Alex Higgins

[dyslexiauntied]

Just heard the very sad news of the death of "The Hurricane" Gone but will never be forgotten!

[marval]

It's a great shame, he was a brilliant player, I hope he will be remembered for that.

[naomi24]

A sad end. RIP.

[carlton23]

He was one of the greatest snooker players ever, but that is all I can say about him. I met him when he was a very young man. Say no more.

[R1Geezer]

All today's players have the Hurricane to thank for their paycheques. Until Alex came to prominenece snooker was a back room pastime played by old geezers in smoke filled rooms. barely on the TV, except pot black, the matches went on for weeks most people barely new of it's existance. Alex and later, players like Jimmy white and Tony Drago, kirk stevens put snooker on the map. All great players since would have earned a fraction of what they have where it not for the Hurricane, rip Alex, genius is usually flawed.

[ummmm]

I liked him. I had no choice but to watch snooker as a kid and he was by far the best player to watch.

[MarkRae]

> the matches went on for weeks

LOL!

[New Judge]

The Geezer’s remark that the matches went on for weeks may have been a little of an exaggeration, Mark, but is not quite as laughable as you imagine.

In the early days of the world championship (which started in 1927) the format was very different to that we see from The Crucible today. Matches did indeed go on for many days. In the final of 1952 Horace Lindrum beat Clark McConachy by 94 frames to 49. In 1947-49 Fred Davis and Walter Donaldson contested the three finals. Donaldson won in 1947 by 82-63. Davis won the following two years by 84-61 and 80-65. I believe they played just one session of 15 frames each day which means these finals alone must have lasted about ten days.

Only in the more modern era were the frames reduced. In fact Alex Higgins beat John Spencer to take the first of his two world titles in 1972 by 37-29.

Only since 1980 has the final match been restricted to the best of 35 frames.