Nov 4

Nov 4 Steve Davis: The Ginger Magician

A profile of English Snooker legend Steve Davis

Before Stephen Hendry came along there was the legendary Steve Davis.

The Englishman is one of the greatest players of all time and dominated the World Championship so much during the 80s it is often referred to as the ‘Steve Davis Era’.

Now a beloved pundit with the BBC, we take a brief look at the life and career of this snookering great.

Early Life

Davis was born and raised in Plumstead, South East London and it was here at, the local working men’s club, that he first picked up a cue.

Davis was just 12 at the time he and his dad decided to start working daily on his technique and with the help of a book written by fellow snooker great Joe Davis (no relation), he managed to quickly hone his skills.

Davis would go on to play club snooker in East London during most of his teenage years, before being signed up by Barry Hearn to play in exhibition matches and amateur championships at the age of 18. He would eventually turn pro aged 21 and quickly went on to establish himself as one of the best players in the world.

Professional Career

It would not take long for Davis to make his mark on the world stage. He entered the World Championship in just his first year as a pro, narrowly losing in the first round to Dennis Taylor but showing everyone the raw potential, he had in the process.

It was Davis’ performance one year later in the same tournament that really propelled him to stardom when he reached the quarterfinals via some stellar performances before eventually losing to Alex Higgins. Davis’ performances in the 1979/80 season were enough to see him break the world top 20 for the first time, a position that he would not relinquish until 2001/02.

The season after breaking the top 20 for the first time Davis won the first of his 15 Triple Crowns events by winning the UK Championship, before going on to take his first World Championship in the same season.

In the 1981/82 season, Davis would go on to win the Masters for the first time as well as taking his second UK Championship in as many years. In a rare blot on his ‘80s World Championship coffee book when he lost in the first round to Tony Knowles.

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However, as true champions do, Davies bounced back stronger than ever reaching his second World title the season later to start an unprecedented run of 7 consecutive World Championship finals, of which he won 5.

In 1984 Davis won his 3rd UK Championship, and set off on a stellar streak of 4 UK titles in a row, truly dominating the era. His exploits meant that Davis became World Number 1 for the first time in 1983/84, a position he would hold for 7 consecutive seasons.

The Holy Grail and the cherry on top of Davis’ remarkable career would come in the 1986/87 season, when he became the first man ever to win the Masters, the World Championship and the UK Open all in the same season. This feat has only been matched twice since, by Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams.

The 1989 World Championship victory would largely be the end of Davis’ dominance. He failed to win another Triple Crown event until is 3rd and final Masters title around 7 years later.

Davis retired after the 2015/16 season having won 15 Triple Crown events alongside 28 ranking events to cement his place as a snooker legend.

Greatest Moment – Clinching the Triple Crown

Steve Davis’ greatest moment as a pro has to be the 1988 World Championship final. Off the back of already winning the Masters and UK Championship, he was vying to make history. If the pressure of this was felt he certainly did not show it, and going in as defending champion, Davis sailed through to the final losing just 13 frames en-route.

He came up against an in-form and former World Champion Cliff Thorburn, who was seeded 4th going into the tournament. Davis brushed aside Thorburn with ease, taking the match 16-8 to ensure that his name was written into both snooker and sporting history forever.