Snooker saw some greats make a real impact during the era of Alex Higgins and Steve Davis. Ray Reardon, Dennis Taylor, the Higginsesque Jimmy White… The list goes on. But when the machine that was Stephen Hendry entered the fray, the game changed. Hendry upped the level you needed to be at professionally to make an impact and wowed fans in arenas and at home.
In racking up 11 maximum breaks, 775 centuries, 36 ranking titles, 38 non-ranking titles and a staggering SEVEN world titles, The King of The Crucible showed what the game could be.
Cut from the same cloth as Alex Higgins and Jimmy ‘The Whirlwind’ White, arguably the most naturally talented player ever born would compete with Hendry for glory in the 90’s and beyond. Ronnie O’Sullivan. The Essex-born potter would win legions of fans and plenty of world titles himself. The standard was now stupidly high at the top.
The Incredible Standard of Today’s Professional Game
You could be forgiven for thinking that Hendry and O’Sullivan represented some kind of unique pinnacle and that Hendry’s eventual retirement might usher in a lull in the sport. But far from it. If anything, the standard of play at the top of the game is breathtaking now. Most Top 16 players now would have cruised to multiple world titles back in, say, the 70’s. But now? They’re all so darn good it’s frankly ridiculous. Mark Selby, for instance, is an almost perfect player.
The only real decline can be seen in the amateur game. Fewer people seem to play in the clubs and that means fewer clubs exist. At Rileys we’re committed to keeping snooker tables accessible to people and giving them somewhere to play. After all, without a table for kids to play on, where are the next generation of world champions coming from…?
The Future
Well, if you ask that very question to most worldwide snooker fans, they’ll tell you. The next generation of snooker world champions is coming from Asia. And China, specifically. The country has spent time and money concentrating on producing the next generation of player and those programmes are really bearing fruit now.
World Snooker has tried to invent jazzier versions of the sport like Power Snooker and Premier League Snooker, but finally seems to realise that the game is best left in its current format.
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