Alex Higgins!

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121671718#Comment_121671718

Yeah they dramatised that one in that Rackpack film.

I found an article where Thorburn seemed put out/hurt? that no one asked him how he felt when Alex died. There was not one call from the press etc - he was over in Canada.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/snooker/cliff-thorburn-everyone-thought-alex-higgins-and-i-hated-each-other-but-thats-not-true-i-admired-him/39136866.html

"Everybody thought it was this horrendous thing, that we hated each other. But I certainly didn't hate him, that's what I wanted to say and if anybody had have asked I would have but nobody did. I always felt a little strange about that."

"It's not important to talk about what happened in each certain situation but looking back at it all, I guess he became a little bit hot-headed and so did I.

"These things, time takes the edge off anyway.

But Thorburn was an admirer of Alex's play -

"But even then I always admired his play. He was innovative. Some of the shots that he created, they're still using today.

"I wish I'd had a bit more of him in my game, I might have been quite a player then."

Arthur Daley

Cliff played Alex one last time at the Crucible in April 2010. About 3 months before Alex died and he was skin and bones through not eating, only supping pints of Guinness.

The event was a Snooker Legends show set up as a benefit night for Alex, so Cliff was gentleman enough to do that at the time.

It is on You tube.

Edit, I see it is talked about in the Belfast Telegraph article.

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121672778#Comment_121672778

Decent enough of him

tomhammer..

Davis had a very frosty relationship with Alex

Wonder does he hate him behind all the nice talk now

Maybe not Davis seems a decent skin

lbunnae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121670586#Comment_121670586

Were ya on the gargle?

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121670012#Comment_121670012

OK. You play to a higher standard than me so I will not argue with what you saw.

I still don't believe its possible everything being correct but will leave it there.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121672778#Comment_121672778

Didn’t Cliff say he was preparing himself for some antagonism with Alex during that exhibition. But when he saw Alex’s condition it floored him.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121673587#Comment_121673587

The point was the last time he played Alex, Alex was on fire, and his condition was reduced to the point he could hardly stand

The Irish open is one of the greatest feats a sportsman will ever pull off. A completely scuttered Higgins playing Hendry in his prime. Hendrys biggest gripe was when he had the game in the bag, Higgins gave up and went for everything

And it was in that tournament where his genius was fully realised, broke, losing, drunk, cueing wrong, an absolute disgrace tbh, he potted the lights out. He did what others couldn't literally do

As I said, no one could do what he did, O'Sullivan or otherwise. Prodigious talent, ruined and abused!

Spiderpig92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121673772#Comment_121673772

Hmmm - Hendry was far from his prime then - wasn't even a World Champion and wouldn't be until the following season.

If you look back on the footage it actually looks like he was somewhat intimidated by Higgins and even the crowd - he often recalls that the crowd roared on every shot Alex played yet when Hendry himself made a century there was only a gentle applause!

Not knocking Alex and his genius - I rank this final as one of my all time favourites but if that was Hendry c.1994 he probably wins 9-2, 9-3

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121675110#Comment_121675110

Ya looked at Higgins career finals recently

Was in hendrys early days

Higgins was no novelty act though, he could play and win finals

tomhammer..

If anything that famous break where the white was all over the place probably does him a disservice

His greatest win was probably the UK against prime Davis

He didn't beat Davis much but did compete well in many finals

Arthur Daley

By the time Alex beat him in the Irish Masters in March 1989 Hendry was very well established.

He had already won the Grand Prix in Reading which was the 3rd BBC event (winner actually got 65 grand compared to 62 grand for winning the Masters), he had won the British Open which was a top 5 event at the time on ITV (70 grand to the winner and a ranker - bigger cheque than the Masters as well), and he had just won the Masters at Wembley.

It was a major shock he hadn't won the UK Championship the previous Winter, but Doug Mountjoy played the snooker of his life and was going through a spell of form that saw him win back to back ranking events.

Hendry lost to Davis in the semi final in Sheffield a month later in April 1989, when Steve was arguably at his most dominant that year, and Steve went on to demolish John Parrot in the final 18-3.

So Alex beating Hendry in 1989 was no mickey mouse result. Alex was even competitive enough to make the final of the British Open in March 1990, although it was all down hill for his career from that point. The following month was his infamous 'I quit' press conference in Sheffield when he was well squandered on Vodka and Orange.

Arthur Daley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121675136#Comment_121675136

Yes, 1983 UK Championship win over Davis 16-15 from 0-7 down was a big win for him alongside the 1982 World Championship.

Looking at his record, he was defending champion in 1983 in Sheffield and he got to the semi final, losing to Davis who was strolling to his 2nd title.

Alex did nothing much at the Crucible after 1983. He won only three more first round matches after that. Kept having tough long matches against Terry Griffiths at the Crucible.

