By Elliott West
Introduction
People often talk about in sport, characters who had an interesting background and in snooker the name Graham Cripsey is often mentioned. Coming from a family of showmen, Graham grew up loving both snooker and motorcycles. Loving both too much to give up, he became a professional snooker player and a Wall of Death rider.
Career
Cripsey became a professional snooker player in 1982, aged 27 and was the first player to be coached by Del Hill. A coach who went on to develop Graeme Dott and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Graham’s first big outing was the 1983 World Championship qualifiers, following a win against Jim Meadowcroft, he lost in round 1 to Dennis Hughes, 2-10 in the last 48 but rose to 89 in the rankings. This was matched by reaching the same stage in 1987 and 1988. He also did well in the 1985-86 season, reaching the last 32 in the Classic and the UK Championship, the last 16 of the Grand Prix in 1987 and the last 160 of the 1992 Welsh Open.
“It was when I coached Cripsey that I realised I had talent. Within five minutes, I can understand someone’s cue action and help them through the ball”.
Del Hill
By 1988, Cripsey had risen to 48 in the rankings and reached the last 32 of the Classic after a win over Steve Longworth. However this would spell the decline of this player and by 1990, Graham was no longer in the top 64. An appearance at the Snooker Shoot-Out, led to him reaching the quarter-finals, losing to Alan McManus, 62:66 and causing him slip out of the top 100 as a result.
Conclusion
Graham continued to fall down the rankings and by 1996 was having to play qualifiers to just enter a tournament. He dropped out of the 128 subsequently, retiring from the professional game at 41. After having to give up his family business due to snooker commitments, he returned to it. Having lost a thumb early on in his life in a riding accident, did not deter his passion for daredevil sports. However due to age and lack of successors, he gave up the business and his dangerous passion. Graham now works as a painter and decorator in the Skegness area and still plays snooker in the Boston League.
