1985 World Snooker Championship Final
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - 1985 World Snooker Championship Final
OR:
1985 World Snooker Championship Final on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The 1985 World Snooker Championship final, also known as the black-ball final, was played on the weekend of 1985 at the
Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's ...
in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
, England. The final of the 1985 World Snooker Championship was between defending world champion
Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...
and 1979 runner-up
Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a ...
. It was Davis's fourth appearance in a final and Taylor's second. The best-of-35- match was split into four . Davis won every frame in the first session to lead 7–0 but only led 9–7 and 13–11 after the second and third sessions. Until the match was over, Taylor was never ahead in frames but had tied the contest three times at 11–11, 15–15 and 17–17. The culminated in a number of shots on the final . After both players had failed to it several times, Taylor potted the black to win his only world championship. Media outlets reported this as a major shock: Davis had been widely predicted to win the match, having lifted three of the previous four world championship titles. The final took place during the eighth year of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's daily coverage of the championship and reached a climax in the early hours of Monday 29 April. It was viewed by 18.5 million people in the United Kingdom, which remains a record viewing figure for BBC2, and is still the record for a post-midnight audience for any British television channel. The total match time of 14 hours and 50 minutes is the longest ever recorded for a best-of-35-frames match. It is the only final at this venue to contain no
century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...
s. The final is one of the most famous matches in snooker history and part of the reason for the surge in the sport's popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Two hour-long BBC documentaries, ''When Snooker Ruled the World'' from 2002 and ''Davis v Taylor: The '85 Black Ball Final'' made in 2010, commemorated the event. The final frame was released in full on home video as "The Greatest Snooker Final of All Time". The post-match single-word responses to the press from Davis would later be used as a basis for a recurring caricature of him in the television show ''
Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...
''.


Background

The
World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it ...
is a professional snooker tournament first held in
1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 ...
and becoming an annual event in
1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
. The 1985 World Snooker Championship final was the culmination of the last
world ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...
event of the
1984–85 snooker season The 1984–85 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1984 and May 1985. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events. __TOC__ Calendar Official rankings The top ...
. The tournament featured a 32-participant main draw, with 16
seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
ed players and 16 players from a pre-tournament qualification competition. Matches at the event were played over a series of , the final being the best-of-35 frames over four . The final was broadcast on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
for the eighth year in a row, with the winner receiving £60,000 (), the highest prize for a snooker event to that date.


Road to the final

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...
, ranked as the world number one, overcame
Neal Foulds Neal Foulds (born 13 July 1963) is an English former professional snooker player and six-time tournament winner, including the 1986 International Open, the 1988 Dubai Masters and the 1992 Scottish Masters, as well as the invitational Pot Blac ...
10–8 in the opening round in what was Davis's closest match until the final. He then played David Taylor in the second round, holding at least a three-frame lead throughout much of the match, and eventually won 13–4 after winning seven frames out of eight. Davis trailed for the first time at the event in the quarter-finals, as he played
Terry Griffiths Terence Martin Griffiths (born 16 October 1947) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. In his second professional tournament, he became world champion when he won the 1979 World Snooker Champions ...
. Griffiths won the first four frames, but Davis won the next four to tie the match 4–4. With the scores even, Davis won six of the next eight to lead 10–6 after the second session and eventually won 13–6. In the semi-final, Davis required just three of the four scheduled sessions to overcome
Ray Reardon Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...
16–5.
Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a ...
, ranked 11, led
Silvino Francisco Silvino Francisco (born 3 May 1946) is a South African former professional snooker player, most notable for winning the 1985 British Open. Snooker career Francisco comes from a snooker-playing family. His brother Manuel and nephew Peter both ...
8–1 in the opening session, and won the match 10–2. In the second round, Taylor played
Eddie Charlton Edward Francis Charlton, (31 October 1929 – 8 November 2004) was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winn ...
where he won 13–6. Taylor played
Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...
in the quarter-finals, in a match full of slow play. He led 10–5 after an over nine-hour second session, but won the first three frames in the final session to win 13–5. In the semi-final Taylor lost the first two frames against Tony Knowles, but won 16 of the next 19 to win 16–5, the same scoreline as Davis.


Match report

The final was played on 27–28 April 1985 at the
Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's ...
in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
, England. Davis went into the tournament as the defending champion. The two players had met twelve months earlier in the semi-finals of the 1984 World Championship, Davis winning 16–9, having only lost once to Taylor in nine matches. Davis was competing in his fourth world championship final, having reached the final and won in
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
,
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
and 1984. Taylor was contesting his second final, having lost to Terry Griffiths 16–24 in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...
. Davis had never lost a prior ranking event final. Taylor started the 1985 final with a of 50 but lost that frame as Davis gained a firm advantage by his opponent in the first session. Davis also won the first of the second session to lead 8–0. Taylor won the ninth frame on the after Davis missed a pot on the . Davis lost six of the next seven frames, as Taylor produced the highest break of the final, a 98, to trail 7–9 overnight. Davis won two of the first three frames on the second day, to lead 11–8, before Taylor tied the match at 11–11. Davis took both of the next two frames on the to lead 13–11. Taylor won four of the next six and again drew level at 15–15. Davis won the next two frames to regain the lead at 17–15. Taylor then won a closely fought 33rd frame, followed by a 57 break in frame 34, to level the match at 17–17 and force a .


