Gods of Snooker - The story of snooker's golden days

[@themasterswitch1603]

Incredible documentary. I was a Higgins fan all the way as a teenager. He was a rock star. Just like Hunt and Best. 70s / 80s was so exciting for snooker.

[@GuillaumeBichon-f4v]

Great documentary! As a French guy I accidentally discovered snooker during a High School trip to England. It was in April 1990 and I discovered the youngest ever world champion. I had no clue of what had happened in 1980s at that time, never heard of Jimmy White!😅 I fell in love with the game interestingly at a time where it got less exciting. Today I am a big big snooker fan. Love it!

[@alainclvpentax8798]

Great documentary. I never thought the world of snooker could of been so rock & roll

[@umeshgurnani1]

Thank you very much to whoever made this . I got transported back to the 80’s . I was one of the lucky ones who saw the great Alex Higgins live in action

[@traviskeeler5655]

My Dad played for living. Hustling in the East End of Toronto. Played Cliff Thorburn a few times for $. "Silver Cue" on Danforth. "Scarborough Billiards"...bunch of different halls. Used to sit and watch ALL day when he bothered to visit us....if he was winning I'd get roll of quarters or two to play Asteroids...lol...oh....learned how to play pretty decently too!

[@UR_HR]

Thank you for the upload, reliving moments of everybody in the nation watching these great personalities playing snooker

[@evelghostrider]

As a young boy, my parents spent alot of time with Alex his wife and daughter. They stayed at our home and we stayed with them. We travelled to many events with him. As a child I was able to play with the snooker greats of that era apart from one player ! Alex and Lynn attended my father's funeral in 1984 he carried my father's coffin. I knew him on a very personal level. We were privileged to spend time with other players staying at our family home..

[@a.tanner8524]

Was your dad a famous snooker player then?

[@evelghostrider]

No, my father was not a famous snooker player. They met because my mother approached mr higgins and asked for an autograph for her son.. Alex wrote it on a ripped up piece of cigarette box.. She showed it to my father at the restaurant they were in. So my father went over, handed him back the piece of cigarette box and told him if thats the best he can do perhaps he should re consider being a celebrity.. My father went to the restaurant owner and said he would cover the bill at Mr Higgins table as he was clearly a bit of a fool with an attitude. .. At the end of the night, Alex and his guests approached my father and appoligised to him and my mum.. From that a great long lasting friendship was built upto and after the day my father passed away in 1984... I can understand peoples view of Alex, he could be an arse. But he could also be a very kind person, sadly alcohol was an issue as he got older. He had issues dealing with people, i guess today we could see he had mental health issues and would have had labels for his ways... ​@a.tanner8524

[@paulbignell1238]

Every snooker player owes Alex and jimmy for making snooker the game it is today

[@faceman1477]

Thank you so much for the upload!🤗

[@ronsimpson8666]

Snooker has been on a steady uptick in popularity here in the u.s. especially amongst pool players. It's just hard to find a table!

[@emonikino]

very entertaining story. we need more of this.

[@IestynDavies-cx8je]

Congratulations on a very enjoyable trip down memory lane pity though that you and everyone watching missed out on seeing Dennis pot the final black!

[@henriput854]

Thanks , Alex was a great snooker player in the nighties great hero, fan Henri put Belgium 🇧🇪 r I p Alex we never forget you

[@JupiterThunder]

It was a peculiar period in time, which only lasted for about five years. I can remember staying up to the small hours to watch Taylor v Davis in the 1985 world final.

[@jozefserf2024]

Higgins and White, what more would you need? Their legendary 1982 semi-final will never be forgotten. 48:50 As Jack Karnehm also said, Jimmy had a "Rolls-Royce cue action". If he'd kept his original cue, no one could have stopped him becoming a multiple world champion. Maureen, you have a lot to answer for.

[@davidmccarthy6390]

I have a story about the off table betting. I got to a final at Cabravale Diggers in Sydney, and the winner got A$1000. It was a great final, going down to the final black in a best of 7 which I came out runner up and got A$500 for my efforts. Cabramatta is a very diverse place, having a large population of Vietnamese residents, and Vietnamese men like nothing more than having a bet. When the final black went in, this dude came out of the ausdience (which was the largest I ever played in front of), and chucked A$25 000 on the table, cursing in Vietnamese - he had lost. I was quite worried about getting out of the joint having just cost some dude $25 000.... But it was all good, I tracked him down and talked to him,and it was like it was nothing to him. He was betting thousands on horse races at the time. lol They are legendary gamblers, and Australia must have felt like the promised land to him.😂

[@albertcross4275]

I played Alex on May 21 1979 in Lee on solent 1972. At the break he threw the food at the wall. 🤔 He played aaamazing. ♥️♥️

[@MikeBarratt-lk3gt]

Which one was it 1972 or 79 🤔

[@johntai8818]

Every now and then when seeing Hendry say "Jimmy is my hero" (2:11:10) would make me laugh. He played like a mean machine No deep screw No cue ball running around the table No exhibition shots to entertain his fans which is so vastly different from his hero It was so well summarized by that lady commentator (2:05:55) that Jimmy only lacks the killer punch the winning shot which is most crucial for winning his most wanted and deserved title of the World Champion.

