‘WHAT IF?’
I’m a world champion but often still wonder Amateur Canavan swapped snooker for classic cars.. but now he’s a shock seniors winner with his sights set on the Crucible wondering if he might have made it as a pro
AMATEUR Aaron Canavan has already taken out a Crucible legend to earn a shot at reaching the iconic sporting venue.
And the 42-year-old classic-car restorer from Jersey today embarks on his Betfred World Championship qualifying campaign against Sheffield regular Rob Milkins.
Canavan, who never went pro, was a shock winner of the recent World Seniors (right, with John Virgo) and now stands three wins away from the Mecca of snooker.
That success for the former junior talent, originally from County Durham, included victory over 1985 world champion Dennis Taylor.
And Canavan, having entered only on a whim, has spent the past few weeks wondering what might have been had his life taken a different turn. He said: “It was unbelievable to win the Seniors, after two re-spotted blacks in the semis and the final. I haven’t played properly for years and am basically just a club player. But I saw the Seniors and thought on a whim, ‘I am going to have a go at that.’
“And of course I beat Dennis Taylor in an early round. Even though he is older now he can still play and was really disappointed to lose. That was a great moment up against the famous 1985 world champion and I relished it in front of 1,000 people, I won’t get to do that often in my life. I will never forget that match.
“When I was a junior I played a lot and my dad took me everywhere but very sadly we lost him when I was only 13. We lived out in the sticks near Spennymoor and had no money. My mum didn’t drive and we were 40 miles away from the nearest snooker table.
“Then we moved to Jersey when I was 16 or 17 and I didn’t play again until I was 24 or 25, always in the local club leagues.
“I think I always believed deep down that I might have been good enough to have been a pro but circumstances dictated otherwise. “Had things been different I would have loved to give it a go on the pro tour. If I had been 20 years younger with the greater opportunities now, that might have changed things.
“So of course there are what-if moments. The first time I ever tried anything higher than club stuff I became a world champion so you do think, ‘I could have done this’.”
As a car restorer, Canavan would do a good job with five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan’s impressive fleet of motors.
He added: “When I first arrived in Jersey I was working in a beach restaurant for three or four years and I loved that.
“And then I got a job in a garage and got into car valeting and then detailing and restoring. I paint them, restore them – a bit of an Edd China off TV’s Wheeler Dealers.
“We do all types of cars – classic and modern. I do a lot of classic cars, regenerating the leather inside the car and keeping the original finish.
“You get to work on everything, brand new Ferrari Enzos down to a 1936 Bugatti, Aston Martin’s other classic Ferrari 275S – beautiful cars that I love to work with.”