The 1985 World Snooker Championship final is still spoken about more than 30 years late due to the drama that unfolded in the early hours of Monday 29 April, commonly referred to as the Black Ball Final.
On one side was the defending champion and world number one, Steve Davis, who was vying to become world champion for a third consecutive year (fourth in total) at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. On the other, Dennis Taylor whose only previous appearance in a world final came six years prior in 1979, when he lost to Terry Griffiths.
On paper, there was only one winner with Davis at the peak of his powers and Taylor, though one of the more popular players on the circuit, was expected to be the latest victim of The Nugget. When Davis ended the opening session 7-0, it was surely only a matter of time until he was crowned the four-time champion of the world…
Record-Breaking
Taylor fought back into contention, reducing the deficit to 9-7 after the second session and managed to claw back to level terms in the third at 11-11, only for Davis to open up daylight once again by winning the final two frames of the session to go into the final session with a 13-11 lead.
The Northern Irishman, famous for his unique glasses designed especially for playing snooker, again displayed grit and determination to level at 15-15. When Davis once again opened a two-frame lead at 17-15, going to within one of lifting the famous trophy, it looked as though Taylor’s race had been run.
A television audience of 18.5 million viewers, a record figure for BBC Two, watched on as Taylor again frustrated the three-time champion to force the final into a deciding frame. As it transpired, the drama was only just beginning. At 14 hours and 50 minutes, it was the longest ever best-of-35-frame snooker match in recorded history, and it also holds the record for the largest post-midnight audience on any British television channel.
The Final Frame
The final frame began at 11.15pm on Sunday 28 April with sporting drama of the highest order taking place over the next 68 minutes. With Davis leading 62-44 in the frame, and only four coloured balls remaining on the table, Taylor again found himself with his back up against the wall.
Taylor sunk the brown from the length of the table and followed up by potting the blue into the green pocket with a slow cut along the cushion. Taylor, still trailing 62-53, was left with a difficult pink knowing that the slightest miscue would likely be his last shot of the tournament. Under the most extreme pressure, he held his nerve and put away the pink into the same pocket as the blue.
The Black Ball Final
A fortnight of snooker came down to one final ball as the black, sat agonisingly close to the cushion, was all that separated Taylor from achieving the seemingly impossible. He couldn’t help but look at the trophy, which sat in between the two finalist’s seats, as he weighed up the next shot.
Would he play it safe and enter a safety battle with arguably the greatest tactician the game has ever seen? Or would he throw caution into the wind and play a high-risk shot in the hope of coming away with the highest of rewards? Taylor elected for the latter, aiming to double the black off the cushion and into the middle pocket. The black hit the jaw of the pocket and, mercifully for Taylor, drifted down towards the top cushion into safety.
David played a textbook safety shot, playing the black into baulk and onto the middle of the bottom cushion with the cue ball on the right-hand cushion at the opposite end of the table. Taylor again attempted to double the black, this far more audacious than the last, into the top-left corner pocket and missed. The black again ran into a safe position and Davis’ follow-up shot would leave Taylor with an opportunity, with the cue and black balls double-kissing.
A middle-distance pot to the green pocket was the shot, described by commentator Jim Meadowcroft as “the biggest shot of his life”. Taylor, who had not led at any point in the final, missed the black and presented Davis with an, albeit not straightforward, opportunity to cut the black into the top-left pocket.
The defending champion could not take advantage and overcut the black, leaving what would appear to be a routine shot in any other circumstance. Taylor approached the table, lined up the shot and wrote himself into the history books as he sunk the black and held his cue above his head and waggled his finger in what has become an iconic celebration.
The Black Ball Final’s Legacy
This would be Taylor’s only World Championship triumph, though he would go on to win the Masters in 1987, while Davis would win three more world titles in 1987, 1988 and 1989. Taylor and Davis did meet one more time at the World Championship, six years later in 1991, with the six-time world champion winning on that occasion 13-7 in the quarter-final.
Every year, when the World Snooker Championship comes back around, the final is replayed and there is never a tournament at the Crucible where this final is not mentioned. Players born after the final cite this as one of the greatest matches in history, admitting that this was a huge influence on their careers.
Is the 1985 World Snooker Championship final the greatest in history? That isn’t for us to decide, but it’s difficult to make an argument against.
