1980 World Snooker Championship

Professional snooker tournament, held April to May 1980

The 1980 World Snooker Championship, officially known as the 1980 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 April to 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament was the 1980 edition of the World Snooker Championship and was the fourth consecutive world championship to take place at the Crucible Theatre since 1977. It was authorised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The total prize fund for the tournament was £60,000, of which £15,000 went to the winner. There were 53 entrants to the competition, although four later withdrew. Qualifying rounds for the tournament took place at Romiley Forum, Stockport, from 5 to 18 April 1980; at the Redwood Lodge Country Club, Bristol, from 11 to 16 April; and at Sheffield Snooker Centre from 12 to 17 April. The main stage of the tournament featured 24 players: the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings and another eight players from the qualifying rounds. Ray Edmonds, Jim Meadowcroft, Tony Meo, Cliff Wilson and Jim Wych made their Crucible debuts. The defending champion and top seed in the tournament was Terry Griffiths, who had defeated Dennis Taylor 24–16 in the 1979 final. Griffiths lost in his first match, by 10 to 13 against Steve Davis. Canadian Cliff Thorburn met the 1972 champion Alex Higgins from Northern Ireland in the final, which was a best of 35 frames match. Thorburn won the match 18–16 to become the first world champion from outside the United Kingdom in the sport's modern era. There were 11 century breaks compiled during the championship, the highest of which was 136, achieved by both Kirk Stevens and Steve Davis. The cigarette manufacturer Embassy sponsored the tournament. It received 70 hours of television coverage by the BBC in the United Kingdom, attracting 14.5 million viewers for the conclusion of the final. Coverage of the final was interrupted by the broadcast of live coverage of the Iranian Embassy Siege, which caused numerous viewers to complain to the broadcaster.

The World Snooker Championship is the preeminent tournament in professional snooker. Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, organised by the Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England. Staged annually until 1940, the tournament was put on hiatus during World War II and went into decline in the post war era; the 1952 World Snooker Championship was contested by only two players and was replaced by the World Professional Match play Championship, which was also discontinued in 1957. Staged annually since then, the tournament moved in 1977 to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, which remains the venue for the tournament as of 2023. The 1980 event, organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), was the fourth edition of the World Championship to be staged at the Crucible. The 1980 championship featured 24 professional players competing in one on one snooker matches in a single elimination format, each match played over several The next eight seeds were placed in round one, each to meet a player that emerged from the qualifying competition. The duration of the event, which had been 13 days in each of the three previous years, was increased to 14 days, with the semi finals being reduced to best of 31 frames (from best of 37 in 1979) and the final to the best of 35 frames (from best of 47 in 1979). There had been a third place playoff in 1978 and 1979, but this was not continued in 1980. The tournament was a ranking event and was sponsored by cigarette company Embassy.

