Snooker legend Steve Davis has always had a hunger at the Crucible. The six-time world champion was the King of Sheffield in the Eighties, reaching seven World Championship finals in a row. But his first time at the Crucible, back in 1979, saw Davis' hunger reach a new level as he was beaten by Dennis Taylor.
Hunger Strikes at the Crucible
"Snooker was more tactical than it is today in a way," Davis told us. "And the game had gone on a long time. You wake up early in the morning for your first game. You don't really eat too much."
"It was approaching one o'clock in the afternoon, I was starving hungry. The organiser came up to me in between frames and went 'It's going on a bit, Steve. Anything you'd like?'. I went 'Well, I'm a bit hungry, can I have a ham sandwich?'"
"So I was actually delivered a ham sandwich to my table. It's a bit like if you were in a club, you'd do that. So I was eating a sandwich as we were playing the last couple of frames. And then a journalist put forward the fact that I brought the game into disrepute, as if I was going to be the bad boy of snooker by eating a ham sandwich!"
The Physical Toll of the Championship
Davis reflected on the gruelling nature of the tournament. "The energy you use... If you go the distance, I lost half a stone during the two weeks. In the second week you do not have much time, and you've got the adrenaline coursing through your body, you don't really fancy eating too big before you play. And then some of the late nights, you don't really fancy eating that late either. It is a gruelling event, a bit of a marathon."
Early Apprenticeship at the Crucible
As well as remembering to eat a bit more at breakfast next time, there was plenty more knowledge gained from that first World Championship encounter for Davis. The World Championship had only been at the Crucible twice before Davis rocked up.
"That was my early apprenticeship, I suppose," he said. "That was my first trip up there and I remember going the day before walking in to soak up the atmosphere. But there is no way as a rookie you can prepare for that experience. It's like no other venue we've got."
"It's so intimate and it can be really intimidating. It's sort of like a library atmosphere. And sometimes it can be the most unusual place a player ever plays. If you can settle down in it, it's a fantastic venue, but once it becomes a one table venue, it's a marvellous place. But there is no escaping the fact that a bit of experience there helps."
The Crucible Curse
Davis followed up his debut campaign with a quarter-final run in 1980. The first title came the following year before Davis was the second victim of the 'Crucible Curse', losing 10-1 to Tony Knowles in the first round when looking to defend his title.
"Sometimes the enormity of trying to win it the following year, and also with more eyes on you, becomes a little bit too much," Davis admitted. "And you only need one bad match, one bad session and it could all be over, especially first round."
"Maybe you need that year of not doing so well to then come back as a different type of person. But somewhere down the line, we feel that maybe somebody will break the Crucible Curse, especially now that it's at the Crucible for a lot longer."
Future of the World Championship at the Crucible
Davis was talking to us shortly after confirmation the World Snooker Championship will remain at the Crucible in Sheffield until at least 2045. The Nugget is as pleased as anyone to see the tournament remain at the famous theatre, ending years of speculation over where the World Championship could be moved to.
"It would be understandable if it went to a bigger venue, but you are ripping up your history for the sake of maybe a bit more prize money for players," Davis said. "The World Championship is at the Crucible, the Crucible is not the World Championship. As opposed to Wimbledon, which is Wimbledon, so to speak. But even so, why change something that's not that broken?"
"And if the powers that be and everybody's on board with it, then I think it's great that it's there. We know what it's like there and it's got so much history. And also, because it's the most intimidating venue, it's got that specialness. Okay, it's only 900 people, but it's always rammed. That's better than having a 3,000 seater venue where some of the early rounds are looking pretty empty."
The Unique Atmosphere of the Crucible
Plenty of snooker fans love Alexandra Palace as a venue, home of The Masters, with the one-table set-up. But Davis believes the two-table set-up and intimacy of the Crucible is one of the challenges any would-be winner needs to conquer.
"It's very difficult when one match finishes on the other table, there's a lot of disturbance to that part of the crowd," he said. "That's always been a problem. There's the dividing wall, but it doesn't cut off any noise and the hullaballoo that happens when it's an exciting match at the other table. That's just something you have to deal with and it can be a shock in your first match."
"Once you get through that opening game, you get used to that. But that first match is becoming even more of a banana skin than it's ever been before. You don't have any easy matches in your first round anymore. The players who do qualify are in great form. Every one of the seeds is on offer to be an upset."
"I wouldn't like to be a seed in some respects, you'd rather be a player coming through. When I think of the places I've been the most nervous in my life, the dressing rooms backstage at the Crucible, the dentist waiting room from hell."
"I've seen people be physically sick before they went out to play there. And even when you get out there, sometimes you don't calm down. It can be overawing for some. But what I like about it is the strong survive."
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