John Higgins World Champion 2011

zack01

A big congrats to John Higgins after his exciting win over Judd Trump tonight in Sheffield.
I heard John Parrott remark that he is made of granite earlier this week and there can be no doubt he is.
He has to be one of the greatest match players the game has ever seen, to withstand the onslaught of pots from Trump and hang in there when playing his 'C' game as some commentators said was quite amazing.
Can he now go on and catch Hendry's seven titles? The answer is yes he can!
He only returned to competitive snooker in November and in those 6 months he has won six titles.

A word for Trump.... Awesome! He's a breath of fresh air for the game and should be the inspiration for juniors everywhere to take up the game just as many did after watching Alex Higgins, White and O'Sullivan.
His time will come at the crucible that there can be no doubt.

A fantastic tournament which has rounded off a great season for snooker, the game is truly on the up and under the leadership of Barry Hearn it will continue to rise, the reception the two finalists received tonight on entering was incredible, snooker seems to be gaining popularity again just like in the mid eighties when it was booming, and with players like Trump coming through it makes it all the more exciting.

Here's to next season which incidentally will start mid summer with an event in Austrailia and the world cup in Thailand.

Great times ahead!

Arthur Daley

You did say he'd win all along. In future I'll listen to your opinion before going into the bookies.:o

I do think Trump threw it away somewhat and started some missing some straightfoward shots, such as that pink in the final frame. Well done to Higgins for coming back one year on from the tabloid rag's story.

Was surprised to hear Steve Davis say Higgins was the best player he's ever seen. I'm certain Ronnie at his peak ('04 or '08) or Hendry at his peak would have taken this year's title in a canter.

abouttobebanned

Judd's trump card was his undoing in the end - aggression. It's what makes him so exciting to watch but also what leaves him vulnerable. Like a bubba Watson in golf...barcelona in footy...etc

Boskowski

I'm not much of a snooker expert just a fan watching the Wold Championship every year.

Have to say the 'rag story' left a sour aftertaste though didn't it? Can't help it I can't look at him the same way since.

staker

Wrong man won today as far as the future of the sport is concerned.
To bring the game into such disrepute,regardless of any fabrications or otherwise,and to be allowed to challenge for the World Championship, stinks to the very core of sport and all it's values.
Snooker lost today,not just Judd Trump.

zack01

staker wrote: »

Wrong man won today as far as the future of the sport is concerned.
To bring the game into such disrepute,regardless of any fabrications or otherwise,and to be allowed to challenge for the World Championship, stinks to the very core of sport and all it's values.
Snooker lost today,not just Judd Trump.

I find it hard to believe that you think snooker lost today, the last seventeen days were a great advert for the game and the tournament was rounded off with a great two day final, it had everything, century breaks, great safety, incredible potting display by Trump and most dramatical of all missed easy pots by both players.

I'm sure if you asked any of the audience members tonight at the cruicble not one would agree with your statement.

Snooker gained a lot of new followers today and over the course of the tournament, if you really think Higgins is so bad explain to me why there was no jeering when he won or even when he entered the arena?

Masked Man

staker wrote: »

Wrong man won today as far as the future of the sport is concerned.
To bring the game into such disrepute,regardless of any fabrications or otherwise,and to be allowed to challenge for the World Championship, stinks to the very core of sport and all it's values.
Snooker lost today,not just Judd Trump.

It really didn't.

Snooker is growing as far as I can see (I haven't looked at viewing figures), more tournaments, more and better players, and more prize money.

Snooker is trying to move past the John Higgins thing and grow as a sport, yet people continually try and drag up the past and throw in their biased and baseless opinions.

Maybe it's time to let the past stay in the past?


Also you said regardless of any fabrications, you think it's good for a sport to ban one of the biggest and most talented players ever based on what might be fabrications? It's a good thing that snooker investigated the situation and a fair punishment was handed out.


edit: +1 to Zack's post

staker

zack01 wrote: »

Snooker gained a lot of new followers today and over the course of the tournament, if you really think Higgins is so bad explain to me why there was no jeering when he won or even when he entered the arena?

