SMITH OF THE STAR - Crucible remains top of the pots
IT'S the spritual home of world snooker. Where Higgins wept, Ronnie wobbled and Dennis Taylor held his cue aloft in that legendary victory pose of 1985.
But Sheffield's iconic Crucible Theatre would never hear another click or whisper from a snooker table if it applied afresh to stage the World Championships. It's just not big enough.
With the sport thriving at venues like Wembley and the aircraft hanger-like leisure halls of China, the Crucible's tiny playing area and minimum backstage space means the theatre that gave snooker its cult status would not qualify to host another championships. Yet it is still the one place every professional dreams of playing at.
"If this were a new venue applying to stage the Championships it would be rejected because it's not big enough," said World Snooker press officer Caven O'Hara.
"But it's an ideal amphitheatre, the seats are banked just right, it creates a perfect atmosphere.
"The players and the crowd are so close to each other that they are sharing the experience. If you throw a couple of TV cameras in there, it's even tighter but for the fans, it's great because they're close to the action."
As we speak backstage men are wiring, sanding slate snooker table beds and shifting boarding.
"We have a lot of people working in such a small area which is quite difficult," added Caven.
"People don't appreciate how small it is unless they've been but that's the charm of the Crucible and the players love the intimacy. It's such an intimate venue that the players say they can hear people tutting and opening their sweet wrappers behind them."
The Crucible's 15.3m makeover may not have made the theatre any bigger but it will be more comfortable for fans and players.
Pete Godwin is the Technical Director for World Snooker and this is his 30th World Championships: "We are well on schedule and we have been here since last Friday and everything is going well," he said.
"The game has changed a lot since I started working on it as an apprentice in 1981. The room we have between and around the tables here is roughly half on what we insist on having at our other venues.
"There should be 10 feet between the tables and the outer perimeter but here it is only 5ft 4inches. But it's such a great atmosphere at the Crucible, there's no place like it and the players love it, it's still the place they all strive to be at. And the championships is televised in 78 countries with a massive audience in hundreds of millions."
This year the Cue Zone, normally held in a in a marquee in Tudor Square is to be found in the Winter Gardens and will host snooker competitions, meet and greets with the stars and coaching sessions.
This year the square, fresh from a 4.1m revamp, will be open for fans to stroll through.
The giant TV screen traditionally relaying games outside the theatre will be in it's usual place.
Sheffield Theatres Chief Executive Daniel Bates said: "Having snooker at the Crucible is worthwhile on many levels. The money is useful but it is more about the profile of the theatre. There will be an announcement during the tournament that the Crucible is to host the tournament for another five years rather than the four announced last year.
"The theatre holds 980 maximum and over the course of the Championships there will be something like 42,000 people visiting. It's hard work for everyone and we get through a lot of food and drink - and a lot of toilet rolls."
Game faces slow boat to China
FROM the smoke-filled front rooms of the 1970's to the laptops and iPhones of 2010 snooker has retained its silent fascination. Now a billion Chinese people are starting to go snooker loopy.
Already 100 million of them watch their own championships on TV and some of the world's best young players are from that massive country.
It's almost certain one day the world championships will move from Sheffield to the Far East and this year, for the first time, the tables for the championship have been imported from China.
"We are just back from Beijing and the China Open," said World Snooker Association press officer Caven O'Hara.
"Snooker is huge over there, 100 million people watch the game on TV and they sell 1,800 tables a month. The Chinese have expressed an interest in staging the world championships and the Chinese venues are impressive.
"I'm sure they would like to have the World Championships over there but we are in a deal with Sheffield and the atmosphere is so special here that the players want it to stay here.
"But, at the end of the day, money talks and that may well change in the future. The players love the atmosphere but they also want the cash.
"The Chinese are thinking of opening an academy and there are clubs opening all the time. They will put on a fantastic show if they get the world championships and the players would be treated like film stars. Fan interest is not to be underestimated."
Building site to green-baize palace
BY SATURDAY the Crucible will be slick and floodlit with Hazel, Willie and Clive debating every plant and kick. Today it's a building site.
With just two days to go before the start of the 2010 World Snooker Championships there are no tables in the auditorium, the players entrance is under construction and the perimeter panels are just going up.
A joiner whistles along to Dean Martin's 'Volari', echoeing around the empty auditorium from his tiny transistor radio, as he hammers and screws boards into place where the two tables will eventually stand.
Tables that, for the first time at the World Championships, will come from China rather than the Riley's tables from Bristol that have been traditionally used.
"This year, we are using 10,000 Star tables from China rather than the Riley ones we've used since the tournament started," said World Snooker Association press officer Caven O'Hara.
Table fitter Paul Linaker, working in Sheffield but from Bristol is not entirley convinced.
"With the old Welsh slate the tables are almost naturally flat with this Chinese stuff they have to grind it in place," said Paul.
"We then fill in the tiny gaps with Polyfilla or car-body filler and sand it down before we put the baize on.
"The table has to be accurate to one thousandth of an inch to a foot.
Then, we have a formerprofessional called Martin Clark, who comes in and goes through the range of shots to make sure that the surface is true.
"When they knock down from two tables to one in the main auditorium as the tournament comes to, its climax, we work through the night to get the one table right."
The tables come in five precision-cut sections of two-inch thick slate.
If any of the sections is broken all five have to be replaced as they are all made to fit each other.
The tables even have heaters underneath to keep the slate bed at the right temperature. The warmer the table the quicker the speed of the balls and the more reactive the cloth.
When the tables are covered at night the covers used are full of silicon gel to keep moisture off the cloth.
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