Fans say goodbye to snooker legend Alex Higgins - VIDEO
SNOOKER fans lined the streets to applaud and say goodbye to Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, who thrilled crowds during world championships in Sheffield, as he was laid to rest today in Belfast.
VIDEO: Press the play button to watch our PA video report from Alex Higgins' funeral.
Former World champ and "People's champion" Higgins was remembered at a service of thanksgiving.
Fellow snooker player and friend Jimmy White led the tributes but he was overcome by emotion and needed help reading out his statement.
St Anne's Church of Ireland Cathedral was packed with 400 former players, friends and family, with thousands more outside paying their last respects.
Past and present stars of the game including Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Willie Thorne, Shaun Murphy and John Virgo attended.
Higgins, 61, died last month after a long battle with throat cancer and alcohol.
He was a twice world champion from Northern Ireland who graced the green baize with flair and talent.
The statement from White said: "He was mind-blowing, he did things I'd never seen before,
"He was The Hurricane, I will miss him to the end."
Higgins' daughter Lauren added: "A million times I will cry, if love alone could have saved you, you never would have died."
His sisters Anne and Jean sat at the front of the cathedral along with Lauren and son Jordan.
Ryan Thomas from Coronation Street, Northern Ireland ministers Nelson McCausland and Arlene Foster, Lord Mayor of Belfast Pat Convery and Olympic champion Dame Mary Peters were among dignitaries at the service.
A tearful White helped carry the coffin of the troubled snooker genius who was found dead in a flat in Belfast last month.
A floral tribute outside the church read: "The People's Champion."
Following a funeral in the family home in Roden Street in the south of the city, a cortege led by a horse drawn carriage wound its way through the centre of Belfast.
Hundreds who had gathered in the Sandy Row area, where Higgins grew up and died, applauded as the procession passed.
White added: "Only a year ago Alex was talking about playing again and coming on the road with me.
"It angers me that he never listened to anyone, close friends or family but that was Alex he was an individual, his own man, he was The Hurricane."
He said: "I travelled the world with him and playing Alex wherever you played he always gave 100% no matter what the situation."
White recounted an anecdote from a casino in Southampton where they had been drinking and gambling for a couple of days. They were in the toilet chatting and White sat on the sink - which came off the wall flooding the place.
Higgins confessed to the damage and the pair spent the day in police cells until it was paid for.
For his daughter Lauren there was just shock, hurt and anger.
"In life I loved you dearly, in death I love you still. In my heart you hold a place that no-one could ever fill," she said.
"It broke my heart to lose you but you didn't go alone. For part of me went with you the day God took you home."
Dean of Belfast Houston McKelvey was assisted during the service by Bishop of Down and Dromore Harold Miller. Mr McKelvey delivered the eulogy.
"Alex at a very young age encountered two of the greatest temptations possible - fame and fortune.
"He found it difficult to cope with both. He was not the first to find this difficult and he certainly will not be the last," he said.
He warned against judgmental comments on the life of the at times irascible champion, credited with creating the modern game but who famously had an explosive temper and whose drinking often attracted negative headlines.
"Many people - informed and ill informed - have commented publicly on Alex, his life and his lifestyle over the past few days," Mr McKelvey said.
"It has been a media-fest fed by a public which turns, often like a shoal of piranha fish, from one personality to another.
"Since Alex's death many have been judgmental despite the fact that there are few Irish families that I know of who don't have their own 'character' to cope with in the family system.
"The only difference being that their character was not quite so famous."
He said a way to honour Alex Higgins' memory was to donate to the cancer centre at the City Hospital, close to where the player was born.
Taking up the sport at the age of 11, he won the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland amateur championships in 1968.
After turning professional he became the youngest World Championship winner at his first attempt, beating John Spencer in 1972. The record was eventually beaten when 21-year-old Stephen Hendry claimed the trophy in 1990. Higgins claimed the title for a second time in 1982.
However he was banned from five tournaments and fined 12,000 in 1986 when he headbutted UK Championship tournament director Paul Hatherell.
In 1990 Higgins was banned for the rest of the season after he punched a tournament director at the World Championship.
He went through two divorces, from Cara Hasler and Lynn Higgins, and suffered years of ill health linked to heavy smoking. He earned 4 million during his career but was living in sheltered housing at the end.
He competed occasionally but his physical decline from cancer was evident.
He was buried at Carnmoney Cemetery on the outskirts of north Belfast.
Got a view? Leave a comment below.
Follow The Star on Twitter and Facebook:
For breaking news and sport follow The Star on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sheffieldstar and Facebook at www.facebook.com/sheffieldstar.
JOIN THE STAR READER PANEL: The Star is YOUR newspaper, so tell us what you think about it and what you want to see - CLICK HERE.
Don't miss our daily pull-outs - only in the The Star: Monday Star Sport, Tuesday Class Act; Wednesday Business; Thursday Grassroots; Friday Time Out; Saturday Retro. Subscribe to The Star - CLICK HERE
READ MORE
Subscribe to The Star or Green 'Un
Visit our Matchday Centre for free live coverage of every match
Football headlines. Football gossip. Blades news Owls news Reds news. Millers news. More rugby. More boxing. Sports columnists.
All sport categories
Watch Premiership highlights, international football, golf, tennis, darts and much more - click here
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