Snooker gained a lot of new Judd Trump followers today,no jeering today from the crowd either when he won it or entered means nothing at all,all sports have their diehards.
Look at the reception Zinedine Zidane gets wherever he goes,he's treated like a God.

Masked Man wrote: »

Snooker is trying to move past the John Higgins thing and grow as a sport, yet people continually try and drag up the past and throw in their biased and baseless opinions.

My biased and baseless opinion originates in the real world of greed and match-fixing of which he had a hand.No decent sportsman would ever let himself be such a predicament and he now has to live with that tarnished reputation.
That's my bit,I'm enraged he's paraded as a World Champion.

Masked Man

staker wrote: »

My biased and baseless opinion originates in the real world of greed and match-fixing of which he had a hand.No decent sportsman would ever let himself be such a predicament and he now has to live with that tarnished reputation.
That's my bit,I'm enraged he's paraded as a World Champion.

Show me where he had a hand in match fixing or for that matter any evidence that disproves his side of the story.

userod

staker wrote: »

No decent sportsman would ever let himself be such a predicament and he now has to live with that tarnished reputation.
That's my bit,I'm enraged he's paraded as a World Champion.

Any tarnishing his reputation took has been buffed and polished tonight. He is raw talent. A genius of the game. Snooker is lucky to have him. And I don't think John Higgins will lose one wink of sleep tonight because you're enraged


NICE WORK JOHN :cool:

Rjd2

userod wrote: »

Any tarnishing his reputation took has been buffed and polished tonight. He is raw talent. A genius of the game. Snooker is lucky to have him. And I don't think John Higgins will lose one wink of sleep tonight because you're enraged


NICE WORK JOHN :cool:

The man is a cheat, and not everyone has been brainwashed by the BBC like yourself to forget how comfortable and willing he was to corrupt his sport for money.


His genius will never be in doubt for his morals will always be questioned, **** him and everyone who has done their best to brush this under the carpet and tried to portray him as some sort of victim in this fiasco.


He and Burnett escaping punishment really highlights the so called crackdown on corruption in snooker.

Columbia

Well done to him. I won't forget what he did, but you can't deny he is one of the great players of the game.

Won a nice bit from Paddy Power on him at 5/1 before the tournament.

No dodgy dealings

SD7792

Whether or not you think John Higgins should have been playing there this evening (incidentally I don't), he was and he took full advantage of the opportunity. He played absolutely spectacularly and since he got the chance to come back he's been absolutely phenomenal. By far the most consistent player over the season (or what part of the season he played :P) and most consistent over the tournament. Well played John.

Kristopherus

Burnett has been banned for life from having anything to do with snooker

userod

Rjd2 wrote: »

and not everyone has been brainwashed by the BBC like yourself .

I would much rather be brainwashed by the well respected award winning BBC than the News of the World.

Masked Man

Rjd2 wrote: »

The man is a cheat, and not everyone has been brainwashed by the BBC like yourself to forget how comfortable and willing he was to corrupt his sport for money.

Better than being fooled by The News of the World.

theintern

There's no doubting the skill of Higgins, the comparison to the Terminator is justified, he never goes away, he never stops trying. He has everything in his game.

I just wish he wasn't a cheat. In a sport like snooker, where players call their own fouls and apologise for flukes. It's just unforgivable.

Rjd2

userod wrote: »

I would much rather be brainwashed by the well respected award winning BBC than the News of the World.

The BBC aren't flawless when it comes to everything especially snooker and their desperate efforts to brush this scandal under the carpet and somehow portray Higgins as some sort of victim in this isn't something they should be to proud off.


Oh and while the NOTW can be rubbish, don't totally knock them, Amir, Asif, Butt and of course Quinton Hann was undone by them.


