No disrespect to these two players but the standard of play has gone way the hell up since 1976 and I'm sure it will continue to soar as the game gets more popular around the world. If you were to put Alex Higgins in his prime against John Higgins today, Alex would be lucky to ever get an open shot. Today's players may not be as entertaining without the flamboyant, all or nothing shots but the fact is their better at almost every aspect of the game except entertaining the crowd.
@fergyspoolshots thats due to the quality of the materials used to make the snooker balls, table cloth, chalk, cue tip
in fact i believe it wont soar too much as people nowadays lack the persistence to practice and generally immature, part of the reason is due to the advance in technology and uprise of living standard. But of course, in return, we might occasionally unearth some natural genius who doesnt require that kind of persistence, so maybe you are still right :)
@theodorehui I agree that the equipment is much better and that the faster cloth makes splitting the reds easier but I'm sure the reason the standard has rose so much is because the great players of today have studied and learned from the master players before them especially the likes of Steve Davis. Compare the stances and cue actions of today's top 16 to Davis's stance. As much natural talent as Ronnie or Hendry have, they idolized Davis growing up and their stances and cue actions are same.
Ronnie is a perfect example. He has natural talent of course, but watch his stance and cue action. Other than pulling the cue tip all the way back to his thumb on the final stroke he has copied Davis exactly. Feet same place, back arm vertical, pause on final backswing almost no body movement on the shot. Is that something he was born with? No it was learned from other players. I'm sure he has learned from previous top players what to practice and what works . Thats why the standard keeps rising
Just as technology or anything else improves,snooker improves by learning what does and doesn't work from the champions of the past. Perhaps your right about people in general not being as persistent or hard working but it obviously doesn't apply to anyone hoping to be a top 16.Even Ronnie, my fav player says he practices 6hrs/day every day. Good eyes and a straight stroke only get you so far in snooker. Nobody's born with the strategy and cueball control.Shaping the wheel, not reinventing it.
@fergyspoolshots i also wish the game would get more and more popular around the world, and i would glad to see different ways of playing the game would evolve as time goes
your definitely right about this generation actually learns snooker from the last generation, they keep the good and modify the bad, for example to me, ronnie kept davis' posture while playing in a much faster fashion lol
It will get much more popular world wide thanks to the internet. Before the internet if you lived outside of the UK and you wanted reach pro-standard it was extremely difficult. Most countries rarely played recent snooker matches on tv and finding a coach was impossible. All you could do to learn is buy a snooker book and try to practice on your own,(if you could access a 6x12 table) In UK there's always live snooker on tv, plenty of coaches and full size tables.You can even see top players live
What people watch on tv they natural try to imitate and the game gets popular.Here in Canada hockey is on tv all the time.As a result everybody plays and try's to copy their fav players.As a result we produce great players like Gretzky.Snooker is not on tv here so few people play and there's few tables.Internet changes this. We can watch top 16 worldwide via youtube.We can get online coaching world wide.All the books,cd's.Now we ALL can learn not just UK.I didnt even know of Ronnie until Youtube
This is at the Withenshaw Forum, Manchester. They used 2 venues in 1976, the top half of the draw (Reardon's) being played at Withenshaw, the bottom half (Higgins') at Middlesbrough Town Hall.
No disrespect to these two players but the standard of play has gone way the hell up since 1976 and I'm sure it will continue to soar as the game gets more popular around the world. If you were to put Alex Higgins in his prime against John Higgins today, Alex would be lucky to ever get an open shot. Today's players may not be as entertaining without the flamboyant, all or nothing shots but the fact is their better at almost every aspect of the game except entertaining the crowd.
fergyspoolshots 3 months ago
@fergyspoolshots thats due to the quality of the materials used to make the snooker balls, table cloth, chalk, cue tip
in fact i believe it wont soar too much as people nowadays lack the persistence to practice and generally immature, part of the reason is due to the advance in technology and uprise of living standard. But of course, in return, we might occasionally unearth some natural genius who doesnt require that kind of persistence, so maybe you are still right :)
theodorehui 3 months ago
@theodorehui I agree that the equipment is much better and that the faster cloth makes splitting the reds easier but I'm sure the reason the standard has rose so much is because the great players of today have studied and learned from the master players before them especially the likes of Steve Davis. Compare the stances and cue actions of today's top 16 to Davis's stance. As much natural talent as Ronnie or Hendry have, they idolized Davis growing up and their stances and cue actions are same.
fergyspoolshots 3 months ago
Ronnie is a perfect example. He has natural talent of course, but watch his stance and cue action. Other than pulling the cue tip all the way back to his thumb on the final stroke he has copied Davis exactly. Feet same place, back arm vertical, pause on final backswing almost no body movement on the shot. Is that something he was born with? No it was learned from other players. I'm sure he has learned from previous top players what to practice and what works . Thats why the standard keeps rising
fergyspoolshots 3 months ago
Just as technology or anything else improves,snooker improves by learning what does and doesn't work from the champions of the past. Perhaps your right about people in general not being as persistent or hard working but it obviously doesn't apply to anyone hoping to be a top 16.Even Ronnie, my fav player says he practices 6hrs/day every day. Good eyes and a straight stroke only get you so far in snooker. Nobody's born with the strategy and cueball control.Shaping the wheel, not reinventing it.
fergyspoolshots 3 months ago
@fergyspoolshots i also wish the game would get more and more popular around the world, and i would glad to see different ways of playing the game would evolve as time goes
your definitely right about this generation actually learns snooker from the last generation, they keep the good and modify the bad, for example to me, ronnie kept davis' posture while playing in a much faster fashion lol
theodorehui 3 months ago
It will get much more popular world wide thanks to the internet. Before the internet if you lived outside of the UK and you wanted reach pro-standard it was extremely difficult. Most countries rarely played recent snooker matches on tv and finding a coach was impossible. All you could do to learn is buy a snooker book and try to practice on your own,(if you could access a 6x12 table) In UK there's always live snooker on tv, plenty of coaches and full size tables.You can even see top players live
fergyspoolshots 3 months ago
What people watch on tv they natural try to imitate and the game gets popular.Here in Canada hockey is on tv all the time.As a result everybody plays and try's to copy their fav players.As a result we produce great players like Gretzky.Snooker is not on tv here so few people play and there's few tables.Internet changes this. We can watch top 16 worldwide via youtube.We can get online coaching world wide.All the books,cd's.Now we ALL can learn not just UK.I didnt even know of Ronnie until Youtube
fergyspoolshots 3 months ago
Nice upload mate...
kingtut147 1 year ago
This is at the Withenshaw Forum, Manchester. They used 2 venues in 1976, the top half of the draw (Reardon's) being played at Withenshaw, the bottom half (Higgins') at Middlesbrough Town Hall.
thurstons 1 year ago
ted lowe was a class commentator
sierraoscar1990 1 year ago 2
@sierraoscar1990 Snoozer by today's standards.Right up there with Dan Maskell.
eblanaken 9 months ago
Middlesborough Town Hall
smooooothoperator 1 year ago
WHERE WAS THIS FINAL HELD I KNOW THE CHAMPIONSHIP MOVED TO SHEFFIELD THE NEXT YEAR ?,
78Snipsey 1 year ago