How Birmingham put snooker in the frame
City played pivotal role in history of World Championship over 90 years ago
THE Crucible Theatre in Sheffield is widely regarded as the undisputed home of snooker. Having hosted the World Championships since 1977, it would be hard to argue otherwise.
Millions around the globe have been tuning into snooker’s showpiece event this week which boasts a prize fund of almost £2 million.
It’s a far cry from the tournament’s humble beginnings in Birmingham in 1927.
Legendary potter Joe Davis beat Tom Dennis to lift the trophy and take home... six pounds, ten shillings winnings.
The World Championship started out as a modest venture by Davis and Bill Camkin, a well known billiard hall owner in Birmingham.
At a time when billiards was the main draw, the principle aim for Camkin was to pull in more income from snooker.
Davis was driven more by a desire to increase participation in a sport which lacked any competitive structure.
The inaugural tournament saw matches played around the country before the final was staged at Camkin’s Hall in John Bright Street, in Birmingham city centre.
“Camkin actually refereed the match,” revealed former BBC commentator Clive Everton, who lives in Hagley, Worcestershire.
“It was extraordinarily low key. I’d be surprised if it was even mentioned in the Birmingham Post!
“These days the World Championship is one of 29 tournaments on the circuit. The total prize fund is £14 million.
“That’s a bit different to the six pounds ten shillings Joe Davis received. Davis was much better than anybody else. He won the first title very easily and held on to it until 1946. For 20 years he went undefeated.”
But Birmingham’s close ties with snooker didn’t end with the staging of the first two world finals.
The city has played an intrinsic part in its transformation from a simple hobby played in smoky social clubs to an ultra-professional, big-money sport with global appeal.
Snooker has, however, experienced many downs as well as ups.
After a lull in popularity following the Second World War, there was a brief renaissance in the 1950s.
But that upturn was short-lived with the sport again failing to capture the imagination of the British public.
“As a piece of entertainment, no promoter thought it was worth staging,” says Everton, who has been editor of Halesowen-based magazine Snooker Scene for 47 years.
Between 1964 and 1968 the world championship was revived on a challenge basis.
But in 1969, when the World Professional Billiard and Snooker Association (WPSBA) took over regulation of the game, it returned to a knockout format.
Eight players, four from the postwar heyday and four ‘new professionals’, battled it out for the top prize.
This change came just as snooker boomed thanks to a Birminghambased TV show.
“At the end of the 1969/69 season, the great piece of luck snooker had was Pot Black,” Everton says. “Recorded at BBC Pebble Mill studios, it brought the game to a much wider audience.”
Birmingham came into the story again in 1972 when the world final was held at Selly Park British Legion.
“Alex Higgins really announced himself at that tournament,” said Everton. “The combination of snooker establishing itself as a sport through Pot Black and the emergence of Higgins were huge.
“So you could say Birmingham has played a part in the game’s development.”
Another big change arrived in 1973. Instead of being played over the course of a season, the World Championship was contested over a two-week period, as it is now. It moved around, with the WPBSA unable to settle on a regular venue, until 1977 when a decision was made to take the tournament to Sheffield’s Crucible.
That proved a major moment for the championship, which also benefited from increased exposure as well as a stable home.
“The BBC’s decision to cover it was a major step forward,” added Everton.
“It’s a great TV success story. The sport has been through a lot of vicissitude, but now it’s in a very healthy position and Barry Hearn [head of the WPBSA] deserves credit for that.
“The game had a series of administrations that were not up to it.
“Led either by players who knew little about business, or business people who knew little about snooker.
“Barry has introduced new tournaments, made the game more professional and brought a tremendous amount of money into the sport.”
Everton commentated on the world championship from 1978 to 2010 and his voice was synonymous with the BBC’s coverage along with that of ‘Whispering Ted’ Lowe. But the 80-year-old was dropped by the broadcaster in a “shameful” move he explores in the book Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards.
“I was forced out,” he says. “I was told it was nothing to do with my ability or age. But they were unable to give me a proper explanation.
“I work for ITV4 now, who have a portfolio of four tournaments.
“But the World Championships are really special and I miss it desperately.”
It was extraordinarily low key. I’d be surprised if it was even mentioned in the Birmingham Post! Clive Everton, right