Anyways I have said my piece, I don't think either side will compromise really.


I can't take away from Higgins performances no matter what I think of the man. Apart from a dire match with Mc Cleod its been an impressive few weeks for him.

Masked Man

Think Hann was caught by The Sun. Least that what wikipedia said when i checked it a couple of days ago.

edit: also please take into consideration that this video was edited and the NOTW are unlikely to edit it in a way that hurts the story.

Rjd2

Masked Man wrote: »

Think Hann was caught by The Sun. Least that what wikipedia said when i checked it a couple of days ago.

edit: also please take into consideration that this video was edited and the NOTW are unlikely to edit it in a way that hurts the story.

NOTW and The Sun, same thing really. I admit Hann was a toerag (google him) but what he got banned for wasn't much different than what Higgins agreed to do.

The video may have been edited but what I seen is damning.

staker

userod wrote: »

And I don't think John Higgins will lose one wink of sleep tonight because you're enraged

As if your condescending opinion matters.:P

It's been your tone throughout both threads here tonight.:P

Will three smilies be enough?:P

Glenman

I see that Higgins is aiming to go after Hendry's record of 7 world titles. At 35 I wonder is that realistic.... don't players usually begin to go downhill from 35 onwards...especially in the modern game. Hendry himself is only 42 and had completely lost his form. Maybe what tends to happen to players after 35 is that they don't put in the same practice the used to or their concentration levels are not as high as it used to be. Higgins is a determined man though and will probably prove me wrong!

Bruthal

Masked Man wrote: »

Better than being fooled by The News of the World.

Or you could be getting fooled by higgins?

_feedback_

It's a pity that every thread on the WC has descended in to talk of how Higgins is a cheat and/or how the NOTW is a rag and not to be believed.

I have been a fan of Higgins for a long time and think he is an exceptional talent.

However, watching him over the past couple of weeks, I have grown to dislike him completely, and really didn't feel happy for him last night.

I have watched the video a few times over the past couple of days, and have read the ruling in full (Link) and all I can see is somebody who agreed to take money in exchange for losing frames.

In my opinion, it could have been President McAleese recording and editing that video, or it could have been some crappy journalist from the NOTW, it doesn't really matter where it came from, and I can't see how the editing plays such a big part of his defense. It is as clear as day that he is very relaxed, and actively talks about how the plan will work. He shakes on the deal.

If he had reported it, then yes maybe I could believe that he only agreed to get out of the meeting and planned to deal with it elsewhere, but no, he didn't report it. It actually says in the ruling that he was unclear if he would have reported it, had the publicity not arised. . it said: "Mr Higgins has also stated that he is unclear whether he would have reported the incident had the publicity not occurred."

I did accept at the time that he has been cleared, and I suppose I still do. I don't agree with it though, and can never look at Higgins in the same way again. I don't remember ever not feeling happy for a snooker player lifting the WC trophy, it's a weird feeling. But yeah, I wont ever be happy to see him winning again.

celticfc

Glenman wrote: »

I see that Higgins is aiming to go after Hendry's record of 7 world titles. At 35 I wonder is that realistic.... don't players usually begin to go downhill from 35 onwards...especially in the modern game. Hendry himself is only 42 and had completely lost his form. Maybe what tends to happen to players after 35 is that they don't put in the same practice the used to or their concentration levels are not as high as it used to be. Higgins is a determined man though and will probably prove me wrong!

Well that is usually the case, but with Hendry I still believe he's got an eigth world title in him. He just needs to change his approach to the game. Places to start might well be more competitive practice (He has been criticised for this a lot over the past few years). I can't think of many pro's who wouldn't want to hone their skills against him.

He will have to play more tournaments. When he was winning regularly he was playing much more and now the oppertunity is there for him again. If he gets on the road more and uses that passport to go to the PTC's & EPTC's it could do him the world of good. Even if he gives it a go for one season, what does he have to lose.

Having said that, if he just doen't have the hunger for the game, maybe it's all pointless but I think he does deep down.

