1978 World Snooker Championship

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Embassy World Snooker Championship
Tournament information
Dates17–29 April 1978 (1978-04-17 – 1978-04-29)
VenueCrucible Theatre
CitySheffield
CountryEngland
OrganisationWPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£24,000[1]
Winner's share£7,500[1]
Highest break John Spencer (ENG) (138)
Final
Champion Ray Reardon (WAL)
Runner-up Perrie Mans (RSA)
Score25–18
← 1977
1979 →

The 1978 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1978 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 and 29 April 1978 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

The final was contested by Ray Reardon and Perrie Mans. Reardon led 5–2 after the first session, before Mans levelled the match at 8–8 after the first day's play. After the third interval Reardon led 12–11 and won the 24th frame with a 64 break to lead 13–11. After the second day Reardon led 18–14, and eventually won the match 25–18. Reardon became the oldest winner of the World Championship aged 45 years and 203 days, passing the previous record of Joe Davis who was aged 45 years and 33 days in 1946. This record stood until 2022 when Ronnie O'Sullivan won his seventh world title aged 46 years and 148 days.[2] This was Reardon's sixth and last world title.[3][4] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Overview

The World Snooker Championship is an annual professional snooker tournament organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).[5] Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India,[6] the cue sport was popular in the British Isles.[5] However, in the modern era, which started in 1969 when the World Championship reverted to a knockout format,[7] it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.[8][9][10]

Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, hosted by the Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England.[11]: 23 [12] Since 1977, the event has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.[13] The 1978 championship featured sixteen professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each match played over several frames. These competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the snooker world rankings and the winners of a pre-tournament qualification stage.[14][15]

Tournament summary

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[21]

  • Winner: £7,500
  • Runner-up: £3,500
  • Third place: £2,500
  • Fourth place: £2,000
  • Quarter-final: £1,000
  • Last 16: £500
  • Highest break: £500
  • Maximum break: £10,000
  • Total: £24,000

Main draw

Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings.

Sources:[1][22][23]

 
Last 16
Best of 25 frames		Quarter-finals
Best of 25 frames		Semi-finals
Best of 35 frames		Final
Best of 49 frames
 
              
 
18, 19 & 20 April
 
 
England John Spencer (1)8
 
21 & 22 April
 
South Africa Perrie Mans13
 
South Africa Perrie Mans13
 
19 & 20 April
 
England Graham Miles (8)7
 
England Graham Miles (8)13
 
24, 25 & 26 April
 
England David Taylor10
 
South Africa Perrie Mans18
 
18 & 19 April
 
England Fred Davis16
 
Northern Ireland Alex Higgins (5)12
 
21 & 22 April
 
Republic of Ireland Patsy Fagan13
 
Republic of Ireland Patsy Fagan10
 
20 & 21 April
 
England Fred Davis13
 
Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor (4)9
 
27, 28 & 29 April
 
England Fred Davis13
 
South Africa Perrie Mans18
 
17, 18 & 19 April
 
Wales Ray Reardon (2)25
 
Australia Eddie Charlton (3)13
 
20, 21 & 22 April
 
England Willie Thorne12
 
Australia Eddie Charlton (3)13
 
17 & 18 April
 
Canada Cliff Thorburn (6)12
 
Canada Cliff Thorburn (6)13
 
23, 24 & 25 April
 
England Pat Houlihan8
 
Australia Eddie Charlton (3)14
 
17, 18 & 19 April
 
Wales Ray Reardon (2)18 Third place
Best of 13 frames
 
England John Pulman (7)4
 
21 & 22 April 27 & 28 April
 
Canada Bill Werbeniuk13
 
Canada Bill Werbeniuk6England Fred Davis3
 
17 & 18 April
 
Wales Ray Reardon (2)13 Australia Eddie Charlton (3)7
 
Wales Ray Reardon (2)13
 
 
Wales Doug Mountjoy9
 

Qualifying

Source:[1]

Century breaks

There were seven century breaks at championship, the highest being 138 by John Spencer.[24][25][26][27]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "World Championship 1978". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  2. ^ "April 29 down the years: The greatest Crucible final". ESPN. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  3. ^ Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Reardon v Mans". Archived from the original on 14 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b Harris, Luke J. (3 January 2020). "21. Snooker and billiards". In Nauright, John; Zipp, Sarah (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Global Sport. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis. pp. 227–237. ISBN 9781138887237. Archived from the original on 5 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  6. ^ Williams, Victoria R. (28 April 2015). Weird Sports and Wacky Games around the World: From Buzkashi to Zorbing. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 286. ISBN 9781610696395. Archived from the original on 5 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  7. ^ "John Higgins eyes more crucible titles". The Daily Telegraph. London. 5 May 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2020. the modern era, which began in 1969 when the World Championship became a knockout event.
  8. ^ "The Rise Of China". wst.tv. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 26 February 2018. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  9. ^ Wilson, Bill (24 April 2015). "Snooker looks to cue up more big breaks in China". BBC News. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Snooker world champion, Hongkonger Ng On-yee aims to change image of male-dominated game". Hong Kong Free Press. Agence France-Presse. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  11. ^ Everton, Clive (2012). Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards: The Inside Story of the Snooker World. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 9781780575681.
  12. ^ "History of Snooker – a Timeline". wpbsa. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  13. ^ Clarke, Gary (2008). A Billiards and Snooker Compendium. Rothersthorpe: Paragon Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 9781899820467. Archived from the original on 5 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  14. ^ "World championship prospects...". Snooker Scene. Birmingham: Everton's News Agency. April 1979. p. 3.
  15. ^ "Crucible Draw And Format". wst.tv. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 9 April 2018. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  16. ^ a b Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  17. ^ Dee, John. "O'Sullivan must combat curse of the Crucible". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  18. ^ Turner, Chris. "Various Snooker Records". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  19. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 134.
  20. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
  21. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
  22. ^ "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  23. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 6–7.
  24. ^ Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  25. ^ "2004 Embassy World Championship Information". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 8 December 2004. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  26. ^ "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  27. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 146.
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