnie today, he felt he was constantly under the media microscope and punished for his misdemeanours. I honestly don’t believe Alex was a bad person but just an innocent soul that was misled in life. His battle against throat cancer showed the true strength of this man as he literally battled to survive the hardest match in his career. The Belfast man was a survivor.
However, it wasn’t cancer that killed Alex in 2010 but malnutrition. The chemotherapy had destroyed his teeth and despite money raised by the snooker world for new teeth, the offer fell on deaf ears. Higgins spent his last days in pubs and bookmakers. His last appearance in a Legends event saw a frail Alex playing Cliff Thorburn. He could barely speak and his hair had started to recede. It was painful to watch but could have been a turning point for Higgins if he had let his friends and family help him. Alex was probably his own worst enemy but for me he was the greatest player that has ever graced the baize. I literally get goosebumps when I watch him play and had his life been different he would have won the World Championship at least seven or eight times.
They broke the mould when they created Alex Higgins!
Watch the clip here: https://youtu.be/HxUfaaeLswE