The top 16 scare this year may just be the boot up the ass he needed.

Masked Man wrote: »

It really didn't.

Snooker is growing as far as I can see (I haven't looked at viewing figures), more tournaments, more and better players, and more prize money

According to the statman David Hendon, peak viewing was 5.3 million for BBC 2. Considerably higher than in recent years.

boomtown84

Anyone hear the RTE lunchtime news there.....fookin ejits

"after the win an emotional higgins broke down in tears at the mention of his late father Alex 'hurricane' higgins, the man who guided his career and died in february"

top class journalism right there!:rolleyes:

RachaelVO

I was delighted Higgins won. I know everybody believes different things, but I (frankly) dont care. I believe him, and no amount of arguing is going to change my mind, and has been pointed out in other threads, this has been done to fecking death! Especially comparing him to Quinten Hann, who (IMO), was always a bit of a loose cannon at the best of times. The "he's a cheater" camp are not going to agree with the "he's done his time" camp and it's dragging threads down. Last time I think I'M gonna mention it.

But, what a talent in Judd Trump! He is going to be nothing but good for the game. Ding will have his day in the next few years too. I have nothing but respect for him and what he brings to the game!

And congrats to Mark Williams too, world number 1! I was thrilled to see it confirmed in the rankings last night. He was distracted for a few years, but he's back on form now!

boomtown84 wrote: »

Anyone hear the RTE lunchtime news there.....fookin ejits

"after the win an emotional higgins broke down in tears at the mention of his late father Alex 'hurricane' higgins, the man who guided his career and died in february"

top class journalism right there!:rolleyes:

NO WAY!!!!! FFS! Our national broadcaster at it's very best!

Bruthal

RachaelVO wrote: »

I was delighted Higgins won. I know everybody believes different things, but I (frankly) dont care. I believe him, and no amount of arguing is going to change my mind, and has been pointed out in other threads, this has been done to fecking death! !

Someone that believes someone is innocent will be happy to see them continue to benefit from a game they play, and so will not want to hear mention of wrong doings, and as such, will say its dont to death, but somene who believes he is guilty will find it hard to forget when they see him winning titles. I think he seriously considered fixing the matches but got caught out, and so did not get a chance to actually do it, so was cleared of the fixing part.

It would be like a group planning to rob a bank but caught on video planning it, but they get arrested before doing it. They now cant be found guilty of robbing the bank.

zack01

boomtown84 wrote: »

Anyone hear the RTE lunchtime news there.....fookin ejits

"after the win an emotional higgins broke down in tears at the mention of his late father Alex 'hurricane' higgins, the man who guided his career and died in february"

top class journalism right there!:rolleyes:

WHAT!!

I don't believe you!!

Why oh why do we pay a television licence?

How embarrassing

Moist Bread

boomtown84 wrote: »

Anyone hear the RTE lunchtime news there.....fookin ejits

"after the win an emotional higgins broke down in tears at the mention of his late father Alex 'hurricane' higgins, the man who guided his career and died in february"

top class journalism right there!:rolleyes:

Thanks, I have Lucozade on my screen now. Gotta love RTE sometimes.

On Higgins winning; well, he deserved it, no doubt about that. He beat the best, Ronnie (albeit well below par), Williams and Trump. I really don't know if he should have been allowed play the tournament in the first place, all I know is a bit of the gloss of this years final was taken off by that, despite the wonderful snooker played.

MrFrisp

Rjd2 wrote: »

The man is a cheat, and not everyone has been brainwashed by the BBC like yourself to forget how comfortable and willing he was to corrupt his sport for money.


His genius will never be in doubt for his morals will always be questioned, **** him and everyone who has done their best to brush this under the carpet and tried to portray him as some sort of victim in this fiasco.


He and Burnett escaping punishment really highlights the so called crackdown on corruption in snooker.

I have to agree..The guy is a cheat.