[@filips4972]

Seeing Icke in his previous life gave me the chuckles.

[@_6079SMITH]

😅😅😅 he speaks a lot of truth today though

[@Frenzy2409]

RIP Alex...A Legend Forever

[@Cheeseberry69]

How the hell... whenever there is a show where celebrities are talking about literally anything... Richard Osman is guaranteed to worm his way onto the show

[@MrAntonnio96]

Higgins was the man a total bad ass to come back and win it not so many people can even imagine it

[@kennethtalbott2233]

loved the speed boat story, crazy.......

[@davidford2169]

I'm 63 and can remember my father telling me that they had booked Alex Higgins to play in an exhibition match at Hounslow Conservative club,(Dad was treasurer) and Alex was appalling.....snatched a lady's instamatic camera from her and wripped up the photo,as she needed permission for a picture......personally it didn't bother me as a young boy,because,like Alex I was a rebel also .....but not a pissed rebel.......yet 👍🇬🇧

[@craigsutherland4726]

The legend Higgins was in fact a handsome man and so sed to see what cancer and malnutrition done to him but he was certainly handsome

[@a.tanner8524]

Are you bent?

[@craigsutherland4726]

@@a.tanner8524 ask your mum

[@johnmc3862]

​@@a.tanner8524What?

[@samtaurus007]

@@a.tanner8524 Are you insecure?. Personally, i thought Alex was a normal looking bloke.....certainly no Jason Momoa. ;)

[@stuartbritton4811]

Handsome doesn't mean women find it attractive. Case in point. Yours truly.

[@danilosolomczak4326]

Brilliant

[@frankryan782]

When I lived in Torquay I found out ray reardon Lived there and he liked curry I won't disclose his favourite curry house , as far as I know he still goes there. .

[@littlelucysamoyed]

He died a few weeks back so sadly he's not gonna be eating there any more. Hopefully has last curry was a good 'un.

[@highjim7778]

@@littlelucysamoyed rip mr Reardon.

[@a.tanner8524]

Ray Reardon was an absolute gentleman. RIP sir.

[@headgroundsman1650]

That blue is the greatest shot of all time.

[@MrIanSellers]

Which one? Just startwd watching and I'll look for it coming...😊

[@highjim7778]

@@MrIanSellers goitta be the higgins one, its fucking impossible to get that much side on the ball

[@itsroger]

@@MrIanSellers the blue shot - kzbin.info/www/bejne/b33VpmehgJiJgqM

[@michaeldoherty4927]

terrible positional shot

[@davegadge1]

The legend David Icke!

[@richarddickson5157]

Alex made Snooker what it is today,,, exactly!!!!

[@johnmc3862]

The biggest reason why snooker is so big today is because of Alex Higgins, fact!

[@oldtimer7635]

Really? They are, and were lots of young players never heard of him, fact!

[@lakmeister]

​​@@oldtimer7635But without him doing his thing ..they would be in a factory or office? Facts!!!

[@oldtimer7635]

@@lakmeister What, was he there playing with himself? Nobody else around? Sure it's so easy to glorify past, and some particular individuals, but use your fu..ing common sense! "Biggest reason...."!

[@evelghostrider]

I guess what's ment is Alex Higgins was like Tiger Woods... He brought people to snooker that were not players.. Same as woods did with golf..

[@CastrolHondaSP2]

@@johnmc3862 just because you write fact after a statement doesn't automatically make it true. 🤣🤡

[@robertroyston-cornick4553]

Alex, what a lovely man. Met him in Euston station shared a beer. Top bloke.

[@MarkSmith-tp6zc]

Cool story guv’.

[@MarkSmith-tp6zc]

Davis is good at swearing!

[@Novotny72]

fantastic

[@bertwalliams5876]

A legend 🎉,the Northern Island trophy 🏆 is msrked in his name,what privilege.

[@matsforsberg6287]

Thanks

[@kennymartinez1244]

Can we say people were better sports toward each other, like they mostly respected each other in competition

[@Enpassantful]

They banned the biggest draw in snooker and almost killed the game off, took years to recover.

