Anyone who flicks through their television channels this Bank Holiday weekend will almost certainly glimpse the final of the World Snooker Championship. Played over Sunday and Monday at Sheffield’s Crucible, the 35-frame marathon is snooker’s answer to Test Cricket. And as one of the few sporting events the Beeb still has the rights to, it still gets blanket coverage – if only on graveyard slots on BBC2.
A glimpse, though, is about as much as many people bother with these days. Snooker is a long way from its mid-1980s heyday, when 18 million Brits tuned in to watch Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in the 1985 Crucible showdown.
I am indeed one of those sad middle-aged men you see in live snooker audiences
Indeed, those battling it out this weekend are hardly household names. With Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins already knocked out, the two finalists are Kyren ‘The Warrior’ Wilson and Jak Jones, aka The Silent Assassin.
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