1980 World Snooker Championship
The 1980 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1980 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 22 April and 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Dates | 22 April – 5 May 1980 |
Venue | Crucible Theatre |
City | Sheffield |
Country | England |
Organisation(s) | WPBSA |
Format | Ranking event |
Total prize fund | £60,000 |
Winner's share | £15,000 |
Highest break | ![]() ![]() |
Final | |
Champion | ![]() |
Runner-up | ![]() |
Score | 18–16 |
← 1979 1981 → |
Cliff Thorburn won in the final 18–16 against Alex Higgins. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
Tournament summary
- Tony Meo, Cliff Wilson and Ray Edmonds made their Crucible debuts. However, they lost in the first round 9–10 against Alex Higgins, 6–10 against Doug Mountjoy and 5–10 David Taylor respectively.[1][2][3] John Pulman made his last appearance at the World Championship, losing 5–10 against Canadian Jim Wych.[4]
- The championship extended the players who played at the Crucible from 16 to 24 with the top eight players going automatically in to round 2.[5]
- To accommodate these eight extra matches, the frames in each match were also revamped. The first round went to 19 frames, the second and quarter-finals to 25, the semi-finals to 31 and the final to 35 frames. The format still continues today except for the semi-final, which became a 33-frame match in 1997.[5]
- The coverage of the final was interrupted by coverage of the Iranian Embassy siege, as the BBC took the snooker off the air to bring live coverage of the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy in London.[6]
- John Street refereed the final.[7]
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[8]
- Winner: £15,000
- Runner-up: £8,000
- Semi-final: £4,000
- Quarter-final: £2,000
- Last 16: £1,500
- Last 32: £750
- Highest break: £1,000
- Maximum break: £10,000
- Total: £60,000
Main draw
Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings.
Round 1 Best of 19 frames |
Round 2 Best of 25 frames |
Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames |
Semi-finals Best of 31 frames |
Final Best of 35 frames | |||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Patsy Fagan (16) | 6 | ![]() |
Terry Griffiths (1) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Steve Davis | 10 | ![]() |
Steve Davis | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Steve Davis | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Alex Higgins (11) | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Alex Higgins (11) | 10 | ![]() |
Perrie Mans (8) | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Tony Meo | 9 | ![]() |
Alex Higgins (11) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Alex Higgins (11) | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Kirk Stevens | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Graham Miles (9) | 3 | ![]() |
John Spencer (5) | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Kirk Stevens | 10 | ![]() |
Kirk Stevens | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Kirk Stevens | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Eddie Charlton (4) | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
John Virgo (10) | 10 | ![]() |
Eddie Charlton (4) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Jim Meadowcroft | 2 | ![]() |
John Virgo (10) | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Alex Higgins (11) | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Cliff Thorburn (3) | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Doug Mountjoy (13) | 10 | ![]() |
Cliff Thorburn (3) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Cliff Wilson | 6 | ![]() |
Doug Mountjoy (13) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Cliff Thorburn (3) | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Jim Wych | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
John Pulman (14) | 5 | ![]() |
Dennis Taylor (6) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Jim Wych | 10 | ![]() |
Jim Wych | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Cliff Thorburn (3) | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
David Taylor (15) | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
David Taylor (15) | 10 | ![]() |
Fred Davis (7) | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Ray Edmonds | 3 | ![]() |
David Taylor (15) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
David Taylor (15) | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Ray Reardon (2) | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Bill Werbeniuk (12) | 10 | ![]() |
Ray Reardon (2) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Willie Thorne | 9 | ![]() |
Bill Werbeniuk (12) | 6 |
Qualifying
The results from the qualifying competition are shown below.[11]
First Round
Player | Score | Player |
---|---|---|
![]() | 9–7 | ![]() |
![]() | 9–5 | ![]() |
![]() | 9–5 | ![]() |
![]() | w/o-![]() | ![]() |
![]() | 9–7 | ![]() |
Last 48 Best of 17 frames |
Last 32 Best of 17 frames | |||||
![]() |
9 | |||||
![]() |
1 | ![]() |
1 | |||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
9 | |||
![]() |
4 | |||||
![]() |
9 | |||||
![]() |
3 | ![]() |
9 | |||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
0 | |||
![]() |
4 | |||||
![]() |
9 | |||||
![]() |
2 | ![]() |
3 | |||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
9 | |||
![]() |
3 | |||||
![]() |
9 | |||||
![]() |
5 | ![]() |
1 | |||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
9 | |||
![]() |
1 | |||||
![]() |
9 | |||||
![]() |
4 | ![]() |
7 | |||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
9 | |||
![]() |
5 | |||||
![]() |
![]() | |||||
![]() |
![]() |
Bye | ||||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
||||
![]() |
7 | |||||
![]() |
9 | |||||
![]() |
2 | ![]() |
9 | |||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
6 | |||
![]() |
7 | |||||
![]() |
7 | |||||
![]() |
9 | ![]() |
1 | |||
![]() |
![]() |
9 | ||||
![]() |
![]() | |||||
Century breaks
There were 11 century breaks at the championship.[9] Kirk Stevens and Steve Davis shared the high break prize when they both made a 136 break. It was the first time the highest break went to two players.[13][14][15] There was also a £5,000 bonus on offer for compiling a higher break than the championship record of 142.[8]
- 136, 116
Steve Davis - 136
Kirk Stevens - 123, 104
Doug Mountjoy - 122
Alex Higgins - 119, 114
Cliff Thorburn - 108
John Spencer - 106
Fred Davis - 101
Bill Werbeniuk
References
- "Tony Meo at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- "Cliff Wilson at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- "Ray Edmonds at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- "John Pulman at the World Championship". Snooker Database. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
- Weir, Stuart. "World Snooker: Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about the Crucible.(Sport)". Sunday Mail on Questia Online Library. Retrieved 10 June 2012. (subscription required)
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
- "World Championship 1980". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 9 March 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 10–11.
- Everton, Clive (1985). Guinness Snooker – The Records. Guinness Superlatives Ltd. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0851124488.
- Everton, Clive (16 January 1980). "Cues aplenty". The Guardian. London. p. 20.
- Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 146.