‘That started it all’ - Dennis Taylor reflects on snooker's sudden growth in the early years at the Crucible
1985 world champion Dennis Taylor reminisces on some of his favourite Crucible memories and how Sheffield has changed as a city over the years
The most talented snooker stars on the planet will battle it out for glory once again at this year’s World Championship in Sheffield.
It’s what they’ve always done for the best part of five decades and what they’ll continue to do at the Crucible until at least 2045 following last month’s extension announcement which put an end to speculation that the tournament would move elsewhere.
It’s quite hard to envision the World Championship being played anywhere else. However, there was once a time where the tournament was played all over the UK, with places like Birmingham, Chesterfield, Liverpool and London all being used along with Australia and South Africa in the mid-1970s.
The World Championship first moved to Sheffield in 1977, with 1985 champion Dennis Taylor recalling how the move came about.
He told BOYLE Sports: “To think that it was Mike Watterson and his wife Carole that started it all. He promoted the 1976 World Championship in Middlesbrough.
“Carole had just happened to see a show at the Crucible. She said to him she’d seen a great venue for snooker. That's how it started. He went to have a look at it, and it wasn't just quite big enough to get the two tables in. He took the chance and had it there in 1977, and the BBC gave it blanket coverage, over 100 hours coverage and that was when snooker took off.”
Taylor reached the semi-final in the 1977 edition, falling to defeat to Canadian Cliff Thorburn, who eventually finished as runner-up to John Spencer.
Two years later, he went a step closer as runner-up to Terry Griffiths before finally getting his hands on the top prize in 1985.
“When Terry Griffiths beat me in the final,” he said.
“I think we were two new players through to the final of the Crucible and that sort of helped to open the game up and helped a lot of players to think that they could do it too.”
Taylor describes Sheffield as a “magnificent” city and claims that it’s come a long way in terms of its development in recent years.
He said: “There were a lot of areas, like the steelworks needed an awful lot of regeneration. To see the city centre develop the way that it turned into a magnificent city. It’s always had a great buzz about it, even way back to the very first World Championship.
“And I think everybody that drives into Sheffield for snooker, their hairs rise up on their arms. There’s nothing like it.”