1972 World Snooker Championship

The 1972 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between March 1971 and 26 February 1972, as an edition of the World Snooker Championship. The final was played at Selly Park British Legion from 21 to 26 February. Alex Higgins won his first world title, defeating defending champion John Spencer 37–31 in the final. Higgins also made the highest known of the tournament, 133. In all, he won six matches to secure the title, including a 31–30 victory over Rex Williams in the semi final after Williams had missed an attempt to a Higgins became the first qualifier to win the World Championship, and, aged 22, the youngest champion until Stephen Hendry in 1990. Higgins's win led to increased interest in snooker from the media and sponsors. The tournament ran from March 1971 to February 1972, with matches at various venues. Spectators at the final were seated on wooden boards placed atop beer barrels. On the first evening of the final, the was conducted with reduced light provided by a mobile generator, as the normal power supply was interrupted due to the miners' strike.

The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. The sport was developed in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India. Professional English billiards player and billiard hall manager Joe Davis noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with Birmingham based billiards equipment manager Bill Camkin, persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC) to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. In 1927, the final of the first professional snooker championship was held at Camkin's Hall; Davis won the tournament by beating Tom Dennis in the final. The annual competition was not titled the World Championship until 1935, but the 1927 tournament is now referred to as the first World Snooker Championship. In 1952, following a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the BACC about the distribution of income from the world championship, the PBPA members established an alternative competition known as the World Professional Match play Championship, the editions of which are now recognised as world championships, while only Horace Lindrum and Clark McConachy entered for the BACC's 1952 World Snooker Championship. The World Professional Match play Championship continued until 1957, after which there were no world championship matches until professional Rex Williams gained agreement from the BACC that the world championship would be staged on a challenge basis, with defending champion Pulman featuring in the first match. Pulman retained the title in several challenges from 1964 to 1968. using their "Players No. 6" brand. The 1969 championship is regarded as the first of the modern snooker era, and was won by John Spencer, who defeated Gary Owen 37–24 in the final. The defending champion was Spencer, who had won the 1971 World Snooker Championship (which was actually held in 1970) in Australia. The tournament ran from March 1971 to February 1972.

The qualifying competition contained eight players of which two qualifiers joined other entrants in the competition proper. Those in the qualifying section included Alex Higgins, and four former amateur champions, Ron Gross, Maurice Parkin, Pat Houlihan and Geoff Thompson. Higgins compiled a 103 break in the seventh frame against Gross, and reached a winning score at 11–4. It ended 16–5 after Graham Miles eliminated Bernard Bennett at the Castle Club, Southampton, and made a 115 break in the 21st frame, making it 15–6. Parkin won in a against Thompson at Barnsley Conservative Club. In the second qualifying round, playing at Ecclesfield Ex Servicemen's Club, Sheffield, Higgins took ten consecutive frames while defeating Parkin 11–3. There were two matches played in the first round of the main competition. Higgins eliminated Jackie Rea 19–11 at the Ecclesfield Ex Servicemen's Club. He compiled a 103 break in the third session and a 133 during the fourth session. Rea complimented Higgins on the performance, saying that "He does everything wrong. And yet he knocks such a lot in". Owen was expected to face Taylor, but withdrew after emigrating to Australia. His place in the draw was given to Charlton by the WPBSA. Charlton, who arrived from Australia on the first morning of his match against Taylor, won 31–25. Pulman took a 2–0 lead against Higgins, but was 2–3 behind before finishing their first day the odd frame ahead at 4–3. Higgins led 12–8 after the second day, and 19–14 at the close of day three. The penultimate day ended with Higgins 28–19 up, and although Pulman won the first two frames on the concluding day, Higgins secured victory at 31–23. Spencer had embarked on a tour of Canada between the quarter finals and semi finals. He won 37–32 against Charlton, The players agreed on a £750 side bet to be paid by the losing player to the winner. Williams took nine consecutive frames to establish a 12–6 lead against Higgins. Higgins next took the lead at 26–25. The match went to a deciding frame, and Williams was 28 points to 14 ahead when he missed an attempt to pot a blue ball from its spot into a middle pocket. Higgins compiled a break of 32, and then, following some safety play, potted the green ball to clinch victory. Spectators at the final were seated on wooden boards placed atop beer barrels. Spencer made his second century break of the match, 109, in the 16th frame, and the third session concluded with the players again level, at 9–9, He took the opening frame of the concluding session by 62 points to 38,efn|Some sources give the score as 37–32. The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History (2004) says "Higgins triumphed 37–31 (not 37–32 as so many publications have wrongly printed)". Higgins, who was required to win two qualifying matches to reach the tournament proper, became the first qualifier to win the world snooker championship. The win made him the youngest champion, at the age of 22 years, 21 days, until Stephen Hendry won the title in 1990. He received £480 prize money for the match, while Spencer received £320, in addition to their earnings from previous rounds. Higgins also received 6,000 cigarettes from the sponsors. The final attracted little press attention; the match report in The Times ran to only 90 words. In March he was the subject of a profile in The Sunday People, and a documentary titled Hurricane Higgins was broadcast on ITV in September 1972. Gordon Burn described Higgins's play on the Thursday evening of the final, during which Higgins won all six frames, as "snooker which, in its insolence, its exuberance, its confidence and its danger, few of those present have ever seen before". Snooker historian Clive Everton told Trelford that after Higgins's victory, "snooker was never the same again". The 1973 Championship was staged as fortnight long event rather than a much longer tournament like the 1972 Championship had been,

+First round (Best of 37 frames)PlayerScorePlayer 19–11 19–7 w. o.