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35 years on from classic World Championship win, leaving the Crucible would be a shame, says Dennis Taylor


Dennis Taylor produced one of the most famous matches in snooker history (Picture: Getty Images)

It has been 35 years since Dennis Taylor triumphed in arguably the greatest World Championship final in snooker history and the 1985 champ would be loathed to see the event leave the Crucible amid uncertain times.

The 2020 World Championship has been postponed from its scheduled start date in April due to coronavirus, with WST hoping to hold the tournament in July or August.

The plan is very much to keep the event at its traditional Sheffield home, but plans are proving very difficult to stick to with the global pandemic ongoing and every option is being considered, including playing behind closed doors and in other arenas.

Taylor recognises that desperate times call for desperate measures, but thinks a move away from the Crucible would hurt the event.

‘I think it would be a shame to move the World Championship, when it’s been there since 1977, it would take a lot away form it, it wouldn’t quite be the same,’ Taylor told Metro.co.uk.

‘Maybe, knowing Barry Hearn, if he could get it to London and fill up Alexandra Palace with the crowds he gets for the Masters then who knows? But I wouldn’t like to see it moving from the Crucible, it would be like taking the FA Cup away from Wembley.

‘When you get to the one table situation, in the semi-final, the Crucible comes into its own. A lot of great players have never got to do that.

‘If say the Crucible was tied up with dates there would be nothing wrong with getting another venue to play it for one year, I suppose. So we shall see.’

The Northern Irishman would certainly not like to see a World Championship played behind closed doors, as the recent Gibraltar Open was.

Judd Trump edged out Kyren Wilson 4-3 in an excellent final in that event, but playing to silence and an empty room was very strange.

‘I happened to watch the final in Gibraltar and the first three frames were amazing but there was nothing going on!’ Taylor said.

‘I felt the referee and the cameramen could have applauded, maybe some canned laughter.’

Steve Davis and Denis Taylor’s classic final was watched by over 18 million viewers (Picture: Getty Images)

Taylor’s Crucible triumph over Steve Davis in 1985 is still regarded by many as the greatest moment in snooker history.

Often called the Black Ball Final, Taylor won it 18-17 on the final ball of the final frame after nearly 15 hours of playing time.

18.5 million people watched that match on BBC2, finishing after midnight on the third day, and it still resonates with sports fans young and old to this day.

‘It’s crazy really because it doesn’t seem like that long at all,’ said the former world champion.

‘I’ve been doing some shows with Steve in theatres around the country. It’s a great bit of fun and it’s amazing the people that come along. It’s a two hour show with John Virgo interviewing us in the second half. We chat about the final and then play a best of three.

‘It’s amazing how many people enjoy it and remember it. Even the youngsters who weren’t even born, their parents have told them and they’ve watched it on YouTube, so the interest is still there 35 years later.

‘If you keep that many people up after midnight, I think the nearest thing that ever got to that was watching Steve Redgrave win his fifth gold medal after midnight. Seven million tuned in. But that’s less than half of what we got.

‘There’s been some great finals down the years but everyone always mentions that one. It’s hard to say what would top it. There have been some great finals, with Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White. I’m not sure what would top it. Its just the way it happened, at the time there were very few who could beat Davis.

‘People were tuning in as they were cancelling programmes to stay alive with it. The audience just built and built. It’s probably even more than you think because we hear stories about clubs with 100 people round a screen.

‘Steve’s great with it, he’s very funny, he always says he’ll remember that one more than the six he won. It was great for the both of us to be involved in a piece of history that we didn’t realise at the time would be the case.’

Taylor’s triumph is etched into British sporting history (Picture: Getty Images)

Taylor was 36-years-old when he beat Davis in Sheffield and his snooker career pre-dates the move to the Crucible in 1977 and has played World Championship matches in places as diverse as Middlesbrough and Sydney.

After making his first World Championship appearance in 1973 in Manchester, Taylor remembers having to save up to make the trip to Australia for the 1975 edition, which was played in multiple cities all over the country.

‘I paid my own way to go to Australia back in 1975,’ Dennis explained. ‘I played in 1973 then in 75 I couldn’t miss out. I finished up my job managing a local snooker club, doing shows with a local brewery, £20 a night, I think I did 10 shows and the money went towards my airfare to play in the World Championship and I managed to get to the semi-final. It was worth going out there.

‘Eddie Charlton decided to promote it, he played it in all different cities. At one stage it looked like it would be me and Alex Higgins in the final, which would have been incredible, but he lost to Ray Reardon and I lost to Eddie Charlton, who managed to have all his matches in Brisbane. I played in Sydney then had to fly to play Eddie in Brisbane the next day.

‘In those days you had very little to play in. I came into snooker when there was no money and I think I made up the numbers to 16 pros in the world.’

It was a chance encounter that saw the World Championship settle down at the Crucible and not a single year has passed since without Taylor in attendance, either on the baize or in the commentary box.

‘The year before, I played Ray Reardon up at Middlesborough. It was Middlesbrough and Manchester, the two venues.

‘It was Mike Watterson, who was a promoter and player, who took it to Sheffield because his wife had seen a play at the Crucible and they’d thought it was a great venue for snooker.

‘It didn’t look big enough, but they just managed to get two tables in, somehow moved things around, and that was why it was taken there.

‘We’d been in Manchester, Australia, Middlesbrough, then all of a sudden we’re at the Crucible and that’s when the BBC gave it the coverage – 100 hours – so that’s when the game really took off.

‘I’ve been at every single World Championship either playing or commentating since ’77, so hopefully they can do it later in the year this time round.’

MORE: Neil Robertson explains how Judd Trump usurped Ronnie O’Sullivan as snooker’s world number one

MORE: Stephen Hendry picks his favourite of his seven Snooker World Championship titles

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