I wonder if other players beat him in future games,will they think.."Did I play good enough to beat him,or did he throw the game"?

Can't deny he's a fab player,but,,personally he has put Me off watching him.

I'd never be able to watch him play again.

In My eyes,,he's a tainted World champion.

zack01

celticfc wrote: »

Well that is usually the case, but with Hendry I still believe he's got an eigth world title in him. He just needs to change his approach to the game. Places to start might well be more competitive practice (He has been criticised for this a lot over the past few years). I can't think of many pro's who wouldn't want to hone their skills against him.

He will have to play more tournaments. When he was winning regularly he was playing much more and now the oppertunity is there for him again. If he gets on the road more and uses that passport to go to the PTC's & EPTC's it could do him the world of good. Even if he gives it a go for one season, what does he have to lose.

Having said that, if he just doen't have the hunger for the game, maybe it's all pointless but I think he does deep down.

The top 16 scare this year may just be the boot up the ass he needed.


I'd love to think you were right Celtic but the sad fact is Hendry really can't compete at the highest level anymore, barring the occasional display of brilliance such as his max at the Welsh in January, his form has been pretty dismal over the last few seasons.
Agreed he needs more match play to reach the standard set by the likes of Ding ,Trump,
Higgins and Williams over the last four days but when you look at the amount of snooker Shaun Murphy played this season ( over 100 matches ) plus the amount of travelling done you can see where Hendry will struggle to make a return to form.

He's 42 now and has a young family and every defeat he takes dents his belief and confidence further.

By holding on to his top 16 place I feel it's only delaying what will happen and that's a
continuous slide down the rankings. With three cut of points in the rankings next season, by January he may find himself hovering around the mid twenties, that will rule him out of the Masters and force him to pre qualify for the Worlds the following April.

He will have watched Higgins winning last night without playing to his highest standard and
will probably feel he can do the same, but the way Selby turned him over doesn't really give
much hope.

But one thing Hendry has is an abundance of self belief and if he starts off well next season he may gather momentum.

He cut a sorry figure in the Cruicble press room after his defeat to Selby, it was hard to watch a man who reached 9 finals at the venue and won seven of them answer questions about retirement but that question will now pop up after every future defeat unless he can resurrect
his glorious career.

Turtwig

I know this sounds terrible, but I kinda hope Hendry does hang up his cues because he's an absolutely excellent commentator for the bbc. (Yes I'm being very selfish here)

Well deserved win by Higgins. Couldn't help feeling sorry for Trump though, he missed some really easy shots and his positional play could have been a lot beter. I think the occasion finally got to him in the end. His performance in the final session was a bit sloppier than usual. Once he improves his positional play he'll be a bloody awesome player.

Favourite matches were Higgins vs Williams, Higgins vs O'Sullivan and my most favourite one was Trump vs Junhui. Overall, it was a very enjoyable tournament to watch.

lizlemon

I can't understand how anyone would say that Higgins wasn't agreeing to match fixing in that video.. regardless of how it was edited.
Come on lads, he's an amazing talent. I used to love him, after Ronnie he was my favourite.. but after this I can't look at him and not think about him smugly trying to figure out how he'd 'swallow 300K'.
He's a cheat.

celticfc

boomtown84 wrote: »

Anyone hear the RTE lunchtime news there.....fookin ejits

"after the win an emotional higgins broke down in tears at the mention of his late father Alex 'hurricane' higgins, the man who guided his career and died in february"

top class journalism right there!:rolleyes:

Words can't describe.....

http://www.rte.ie/news/player.html?onenews#programme=One%20News

I just had to check it out for myself but they're completely cut the mention of it out. I just goes blank and then cuts to a shot of John & Denise hugging. :rolleyes: (go to 15min, 43 seconds)

RachaelVO

robbie7730 wrote: »

Someone that believes someone is innocent will be happy to see them continue to benefit from a game they play, and so will not want to hear mention of wrong doings, and as such, will say its dont to death, but somene who believes he is guilty will find it hard to forget when they see him winning titles. I think he seriously considered fixing the matches but got caught out, and so did not get a chance to actually do it, so was cleared of the fixing part.

