Crucible curse: Difference between revisions

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The Crucible Curse is a phrase widely used in professional snooker.

The term refers to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, venue of the World Snooker Championship since 1977, and the fact that no first-time champion has ever successfully defended his title there the following year, hence the "curse".

Of the seventeen players to have won the championship at the Crucible Theatre, five lost in their first match as defending champion (John Spencer in 1978, Terry Griffiths in 1980, Steve Davis in 1982, Dennis Taylor in 1986 and Graeme Dott in 2007) and only two have reached the final: Joe Johnson in 1987 and Ken Doherty in 1998.

The curse

Year	Defending Champion	Progress	Result
1978	John Spencer	First Round	8-13 vs Perrie Mans
1979	Ray Reardon	Quarter-finals	8-13 vs Dennis Taylor
1980	Terry Griffiths	Second Round^[1]	10-13 vs Steve Davis
1981	Cliff Thorburn	Semi-finals	10-16 vs Steve Davis
1982	Steve Davis	First Round	1-10 vs Tony Knowles
1983	Alex Higgins	Semi-finals	5-16 vs Steve Davis
1986	Dennis Taylor	First Round	6-10 vs Mike Hallett
1987	Joe Johnson	Final	14-18 vs Steve Davis
1991	Stephen Hendry	Quarter-finals	11-13 vs Steve James
1992	John Parrott	Quarter-finals	12-13 vs Alan McManus
1998	Ken Doherty	Final	12-18 vs John Higgins
1999	John Higgins	Semi-finals	10-17 vs Mark Williams
2001	Mark Williams	Second Round	12-13 vs Joe Swail
2002	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Semi-finals	13-17 vs Stephen Hendry
2003	Peter Ebdon	Quarter-finals	12-13 vs Paul Hunter
2006	Shaun Murphy	Quarter-finals	7-13 vs Peter Ebdon
2007	Graeme Dott	First Round	7-10 vs Ian McCulloch

Notes

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

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

[1]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 The term refers to the [[Crucible Theatre]] in [[Sheffield]], venue of the [[World Snooker Championship]] since 1977, and the fact that no first-time champion has ever successfully defended his title there the following year, hence the "[[curse]]".
-Of the sixteen players to have won the championship at the Crucible Theatre, four lost in their first match as defending champion ([[John Spencer (snooker player)|John Spencer]] in 1978, [[Terry Griffiths]] in 1980, [[Steve Davis]] in 1982 and [[Dennis Taylor]] in 1986) and only two have reached the final: [[Joe Johnson (snooker player)|Joe Johnson]] in 1987 and [[Ken Doherty]] in 1998.
+Of the seventeen players to have won the championship at the Crucible Theatre, five lost in their first match as defending champion ([[John Spencer (snooker player)|John Spencer]] in 1978, [[Terry Griffiths]] in 1980, [[Steve Davis]] in 1982, [[Dennis Taylor]] in 1986 and [[Graeme Dott]] in 2007) and only two have reached the final: [[Joe Johnson (snooker player)|Joe Johnson]] in 1987 and [[Ken Doherty]] in 1998.
-In 2007, [[Graeme Dott]] will be the seventeenth champion to try to defend his title.
 ==The curse==
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 |-
 |style="text-align:right;"|[[World Snooker Championship 2006|2006]]||style="text-align:left;"|[[Shaun Murphy (snooker player)|Shaun Murphy]] || Quarter-finals || 7-13 vs [[Peter Ebdon]]
+|-
+|style="text-align:right;"|[[World Snooker Championship 2007|2007]]||style="text-align:left;"|[[Graeme Dott]] || First Round || 7-10 vs [[Ian McCulloch (snooker player)|Ian McCulloch]]
 |}