[@timbercretesteel9855]

What a lovely man!

[@JasonHarrisDorset]

Excellent doc 😍

[@staezione]

Almost 3 hours of snooker history and not even the last black of the most iconic frame ever played was shown. WTF

[@cliffordmason3542]

You should never meet your heroes. I was at trentam garden when he came back after his ban, played Adrian Rosa and lost 5nil. Everyone was surrounding him when he arrived and he behaved appallingly. Saw him later in the players lounge all alone cos everyone was avoiding him. He had everything and just threw it away.

[@a.tanner8524]

He was an arrogant rude man. A genius yes without a doubt but a very dislikable person. Steve Davis on the other hand is a good guy.

[@evelghostrider]

I knew Alex personally as he was a huge part of my family I was young, but I seen all his ups and downs with my father. They were extremely close as we stayed in each other's homes when he was in his prime.

[@TheMockatiel]

Nasty person who never had to learn to do better due to celebrity status- we see it all the time and they never learn

[@faceman1477]

I met Alex Higgins in Holland, he did an exhibition with Jimmy White. He was a true gentleman and had time for everyone. That was after his ban in 1993. He was 4-2 up on White and Jimmy won the last three frames to win 5-4. You could see they were good mates. Higgins manager at the time was with them.

[@brynjones7371]

I seem to remember Rex Williams got caught taking beta blockers to help him relax during matches.

[@Novotny72]

No-one had invented Twitch yet.

[@roadofsnookerfinals6572]

Alot of missing parts and the sound has been cut off multiple times so not a great video.

[@nibsvkh]

Shame that Alex’s drug addiction,alcohol is a drug,ruined his career,hurt his family and ended his life so prematurely. Jimmy fortunately cleaned up but only after missing out on an even better showings in the majors.

[@kevinprior3549]

Please don't get rid of this? Alex Higgins was often on the self-destructive button.

[@Synthematix]

Is that Machaela Tabb?

[@kevinprior3549]

Alex Higgins, Ray Reardon, Clive Everton, John Spencer... all gone now!

[@kumarlilwa1496]

My fav all time is great O'Sullivan

[@johnjoyce341]

Jimmy White should have had him beaten in that semi final.He missed a simple black off the spot and a relatively easy red.

[@thomasstaubo3115]

Why is 80-90 percent of this video about Alex Higgins??

[@mcanyon38]

Alex Higgins....talk about someone who thinks they're more important than they are.

[@Skynet4444]

Alex and keith floyd could be brothers.😂

[@DJ-ct6so]

10:20 - pretty sure that's Rex Williams

[@johnmc3862]

And to this day Steve Davis will never know how much he was ripped off.

[@Blues656]

EPIC

[@francollins4036]

Alex is the greatest ever.

[@kevinprior3549]

23:55 he was pissed!

[@frankryan782]

Alex hurricane Higgins came to England to be a jockey he worked for eddy reavey a racehorse trainer who liked a drink .

[@evelghostrider]

Whoever told you that knows nothing about Alex.

[@frankryan782]

@@evelghostrider like you know nothing knowall, I know the reavey racing family that employed Alex duh!!! And the reason you didn't know this is because you don't know anyone and go only by what you read or hear.. Alex Higgins was employed by eddy and jocelyn reavey OK🙄

[@evelghostrider]

Have no idea what your point is my friend... but i can tell you i will know more about alex his wife lynn and daughter lauren when he was in his prime from 78 to 84 .. Considering my parents were best friends with them, having stayed in their house in manchester and they staying in our home in belfast, how we would have multiple holidays together also, and the fact we also followed with them around the uk and irl snooker tournaments until my father passed in 84 where alex carried his coffin in full view of hundreds at my fathers funeral... granted i was a boy. But i was rite there for everything. . Were you that close to him to have your view of his actions ?? ​@frankryan782

[@highjim7778]

kirk and jimmy out on the piss every night

[@evelghostrider]

As a kid I had the pleasure of Alex, Jimmy, and kirk staying in my house many many times.

[@jibberjabberman]

play us a shot..where did the white go lol

[@jasongb5666]

Every time I see Jihad Gary Lineker .I feel sick 😫

[@a.tanner8524]

What kind of stupid comment is that?

[@claw333]

His Saville day will come I guarantee it

[@Swat-ed5bt]

Gary is a legend, you loser

[@002Frederic]

👌✨️💫😊

[@amigaze]

bless clive everton

[@vidmantaspetrauskas2023]

Both Higgins was best at match fixing ;)

[@garyhillman4993]

There all boring now give me Alex n Jimmy all day

[@frankryan782]

As are most sports, health and safety ensuring we live longer but are so bored we wish we didn't 😁

[@highjim7778]

@@frankryan782 seeing lots of them on Hendrys cue tips these says shows they still have personality and character, its just the sport no longer allows them to show it.