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121675496#Comment_121675496

The memorable quote after

"I was looking for a chink in his armour and I found it"😁

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121675136#Comment_121675136

I think you are correct that 69 break Higgins made was both the best/worst of him at the same time.

That complete 1983 UK final is on you tube, Alex managed to reign himself in a bit, not as Kamikaze as he normally was. But it looked like Davis was going to wallop him. Davis still references it when talking about matches where it becomes hard to keep switched on mentally with a big lead.

tomhammer..

He beat all the top players at or near their peak in finals

Been 30 years since I watched it live but I'll have to go back and rewatch that UK and see what the standard was like

gormdubhgorm

1989 Irish Masters Higgins v Hendry

https://youtu.be/2NSP8VLliLA?si=G9sBZweett6PJioU

I was surprised how poor Hendry was to be honest. Standard overall not great.

Funny part was the crowd shushing anyone shouting, even between shots. John Street must have scared them.

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121684575#Comment_121684575

Some break there at 8-8

He could have done with better cue ball control

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121671739#Comment_121671739

I thought it was obvious, but whether or not Higgins was a great snooker player.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121684834#Comment_121684834

Higgins really dig deep in that last frame. But there was never a feeling he was in control.

Every shot with Higgins is like an “event” in itself. Wandering around the table, the twitching. The mannerisms. He goes down on his shot, gets up changes his mind. You never knew what he was going to do next. I don’t think he did himself either!

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121685704#Comment_121685704

The actions around the table are more mad than I remember.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121685704#Comment_121685704

But as I said before, in a way it shows his genius. He spends most of his matches trying to pull himself out of holes he keeps landing himself in. Every frame consists of him frantically trying to undo the mistake from his last positional shot, twitching and under pressure to pull off another impossible shot, to often keep such basic breaks going.

Even factoring in how he hindered himself with drink, no practise, doing everything wrong with his cueing etc, to win what he did considering how he handicapped himself every frame with the most basic positional shots is actually incredible. The raw talent he had to continually pull off ridiculous shots so consistently, to the point he was regularly in contention to win tournaments, in itself is amazing, and as we know, he landed himself in many many holes, every frame, ever match!

As you say, he was never in control, always trying to rescue the situation, and every shot was an event. Made for absorbing viewing though, nothing has come close since

Asdfgh2020

Nothing has come close since as modern players realise that going for the 1 in 100 shot too many times just won’t pay off…..the ‘personal demons’ /off the table trouble that Higgins got into added more to his unpredictability…..e.g. head butting officials, p1ssing into flour pots, the Dennis Taylor death threats etc…..making Higgins the biggest ‘pedal and cranker’ in the game until the Ozzie lad Quinten Hann arrived on the scene…😀 looking back now it’s perplexing how the self called ‘people’s champion’ was so popular as he failed to deliver so often and as is well documented he played sh1te more often than not……a true sporting tragedy with few if any redeeming attributes……the only thing consistent about him was his unpredictability……!

tomhammer..

Pedal and Cranker ?

Ah got it banker

Asdfgh2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693177#Comment_121693177

But swop the b in banker with the fourth last letter in the English alphabet 🤣🤣

andy133

Lets get it right..i knew the man.. he was a drunken wife beating bum who always caused trouble..head butted an official and assaulted others along the way.. am absolute horrible human being..none of the other plays liked except Jimmy the Wig White.. and he also beat his ex wife.. another lowlife drug addict Bum.. 2 scumbags.. so don't come on here praising Higgins as a great guy.. the game now is in a way better place without people like Higgins. Good riddance to him.

Asdfgh2020

Ignoring the ‘off table’ stuff, drinkin, smoking etc would judd trump be the modern day ‘Higgins’…..he has that unpredictability at the table attribute, goes for and does outrageous shots (pulls them off more than Higgins ever did as John Virgo calls it ‘naughty snooker’), can be a bit scrappy with his positional play, and probably should have a lot more tournament wins than he has……..?

loyatemu

Trump is 5th on the all time ranking tournament list. Obviously that list skews towards more recent players, but he has more ranking tournament wins than Ronnie at the same age. He's generally far more consistent than Higgins ever was, where he's lacking is in the so-called "Triple Crown" events where he's a lot lower down the list (below Higgins himself for a start).

Arthur Daley

Yeah, Trump is a far superior player to Alex Higgins.

Worth checking out the two shots he played from Blue to Pink and then Pink to Black finishing off the 130 break he made in frame 10, the first frame of the 'evening' session.

https://youtube.com/shorts/b96bBQDskcI?si=cigcRYEyxVc1JtTW

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121936718#Comment_121936718

A 130 break now is not what it was back in the day