It would be like a group planning to rob a bank but caught on video planning it, but they get arrested before doing it. They now cant be found guilty of robbing the bank.

Yeah, you could well be right there, I still think it's a dead an buried subject though, but sure everyone thinks differently. There has been so many ins and outs, and a million and one opinions it's gotten boring (to me at least). I think he deserved to win yesterday, and I'm delighted for him. I hope it in some way draws a line under the whole thing and that I (I'm a selfish creature at heart) can just watch good snooker without hearing about it every time he takes to the table. I probably should have said that originally. But as you rightly surmised, I do take his part, so I'm not entirely unbiased!

celticfc

celticfc wrote: »

According to the statman David Hendon, peak viewing was 5.3 million for BBC 2. Considerably higher than in recent years.

Infact he's corrected himself now, it was actually 6.4 million peak for BBC 2, Wow.

mr lee

higgins legacy is tarnished,he explains how easy it is to miss a pot by a small bit so it doesnt look suspicious and says how he can use the money to pay off loans on his spanish property and he gets a slap on the wrist,the bbc are coming out with ****e like hes been exonorated of all wrong doing,what a load of crap, ive been a huge fan of snooker for a long time but i felt nothing watching higgins win last night,what a shame judd faltered near the end of the match,higgins wont match hendrys record and for the hendry non believers ,he aint finished yet.

Masked Man

celticfc wrote: »

Well that is usually the case, but with Hendry I still believe he's got an eigth world title in him. He just needs to change his approach to the game. Places to start might well be more competitive practice (He has been criticised for this a lot over the past few years). I can't think of many pro's who wouldn't want to hone their skills against him.

He definitely mentioned something about this on the bbc. I'd assume that he will change something about the way he approaches the game if he wants to continue to play, clearly whatever he's doing now isn't working out for him.

BaZmO*

boomtown84 wrote: »

Anyone hear the RTE lunchtime news there.....fookin ejits

"after the win an emotional higgins broke down in tears at the mention of his late father Alex 'hurricane' higgins, the man who guided his career and died in february"

top class journalism right there!:rolleyes:

Yeah, was home for lunch and was watching the news. Couldn't believe what I was hearing. Had to rewind the skyplus several times!

skelly22

boomtown84 wrote: »

Anyone hear the RTE lunchtime news there.....fookin ejits

"after the win an emotional higgins broke down in tears at the mention of his late father Alex 'hurricane' higgins, the man who guided his career and died in february"

top class journalism right there!:rolleyes:

I saw this too booomtown84, couldn't believe what I was hearing!! Schoolboy journalism at its very worst.....they've edited it out on RTE Player now.

_feedback_

skelly22 wrote: »

I saw this too booomtown84, couldn't believe what I was hearing!! Schoolboy journalism at its very worst.....they've edited it out on RTE Player now.

I can't link as on phone but if you search "rte news blooper john higgins" on youtube, it has been put up there. Mad that they could let that get to air!

Turtwig

Here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqwNqNHVLi0

Quality could be a lot better.

What a blunder.:eek:

allOtherPlaces

elviscostello wrote: »

Mad that they could let that get to air!

unfortunately, it's not mad at all. in fact it's par for the course in this town. all the chiefs are asleep at the wheel and there's not enough good indians left to care...

Arthurdaly

John Higgins is probably one of the greatest match players of all time, grit, bottle, skill, determination he has it all.

I don't believe for one second he was inoccent of match fixing. He suddenly discovers in a room full of gangsters that his long time manager might be a little bit bent and led him down the garden path. Yeah right John!

Higgins can win every world championships between now and the time he retires and I would still have more respect for a guy that goes out in the first qualifier!

Higgins a cheat a liar, not a champion!