A few weeks ago, Eurosport asked Barry Hearn who he thinks are the 10 greatest players in snooker history. You can read the article by clicking here.
It caused a stir among the snooker community by not including Mark Williams. Usually, Twitter is a cesspool of bile and anger. Unfortunately, it is even more so now. But most arguments over his and their own Top 10’s are quite tame. Even so, I feel it is best to write this blurb now that has died down and Eurosport stopped publishing a new countdown every single day.
I’m not going to talk about my Top 10. I gave my off-the-cuff countdown in the form of a tweet. Quite honestly, if I wanted to give my proper Top 10, it would need a great deal more thought and inquisitiveness. Hmm.
What I want to talk about is how divided the snooker community is on who greatest snooker player of all time actually is. It seems almost unanimous that Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Steve Davis are in the top three. But while most agree that Steve Davis is the third, deciding who comes out on top between The Rocket and The King Of The Crucible is a very divisive issue.
Heck, there are some who put a great deal of thought into it. Alan McManus wrote an incredibly thorough and detailed analysis on O’Sullivan and Hendry. If you have some time to kill, please click here.
What Defines ‘Greatness’?
Everyone has a view on what ‘greatness’ looks like. There seems to be a number of things that fans and players take into account:
- Number of World Championships
- Number of Triple Crowns
- Years being No. 1 in the world
- Years performed at their very best
- Character
- Longevity of career
- Number of 147s and centuries
Whichever one is the most important is based on each individual’s perspective. For example, the number of World Championships won is the zenith for me. Being the best in the world for such a long time in the rankings is a plus for me. Right now, I would say that Stephen Hendry is the best player in snooker history.
However, some say that Ronnie O’Sullivan is the best ever and with good reason. He has broken many of Hendry’s records, including the number of 147s, centuries, UK and Masters titles. Despite this, Alan McManus believes that Ronnie has underachieved and this can be looked at two ways. Either the fact that he often been at his best throughout his career and achieved so much is a testament to his outstanding skill. On the other hand, it is a shame he hasn’t hit and maintained his peak as often as he should.
But that’s for a countdown later down the line. Hopefully when I do make a detailed countdown on the greatest players in the game, I will pick up a lot more knowledge along the way.
Also one problem with the ‘GOAT’ debates is that it is perceived as unfair to players from previous generations, who themselves raised the standard in their day. However, every generation of fans wants ‘their’ players to be the best ever. If snooker is to survive, there will be players in the future who are better than the Hendrys and O’Sullivans, who were far from perfect (Alan McManus shows there is room for improvement). But this doesn’t take away from the greatness of their achievements.