Crucible curse

Crucible curse

The "Crucible Curse" (also known as the "The Curse of the Crucible") refers to the fact that no first-time snooker world champion has retained his title the following year since the event moved to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 1977.[1][2][3][4] The last player to successfully defend his first world title was John Pulman in 1964, when the championship was still decided by challenge matches.

Contents

The Curse

The following first-time champions ended up short of defending their titles the following year. Of the fifteen players to have won their first championship at the Crucible Theatre, five lost in their first match as defending champion (Terry Griffiths in 1980, Steve Davis in 1982, Dennis Taylor in 1986 Graeme Dott in 2007, and Neil Robertson in 2011) and only two went on to reach the final: Joe Johnson in 1987 and Ken Doherty in 1998.

Year[5] Defending Champion[5] Progress Result Opponent Ref
1980 Terry Griffiths Second Round[N 1] 10–13 Steve Davis [6]
1981 Cliff Thorburn Semi-finals 10–16 Steve Davis [7]
1982 Steve Davis First Round 1–10 Tony Knowles [8]
1986 Dennis Taylor First Round 6–10 Mike Hallett [9]
1987 Joe Johnson Final 14–18 Steve Davis [10]
1991 Stephen Hendry Quarter-finals 11–13 Steve James [11]
1992 John Parrott Quarter-finals 12–13 Alan McManus [12]
1998 Ken Doherty Final 12–18 John Higgins [13]
1999 John Higgins Semi-finals 10–17 Mark Williams [14]
2001 Mark Williams Second Round 12–13 Joe Swail [15]
2002 Ronnie O'Sullivan Semi-finals 13–17 Stephen Hendry [16]
2003 Peter Ebdon Quarter-finals 12–13 Paul Hunter [17]
2006 Shaun Murphy Quarter-finals 7–13 Peter Ebdon [18]
2007 Graeme Dott First Round 7–10 Ian McCulloch [19]
2011 Neil Robertson First Round 8–10 Judd Trump [20]

In the meantimes, the titles were won by players who had already been world champions (so the "curse" did not apply). Three players have even won consecutive titles: Ray Reardon (1973–76), Steve Davis (1983–84 and 87–89) and Stephen Hendry (1992–96), but only after they experienced the "curse".

Pre-Crucible

Even before the World Championship was staged at the Crucible, no player in the modern game successfully defended his first world title. Of all first-time world champions, only Joe Davis, his brother Fred and John Pulman retained their title at the next world championship, Joe in 1928, Fred in 1949 and Pulman during his challenge match in 1964. Additionally, Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins and John Spencer won the world championship before it was moved to the Crucible, but they all failed to retain the title after winning it at the Crucible for the first time.

Year[5] Defending Champion[5] Progress Result Opponent Ref
1970 John Spencer Semi-finals 33–37 Ray Reardon [21]
1971 Ray Reardon Semi-finals 15–34 John Spencer [22]
1973 Alex Higgins Semi-finals 9–23 Eddie Charlton [23]

Notes

  1. ^ Griffiths, along with the other top 8 seeds, received a bye for the opening round. The Second Round was thus his first match.

References

  1. ^ John Dee (2006-04-14). "Murphy aiming to exorcise the Crucible curse". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/04/15/sosnoo15.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/04/15/ixsport.html. Retrieved 2007-04-21. 
  2. ^ "Cruise for Ebdon as Crucible curse strikes champ". nationalmultimedia.com. http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/04/28/sport/sport_30002733.php. Retrieved 2007-04-21. 
  3. ^ "Crucible Curse Strikes Ebdon". Sporting Life. http://www.sportinglife.com/snooker/worldchampionships2003/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=snooker/03/04/30/SNOOKER_World_2nd_Nightlead.html. Retrieved 2007-04-21. 
  4. ^ "Australia's Neil Robertson aiming to break the curse of the Crucible". guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/15/neil-robertson-crucible-trump-judd. Retrieved 23 April 2011. 
  5. ^ a b c d Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/world.html. Retrieved 21 April 2011. 
  6. ^ "1980 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=32. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  7. ^ "1981 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=31. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  8. ^ "1982 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=30. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  9. ^ "1986 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=26. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  10. ^ "1987 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=25. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  11. ^ "1991 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=21. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  12. ^ "1992 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=20. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  13. ^ "1998 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=14. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  14. ^ "1999 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=13. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  15. ^ "2001 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=11. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  16. ^ "2002 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=10. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  17. ^ "2003 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=9. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  18. ^ "2006 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=4. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  19. ^ "2007 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=3. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  20. ^ "2011 Betfred.com World Championship". WWW Snooker. http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=28. Retrieved 23 February 2011. 
  21. ^ "1970 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=42. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  22. ^ "1971 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=41. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
  23. ^ "1973 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. http://snookerdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=39. Retrieved 28 December 2010. 
v · d · eWorld Snooker Championship
The early years
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1931 · 1932 · 1933 · 1934 · 1935 · 1936 · 1937 · 1938 · 1939 · 1940
Post-War to decline
1941 · 1942 · 1943 · 1944 · 1945 · 1946 · 1947 · 1948 · 1949 · 1950
1951 · 1952
Professional Matchplay Championship
1951 · 1952 · 1953 · 1954 · 1955 · 1956 · 1957
Challenge matches
1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 1968
The modern era (pre-Crucible)
1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 1968 · 1969 · 1970
1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976
The Crucible Theatre
1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979 · 1980
1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989 · 1990
1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000
2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010
2011
Related articles
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Players  · Millionaires  · Nicknames  · Crucible Curse
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