15/05/2026
With the Snooker World Championships currently on, it’s clear how different the game is today compared to back then 😂
Back then the World Snooker Championship looked less like elite sport and more like a mens working club on a Sunday afternoon. One lad’s lining up a tricky red… the other’s got a pint in hand, fag on the go, barely even breaking stride.
You’d have players like Alex Higgins and Bill Werbeniuk treating the mid-session interval like a full pub stop. Higgins chain-smoking between shots, Werbeniuk famously needing a few pints just to steady himself enough to play. No sports science team, no hydration strategy — just lager and instinct.
And the mad thing is, the standard was still ridiculous. Proper matchplay, big breaks, nerves of steel… just with a side of second-hand smoke and the occasional top-up.
Try imagining that now. Modern players measuring water intake to the millilitre, nutrition plans, fitness coaches… meanwhile in the 80s someone’s knocking in a 70 break while holding a cigarette.
