Snooker news: Steve Davis: 1980s snooker wasn't very good

Davis dominated the sport in snooker's televised boom decade, winning six world titles in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988 and 1989, but does not feel his achievements look special by modern standards.

He recalls the famous 1985 World Championship final when he lost to Dennis Taylor 18-17 on the final black ball, blowing an 8-0 lead and missing a straightforward cut on a the final ball to claim the crown post-midnight in the early hours of Monday 29 April 1985.

Despite record viewing figures of 18.5m on BBC2 for snooker's most famous match, neither player made a century break in the final over 35 frames at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Only 14 century breaks were made at the 1985 Crucible tournament compared to a record 100 compiled last year.

He believes the modern era of snooker is played to a much higher standard than the era he was dominant in, but believes fans suffer from selective amnesia.

“It’s the same thing as when people say policemen are getting younger these days. It’s actually the selective memory of people who are getting older," said Davis.

“If you name some ‘characters’ – Terry (Griffiths), Cliff (Thorburn) – they weren’t exactly the fastest players on the planet.

“It will be nice to watch all the old stuff, but it will remind us that a lot of it wasn’t that good.

Broadcasters are planning to show replays of classic matches to give snooker fans their fix with the World Championship - which should have started on Saturday April 16 - postponed until July at the earlier due to the coronavirus health crisis.

“If they are going to show the 1985 final again I’ll need to see the schedule because I’m going out – and I’ll break any rules to do it," said Romford icon Davis, who hardly plays snooker since retiring in 2016.

“I’d rather watch any other defeat of mine. In fact, you can strap me in a chair and I’ll watch ‘Steady’ Eddie Charlton playing 25 frames against Cliff Thorburn until three o’clock in the morning.”

It was a point picked up on by five-times world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan during his exclusive vodcast with Eurosport as he praised seven-times world champion Hendry as a figure who could live with the current generation.

“It would be hard to say that anyone has taken the game on further than (Stephen) Hendry. Hendry I still think if he was in his prime, we were all in our prime, he would still be winning many, many titles," said O'Sullivan.

“You look at Davis and Jimmy (White), yeah fantastic players, but probably not good enough to stay with the current breed of players.”