Steve Davis has recalled the time he was accused of bringing snooker into disrepute after requesting a ham sandwich during his first World Championship match at the Crucible in 1979. The six-time world champion, then a rookie, was playing Dennis Taylor in a lengthy tactical encounter and asked an organiser for food as he grew hungry.
“It was approaching one o'clock in the afternoon, I was starving hungry,” Davis said. “The organiser came up to me in between frames and said, ‘It's going on a bit, Steve. Anything you'd like?’ I said, ‘Well, I'm a bit hungry, can I have a ham sandwich?’ So I was actually delivered a ham sandwich to my table. I was eating a sandwich as we were playing the last couple of frames. 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!”
Davis, who went on to dominate the sport in the 1980s, described the Crucible as an intimate and intimidating venue. He noted that the World Championship is a gruelling marathon, with players losing significant weight over the two weeks. “The energy you use... If you go the distance, I lost half a stone during the two weeks,” he said. “In the second week you don't have much time, and you've got the adrenaline coursing through your body, you don't really fancy eating too big before you play.”
Reflecting on his debut, Davis admitted that no amount of preparation could ready a player for the Crucible experience. “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,” he said. “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.”
Davis also commented on the recent confirmation that the World Championship will remain at the Crucible until at least 2045, ending speculation about a potential move. “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,” he said. “Why change something that's not that broken? 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.”
