The 1977 World Snooker Championship (officially known as the 1977 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 18 to 30 April 1977 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the first time that the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible, which has hosted it annually ever since, becoming known as the "spiritual home of snooker". The tournament featured 16 competitors, the top eight players from the 1976–77 snooker world rankings and another eight players who came through a qualifying competition held from 28 March to 7 April 1977 at Hounslow Civic Centre and Fisher's Snooker Centre, Acton. Sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy, the tournament was the only ranking event of the 1976–77 snooker season.
The defending champion was Ray Reardon, who had won the championship every year from 1973 to 1976, but he lost by 6 to 13 against John Spencer in the quarter-finals. Spencer, who had previously won the tournament in 1969 and 1971, claimed the third and last world title of his career by defeating Cliff Thorburn 25–21 in the final. Spencer became the first player to win the championship using a two-piece . As champion, he received from the prize fund of £17,000. The championship produced six century breaks, the highest of which was a 135 by Spencer in the sixth frame of his semi-final match against John Pulman.
The tournament was considered a success by contemporaries, selling more than 20,000 tickets across its thirteen days at the 980-seat Crucible and producing a financial surplus. Commentators credited the venue and Mike Watterson's promotion with putting the championship on a stable footing for the future. Later economic-impact assessments estimated the tournament's annual benefit to Sheffield's local economy at £2.6–4.5 million.
Overview The inaugural 1927 World Snooker Championship, then known as the Professional Championship of Snooker, took place at various venues in England between November 1926 and May 1927. After a post-war decline and being contested on a challenge basis during the 1960s, the World Snooker Championship reverted to an annual knockout tournament for the 1969 edition.
In the 1977 championship, 16 professional players competed in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each match being played over several . Ray Reardon was the defending champion, having defeated Alex Higgins 27–16 in the final of the 1976 World Snooker Championship. The top-eight players in the 1976–77 snooker world rankings were exempted to the main tournament, where they each faced a player from a qualifying competition. The championship was organised by the governing body for professional snooker, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), and promoted by Mike Watterson, with sponsorship by cigarette brand Embassy.
Watterson had business interests in the motor trade and recycling business, and since 1972 had also promoted snooker exhibition matches involving Higgins, Reardon, and, most often, Fred Davis and John Pulman. Pulman was staying with Watterson in August 1976 when he mentioned that the WPBSA had no sponsor, venue, promoter or television deal for the 1977 World Championship. Watterson, despite not having a venue or sponsor lined up, made an offer to the WPBSA to promote the championship, which he personally underwrote. The WPBSA accepted his bid in November 1976. Watterson chose the Crucible as the venue after his wife Carol saw a play there and recommended it, and he booked the venue at a cost of £6,600. After arranging the dates of television coverage with the BBC, in February 1977 Watterson persuaded Peter Dyke of 1976 championship sponsors W.D. & H.O. Wills to sponsor the 1977 edition under its Embassy cigarette brand; Embassy were hesitant to repeat their sponsorship because they had experienced problems dealing with the previous promoter and were not familiar with Watterson.
Audience ticket prices ranged from to £3.50. Highlights of the semi-finals and final were broadcast on the national television channel BBC2. There were three of play scheduled each day except for 25, 27 and 30 April when there were two sessions. Up to the quarter-finals, there was play on two snooker tables concurrently. Two Karnehm & Hillman Windsor Royal s were installed in the arena; a freestanding wooden partition was used to divide the arena into two match areas.
Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for 1977 was:
Winner: £6,000 Runner-up: £2,000 Semi-final: £1,200 Quarter-final: £750 Last 16: £350 Highest break: £500 Total: £17,000
Tournament summary
Qualifying The WPBSA first published official world rankings for players on the main tour for the 1976–77 season. Players' performances in the previous three World Snooker Championships—1974, 1975, and 1976—contributed to their points totals. These rankings were used for seedings for the tournament. As defending champion, Reardon was seeded first and was also number one on the ranking list. Originally, the top fourteen players were due to be seeded into the last-16 round, but the WPBSA members voted 11–10 to change this so that only the top eight players were exempted to the last-16. The draw for the tournament was conducted by journalist Janice Hale at Albany Hotel, Birmingham. The 1977 World Championship was the only ranking event of the 1976–77 season.