Qualifying matches took place across three venues: at Romiley Forum, Stockport, from 5 April to 18 April 1980; at the Redwood Lodge Country Club, Bristol, from 11 April to 16 April; and at Sheffield Snooker Centre from 12 April to 17 April 1980. The 1957 runner up Jackie Rea defeated Bernard Bennett 9–1 before being eliminated 1–9 by Willie Thorne. Thorne was on course to make a maximum break in the first frame but missed a after eleven and ten blacks. Steve Davis qualified after defeating Chris Ross 9–3 and Paddy Morgan 9–0. Kingsley Kennerley, in his first competitive match since 1974, lost 2–9 to Mike Hallett. Pat Houlihan, playing without his contact lenses due to conjunctivitis, compiled the only century break of the qualifying rounds—108—during a 9–6 victory over Joe Johnson; however he lost 1–9 in his following match to Tony Meo. Jim Wych progressed to the main event with a 9–7 win against Rex Williams, the world champion of English billiards. Steve Davis led Patsy Fagan 6–3 after their first session and won 10–6. Kirk Stevens compiled a break of 136 in the third frame against Graham Miles, missing the final black that would have made it an all time championship record 143. Wilson, the reigning World Amateur Snooker Champion, won the first frame against Doug Mountjoy on the black as part of a 66 clearance and took a 4–1 lead before finishing the first session at 5–4. Wilson then lost six of the last seven frames, resulting in a 6–10 loss. Mountjoy recorded a break of 104 in the fourteenth frame. Wych won 10–5 against former champion John Pulman after leading 5–4. Edmonds had replaced his the night before the match; playing with the unfamiliar tip, he lost the first four frames, then went 2–7 behind David Taylor before losing 3–10. He led in the match until Werbeniuk, who compiled a break of 101 in the thirteenth frame, made it 7–7. Davis won the opening frame of the second session to extend his lead to 8–1, and had a seven frame lead again at 10–3, before Griffiths won three frames to end the session 6–10 behind. In the third session, Griffiths won the first four frames to level at 10–10, with Davis then winning the next three to secure a 13–10 victory, which included a 116 break in the 22nd frame. The failure of first time world snooker champions to defend their title has become known as the "Crucible curse". Higgins won six of the eight frames in each of the first two sessions against Perrie Mans and eliminated Mans 13–6. Despite leading 4–1 after making breaks of 95 and 108 in consecutive frames, Virgo took an early lead of 4–1 against Eddie Charlton, with their first session finishing 4–4. and won 13–6.

The quarter finals were played as best of 25 frames matches over three sessions on 29 and 30 April. In the eighth frame, Higgins was on course to achieve a maximum break, when he became the first player in the history of the world championship to pot black balls after each of the fifteen red balls during a break. It was the first time that Higgins had reached the semi finals since 1976. Having lost the first two frames to Wych, Thorburn built a 5–3 lead at the end of their first session and, after having led 9–3 and 10–6, progressed 13–6. With Stevens's "all out attacking" play featuring "brilliant" potting, according to snooker historian Clive Everton, Reardon had three breaks over 40 in the first frame against Taylor and won three of the next four for 4–1 before losing the next two and then finishing the first session 5–3 up. Their second session finished at 7–7. Stevens made a number of mistakes during the third session, including missing a black from its spot when he was 8–9 behind and the session ended with him 9–13 in arrears. Higgins won the first frame of the fourth session. Stevens successfully potted a number of long distance shots in taking the next two frames. Thorburn extended his lead to 15–7 by the end of the third session, then won 16–7 with a break of 114 in the 23rd frame.

The final, between Canadian Cliff Thorburn and Alex Higgins from Northern Ireland, took place on 4 and 5 May, as a best of 35 frames match scheduled for four sessions. Thorburn became the first player to reach a second final at the Crucible; he lost to Spencer in the first final played at the Crucible, in 1977. After Thorburn won the first frame, Higgins won the next five. Thorburn won the seventh to make it 5–2, with Higgins complaining after the frame that Thorburn had been standing in his line of sight, a claim that author and sports statistician Ian Morrison called "unfounded". Writing in The Times, Sydney Friskin described the match to this point as a contrast of styles: "the shrewd cumulative processes of Thorburn against the explosive break building of Higgins". He also noted that each player had accused the other of distracting them during the match. Thorburn won the 19th and 20th frames, with Higgins taking the following two to level at 11–11. In the final session, Higgins won the first frame; Thorburn then won the next two before Higgins equalised at 15–15. The conclusion of the final was watched by 14.5 million television viewers. Thorburn is generally regarded as the first player from outside Britain to win the world championship, with Horace Lindrum's victory in the 1952 World Snooker Championship usually being disregarded. efn|Following a dispute over money between professional players and the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC), the players decided to organise the 1952 World Professional Match play Championship. The only players to enter the BA&CC's 1952 World Snooker Championship were Lindrum and Clark McConachy. According to Clive Everton, it was the World Professional Match play Championship that was "recognised by the public as the genuine article." After the match, Higgins said of Thorburn, "he's a grinder", and the nickname "The Grinder" was subsequently associated with Thorburn, seen as apt for his slow, determined style of play. Higgins won a second world championship in 1982, and Thorburn made the World Championship's first maximum break in 1983.