This Sport Became Magic Overnight

For much of the early and mid-20th century, snooker existed largely behind closed doors — in gentlemen’s clubs, working-men’s clubs or modest local halls, where players often held regular jobs and played for fun or local bragging rights. Matches were informal, crowds small or non-existent, and prize money virtually symbolic when offered at all. The game was slow-paced, genteel, and treated more as an after-dinner diversion than a serious sport. As a result, its reach remained limited — thrilling for participants, but largely invisible to the broader public.

Then came colour television — and with it, new possibilities. As more British households acquired colour sets, broadcasters looked for content that would showcase the vivid green baize and colourful balls of snooker. Enter Pot Black in 1969, a fast-paced, one-frame knockout snooker show featuring top players, specifically designed to promote the new medium. What no one expected was how snooker would become irresistible on screen: the geometry of potting balls, the tension in each shot, the drama of misses and safeties — suddenly, snooker looked made for television. This planted the first seeds for a broader audience and slowly shifted snooker’s identity from niche pastime to spectator sport.

1977 stands out as the watershed year. That April, for the first time, the World Snooker Championship was staged at Crucible Theatre in Sheffield — a venue that would become snooker’s spiritual home.

Matches became theatre, each frame felt like a quiet drama. In that 1977 championship, champion John Spencer claimed the title with a 25–21 victory over Cliff Thorburn, and his 135 break was the highest of the tournament. The prize fund may have been modest by today’s standards — just £17,000 total, £6,000 to the winner — but the symbolic move was enormous. From then on, snooker had a defining home, a consistent stage, and a viable platform for its rise into a modern professional sport.

The Crucible Theatre became the home of snooker almost by accident in 1977, when promoter Mike Watterson, searching for a fresh venue that suited the sport’s growing television appeal, was tipped off by his wife Carole after she attended a play there and recognised its intimate, wrap-around layout as perfect for high tension snooker.

Opened only in 1971, the Crucible was an experimental theatre rather than a sporting hall, but its management - supported by Sheffield City Council - agreed to host the World Championship for a now-famous rate of just £6 per day, giving Watterson an affordable, atmospheric stage that BBC producers quickly embraced for its lighting, sightlines and natural drama.

The first Crucible Championship in 1977 featured 16 players. Audiences and broadcasters responded so enthusiastically that the tournament returned the next year and never left. Across more than 45 consecutive Championships, the Crucible has become snooker’s spiritual home - a small, almost claustrophobic theatre that turned a once niche pastime into a television global spectacle.

The momentum that began in 1977 carried into the 1980s and beyond. The sport shed much of its smoky-club image and embraced professionalism: structured tournaments, growing prize funds, and increasingly frequent events. As television coverage expanded — particularly via broadcasters like BBC — snooker reached a mass audience.

By 1985, the final of the World Championship between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor drew 18.5 million viewers in the UK alone — still the most-watched post-midnight broadcast in BBC history. Outside the UK the growth was slower at first, but as satellite and cable networks spread and snooker’s appeal as a televised sport became clear, international audiences began to emerge.

Over the decades, snooker transformed from a mostly British phenomenon into a global sport, embraced across many countries

Fast forward to now — snooker is no longer just a club pastime, but a serious profession for many, with global tournaments, streaming audiences, and players from dozens of countries competing on the world tour. Thanks to the early work of establishing structured tournaments, media partnerships (e.g. DAZN), and a global broadcasting reach, the sport enjoys a worldwide footprint.

What began under low-lit ceilings in British pubs has blossomed into a sport where players train full-time, careers are global, and millions watch from thousands of miles away. Snooker’s journey shows how tradition, media, and ambition combined to transform a humble cue game into a global spectacle.

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