Qualifying matches were scheduled from 28 March to 7 April 1977, and took place at Hounslow Civic Centre and Fisher's Snooker Centre, Acton. In the first round, John Virgo beat Roy Andrewartha 11–1. In the next round, Virgo won four consecutive frames to go from 7–6 against John Dunning to win 11–6. Willie Thorne won six consecutive frames to complete an 11–4 defeat of Bernard Bennett. Jim Meadowcroft gained a 6–3 lead against Patsy Fagan but lost 9–11 after the pair had been level at 8–8. David Taylor defeated David Greaves 11–0 and made a century break in the fourth frame. There were two other 11–0 defeats: by Cliff Thorburn against Chris Ross and by Dennis Taylor against Jack Karnehm. Veteran Jackie Rea was 8–6 and later 9–8 ahead of Masters champion Doug Mountjoy, a first-season professional who was the reigning World Amateur Champion. Mountjoy took three consecutive frames to win the match 11–9. Maurice Parkin withdrew from the tournament due to illness, giving John Pulman a win by default. Fagan and Virgo, both playing in their first professional tournament, qualified to make their World Championship debuts. Mountjoy, in his first season as a professional, also qualified for a Championship debut.
First round The first round took place from 18 to 21 April; each match was played over three sessions as the best of 25 frames. Reardon, who had won the championship each year from 1973 to 1976, was the bookmakers' favourite to win the tournament, with odds of 11/4. The 1973 runner-up Eddie Charlton was second-favourite at 7/2, followed by 1969 and 1971 champion John Spencer at 7/1. Reardon and Fagan each won four frames in their first session, before Reardon opened a 10–7 lead during the second session and won the match 13–7 the following day. Spencer was three frames behind Virgo at 1–4 and 4–7 but won three successive frames to equalise both times, and won the match 13–9. Virgo later wrote that when he was leading 4–1 and had asked the refreee to clean the , the cue ball had been replaced wrongly, making Virgo's planned attempt at a pot impossible. Having lost that frame, Virgo added, he was "unable to shake off my sense of injustice, lost the next two after that." Despite losing, Virgo was satisfied with his own standard of play during the match. Graham Miles was one frame in front of Thorne at 4–3 after their first session, and from 5–4 ahead, Miles won eight consecutive frames to win the match. Pulman led his fellow former world champion Fred Davis 5–3, and then 11–6, winning 13–12. Davis later wrote that he felt "unaccountably out of touch", while Pulman "played better than I had seen for about five years".
Charlton won seven of the first eight frames against David Taylor, made a 105 break in the 12th frame and progressed to the next round with a 13–5 win. Thorburn won seven successive frames during his 13–6 defeat of Rex Williams. Dennis Taylor concluded a 13–11 win against Perrie Mans with a break of 76, the highest of their match, in the 24th frame. The second seed Alex Higgins was 9–7 ahead of Mountjoy after two sessions but Mountjoy won the opening frame of their third session with a 102 break, and then four of the following five frames. Higgins won the following two frames and led by 36 points in the . Higgins missed an attempt to pot the , and a break of 31 by Mountjoy immediately afterwards terminated when he failed to the final . Two later, Mountjoy potted the black to win the match.
Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals were played as best-of-25-frames matches over three sessions on 23 and 24 April. Reardon was never ahead of Spencer, who won the match 13–6. The Snooker Scene match-report assessment said: "Even when the title was slipping away from [Reardon] he never seemed able to focus his concentration and stop making mistakes". Reardon later reflected that although he had been confident of retaining the title going into the tournament, he "was too relaxed and the adrenalin was not flowing" when he played Spencer. Pulman reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1970 by defeating Miles 13–10. The reporter for Snooker Scene said Pulman played "the smooth, attractive snooker of his great days" in the final session.
Thorburn and Charlton were level several times at 3–3, 7–7, 10–10 and 11–11. Charlton won the 23rd frame on the final black but lost the match when Thorburn claimed the next two frames to win the match 13–12. Mountjoy won the first three frames of his match against Dennis Taylor but then lost the next five frames. Each player won four frames in the second session and then Taylor won the opening frame in the third session to lead 10–7. Mountjoy won the next two frames, each on the final black ball, but lost the 20th frame after he went the last black. Taylor won 13–11.
Semi-finals The semi-finals took place from 24 to 27 April as best-of-35-frames matches played over five sessions. Pulman took a 3–0 lead but Spencer recovered to 3–3 and compiled a of 135 in the sixth frame. Pulman then went ahead 7–3 before Spencer levelled the match by winning the next four frames. Spencer went on to lead 13–9 and 16–12, and won 18–16, qualifying for the final for the first time since 1972.
Thorburn led 4–3 after the first session and was level at 7–7 with Taylor after the second session. At the start of the third session, Thorburn made a 100 break, which included a on the final , and led 12–9 at the close of the penultimate day. Taylor added three frames to his tally at the start of the fourth session to equalise, and four frames later, the pair were again level at 14–14. Four frames into the last session, they were at 16–16. Thorburn made a break of 111 in the 33rd frame, during which the only time he potted the black ball was at the end, then took a lead of 80–0 points in the 34th frame, which ended 98–30, meaning Thorburn qualified for the final for the first time.
Final