The final frame

The 35th frame was the last of the final, and lasted 68 minutes. Davis led 62–44, with only the last four on the table, worth 22 points. Taylor potted the brown ball from much of the length of the table and then the with a slowly played along the bottom cushion into the green pocket. He then sank a difficult into the same pocket from the opposite . This left Taylor trailing 59–62 with only the , worth seven points, remaining. Taylor attempted a into the left middle . He missed, but the ball rebounded to a position at the top of the table. Davis then played a safety shot, putting the black near the middle of the cushion and leaving the cue ball near the right-hand cushion, a little above the corner pocket. In response, Taylor again attempted to double the black ball, this time into the top-left corner pocket. The black missed but eventually landed above the left middle pocket to a safe position. Davis's next attempt and left Taylor with a middle-distance pot to the green pocket. Taylor missed the pot, which commentator
Jim Meadowcroft Jim Meadowcroft (15 December 1946 – 25 September 2015) was an English professional snooker player who latterly was a coach and a commentator on the game. His most successful years were during the 1970s; he was ranked number 12 in the world ...
described as "the biggest shot of his life". This left Davis a thin cut shot into the top-left corner. He over-cut the black, missed the shot and left the black in a reasonably-straightforward pottable position into the same pocket. Taylor made his way to the table and potted the black to win the match. The final finished at 12:23 a.m. on 29 April 1985. After potting the ball, Taylor held his above his head and waggled his finger in celebration. He said in a 2009 interview that the gesture was aimed at his "good mate"
Trevor East Trevor James East (born 22 October 1950)The Guardian, Monday 9 July 2007Media 100/ref> was originally presenter of Tiswas; stooge to Chris Tarrant and Derby County obsessed. He was subsequently ranked 27 in The Guardian's "Media 100" most influenti ...
, whom he had told he would win. In a post-match interview with
David Vine David Martin Vine (3 January 1935 – 11 January 2009) was an English television sports presenter. He presented a wide variety of shows from the 1960s onwards, most notably his coverage of major snooker tournaments for the BBC. Early life Born i ...
, Davis commented that the loss was "all there in black and white", and Taylor commented that the match was the greatest that he had been involved in. Taylor noted the importance of defeating Thorburn, whom he described as the "hardest player in the world", and Davis, whom he described as the "best player in the world". Taylor commented that as he had defeated Davis, he was "the best this year".


Match statistics

The scores for the match are shown below. Scores in parentheses denote player breaks, while frames won are denoted by bold text and .


Legacy

The final is one of the most famous snooker matches of all time. The match holds several records. The final is the longest match ever held over the length of 35 frames at 14 hours and 50 minutes. The concluding moments of the final were watched by 18.5 million viewers, which as of 2020 is the most ever in the United Kingdom for a broadcast after midnight and for any BBC2 programme. Taylor lost in the opening round at the following year's event, and Davis lost again in the final to Joe Johnson 12–18. He won the next three championships between 1987 and 1989, winning the event six times in total. Davis and Taylor met on one further occasion, in the quarter-final of the
1991 World Snooker Championship The 1991 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1991 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 1991 at the ...
, Davis winning comfortably 13–7. Taylor never reached the final again, but did win the Masters in
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
, again producing a comeback, this time against
Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Worl ...
. Taylor's mother had died in September 1984, the year prior, so he had dedicated his win at the 1984 Grand Prix in October to her. His win at the world championship he also dedicated to his mother's life. On his return to Northern Ireland, Taylor received a victory parade in a
Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
across his home town of
Coalisland Coalisland () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, with a population of 5,682 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. Four miles from Lough Neagh, it was formerly a centre for coal mining. History Origins In the late ...
in front of 10,000 people. He was loaned mayoral robes on the day of the parade, and was accompanied by his wife and three children. He later signed a five-year contract with promoter Barry Hearn as his manager. The media described Davis as a "bad loser" for his silence and one-word responses to questions from David Vine at a press conference following the event. This was later used as the basis for a recurring character on the television show ''
Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...
,'' based on Davis. Some months after the 1985 World Championship, a special programme was recorded in which both players watched the entire final frame and discussed it shot by shot. For the penultimate shot, where Davis missed the cut into the corner pocket, he stated "I was saying to myself, don't hit it thick" and "that's how you bottle it, by hitting it thick." He summarised: "although I missed the black, it wasn't that shot which lost the match. There were other shots earlier in the frame." In particular, Davis mentions how close he was to being able to pot a pink which he suggested changed the course of the match. The programme was later released on DVD as ''The Greatest Snooker Final of All Time'' by Retro Videos. The black-ball finish was voted the ninth greatest sporting moment of all time in a 2002
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
poll. During the 2010 World Championship, Taylor and Davis 're-created' the final frame of the 1985 final. Performed in a distinctly irreverent manner, the "rerun" was noticeable for the fact that in attempting to replicate the missed shots on the final black, they instead ended up potting it on all but one attempt. The one attempt on the black they missed was the shot Taylor potted in the 1985 match to win the championship. BBC Two aired a one-hour documentary on the final, ''Davis v Taylor: The '85 Black Ball Final'', presented by
Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Luke Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. In 2010, he became host of BBC Television's '' Match of the Day 2'' on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, including '' 5 ...
, after the conclusion of the coverage of the 2010 final.


References


External links


1985 World Snooker Championship – Steve Davis v Dennis Taylor Black Ball Final
on YouTube (World Snooker Tour edit, 44 minutes)
The '85 Black Ball Final
on BBC iPlayer {{DEFAULTSORT:Snooker Championship final, 1985 1985 in English sport 1985 in Northern Ireland sport World Championship, final 1980s in Sheffield Sports competitions in Sheffield Sports finals April 1985 sports events in the United Kingdom 1985, final