[@sidneygreen9120]

The rocket is of this standard 👍

[@sonjelkotelli5209]

From one drugmen to another!2 of them were losers!

[@axm5563]

1000%

[@darrellirwin8412]

I hope the promoter who ran off with all the money got ira treatment, maybe he might be where shergar is the only difference is shergar didn’t deserve to be horse napped

[@jonathonmasau8982]

Whos this

[@fearfactorymark]

Barry Hearn 😆

[@Big-o4e]

Snooker nowadays is played by robots only Ronnie & Williams who are characters rest of em I can to watch anymore even thou they might be better players

[@beefchops1400]

What a state……lol

[@davegadge1]

See his little coke snort 😆

[@CastrolHondaSP2]

Alex Higgins. Fantastic player. Awful human being.

[@johnmc3862]

Sure and you're a perfect human being? Great to comment on social media and say someone else is awful when you are anonymous.

[@magpie7154]

@@johnmc3862 I don't think what he said is in dispute is it?

[@CastrolHondaSP2]

@@johnmc3862 ah a fanboy. All the ability in the world but none of the class of Reardon or composure of Davis. People's champion my arse.

[@lakmeister]

​@@CastrolHondaSP2your a arse!😂

[@CastrolHondaSP2]

@@lakmeister YOU'RE AN. Literacy not your strong point then? 🤣🤡

[@tobyprice1092]

Jimmy White is playing pool around Thailand now. Not sure about the wig.

[@michaeldoherty4927]

He had a hair transplant, a la Rooney. Still plays on the snooker circuit and is a pundit for Eurosport

[@mrharoun3214]

How much coke did the 😂 first guy do ... Opium overlord

[@thetruthhurts5902]

higgins was a good snooker player but a complete wkr as a person sadly no class

[@tongpeter]

drunk man

[@oldtimer7635]

I am not so sure that they were "golden days". In many cases far from it.

[@simonc4764]

Snooker failed to build on the success of the 80s.

[@PatrickKelly-lz3pv]

Higgins only won the world title twice and White never won it at all, neither of them would be in the top 50 today

[@spinozacelt]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@michaeldoherty4927]

Only 😆

[@PatrickKelly-lz3pv]

@@michaeldoherty4927 To win one championship is a great achievement but this vid portrays Higgins as part of a golden generation and it was not, many amateur players played in those days, today the standard is much higher.

[@iancu39]

1 Trump 2 Hendry . .

[@johnmc3862]

😅😅😅

[@billfrater1948]

I would argue the golden days are now. the players now are just streets ahead of the players back then, I hear this crap about no characters now, what a load of crap, Mark Williams, Mark King, Michael Holt, Judd, Ronnie, Mark Allen, no Characters, you must be joking.

[@michaeldoherty4927]

Mark King's been banned. Michael Holt too. Neither would be considered top players.

[@2010gtoner]

Liniker:(

[@xxkupixx8036]

Jimmy white was a traitor for leaving Higgins and joining Barry Hearn, I’m so glad he didn’t win the world champion

[@a.tanner8524]

Why was he a traitor? Higgins was a very bad influence on the young Jimmy White. He was probably better off not hanging around with him.

[@colinyates7485]

Both Higgins and White had a great talent but lacked the dedication required to become exceptional.

[@johnmc3862]

Nonsense, both were exceptional. Higgins literally made snooker cool singlehandedly(although White had a hand too)and won 2 WC's. White won 30 titles, 10 of them ranking titles. He was unfortunate to come up against the King of the Crucible' every time. A man more consistent than anyone in the game, including Ronnie.

[@johnmc3862]

Both were exceptional. Higgins literally singlehandedly made snooker cool and pioneered lots of the shots we see today and White won 30 titles, 10 of them ranking titles. Both of them were exceptional even to a casual fan of the game.

[@colinyates7485]

@@johnmc3862 I agree that they were both exceptional in their drinking and drug culture but their lack of dedication stopped them both from reaching the heights that they could and should have achieved.

[@evelghostrider]

​@@colinyates7485how well did you know the two players ?? I was lucky enough as a kid they would often stay in my parents home and we would travel with them around the league places..

[@colinyates7485]

@@evelghostrider I didn’t have to know them well, they were a pair of piss head, drug taking chancers, which they both admitted several times, that is not dedication to your chosen sport, although I’m sure they had a great social life.

[@gregmilligan6334]

Alex just seemed like a knob of a guy and old horrible drunk no thanks rather watch paint dry than this