1978 World Snooker Championship
The 1978 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1978 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 and 29 April 1978 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 17–29 April 1978 |
| Venue | Crucible Theatre |
| City | Sheffield |
| Country | England |
| Organisation(s) | WPBSA |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £24,000[1] |
| Winner's share | £7,500[1] |
| Highest break |  John Spencer (138) |
| Final | |
| Champion | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Ray Reardon |
| Runner-up | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Perrie Mans |
| Score | 25–18 |
← 1977 1979 → | |
The final was contested by Ray Reardon and Perrie Mans. Reardon led 5–2 after the first session, before Mans levelled the match at 8–8 after the first day's play. After the third interval Reardon led 12–11 and won the 24th frame with a 64 break to lead 13–11. After the second day Reardon led 18–14, and eventually won the match 25–18. Reardon became the oldest winner of the World Championship aged 45 years and 203 days this passed the previous record of Joe Davis who was aged 45 years and 33 days in 1946. This record still stands to this day.[2] This was Reardon's sixth and last world title.[3][4] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
Tournament summary
- This was the first championship to have daily BBC coverage as highlights.[5]
- Defending champion John Spencer became the first player to suffer the Crucible curse,[6] when he lost 8–13 to Perrie Mans in the first round.
- Ray Reardon became the oldest ever World Champion at the age of 45 years and 203 days,[5][7] while Fred Davis became the oldest semi-finalist at the age of 64 years and 251 days,[8] losing 16–18 to Perrie Mans.[1]
- John Williams refereed the final.[9]
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[10]
- Winner: £7,500
- Runner-up: £3,500
- Third place: £2,500
- Fourth place: £2,000
- Quarter-final: £1,000
- Last 16: £500
- Highest break: £500
- Maximum break: £10,000
- Total: £24,000
Main draw
Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings.
| Last 16 Best of 25 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames | Semi-finals Best of 35 frames | Final Best of 49 frames | |||||||||||
| 18, 19 & 20 April | ||||||||||||||
| John Spencer (1) | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
| Perrie Mans | 13 | |||||||||||||
| Perrie Mans | 13 | |||||||||||||
| 19 & 20 April | ||||||||||||||
| Graham Miles (8) | 7 | |||||||||||||
| Graham Miles (8) | 13 | |||||||||||||
| 24, 25 & 26 April | ||||||||||||||
| David Taylor | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Perrie Mans | 18 | |||||||||||||
| 18 & 19 April | ||||||||||||||
| Fred Davis | 16 | |||||||||||||
 Alex Higgins (5) | 12 | |||||||||||||
| 21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
 Patsy Fagan | 13 | |||||||||||||
| Patsy Fagan | 10 | |||||||||||||
| 20 & 21 April | ||||||||||||||
| Fred Davis | 13 | |||||||||||||
| Dennis Taylor (4) | 9 | |||||||||||||
| 27, 28 & 29 April | ||||||||||||||
| Fred Davis | 13 | |||||||||||||
| Perrie Mans | 18 | |||||||||||||
| 17, 18 & 19 April | ||||||||||||||
| Ray Reardon (2) | 25 | |||||||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Eddie Charlton (3) | 13 | |||||||||||||
| 20, 21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
| Willie Thorne | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Eddie Charlton (3) | 13 | |||||||||||||
| 17 & 18 April | ||||||||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Cliff Thorburn (6) | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Cliff Thorburn (6) | 13 | |||||||||||||
| 23, 24 & 25 April | ||||||||||||||
| Pat Houlihan | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Eddie Charlton (3) | 14 | |||||||||||||
| 17, 18 & 19 April | ||||||||||||||
| Ray Reardon (2) | 18 | Third place Best of 13 frames | ||||||||||||
| John Pulman (7) | 4 | |||||||||||||
| 21 & 22 April | 27 & 28 April | |||||||||||||
| Bill Werbeniuk | 13 | |||||||||||||
| Bill Werbeniuk | 6 | Fred Davis | 3 | |||||||||||
| 17 & 18 April | ||||||||||||||
| Ray Reardon (2) | 13 | Eddie Charlton (3) | 7 | |||||||||||
| Ray Reardon (2) | 13 | |||||||||||||
| Doug Mountjoy | 9 | |||||||||||||
Qualifying
Source:[1]
|
|
Century breaks
There were seven century breaks at championship, the highest being 138 by John Spencer.[13][14][15][16]
- 138, 118 John Spencer
- 119, 100 Ray Reardon
- 108 Eddie Charlton
- 105 Fred Davis
- 105 Patsy Fagan
References
- "World Championship 1978". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
- "April 29 down the years: The greatest Crucible final". ESPN. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- "Reardon v Mans".
- Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- Dee, John. "O'Sullivan must combat curse of the Crucible". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
- Turner, Chris. "Various Snooker Records". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 134.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
- "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 6–7.
- Kastner, Hugo. "Snooker – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- "2004 Embassy World Championship Information". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 8 December 2004. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
- "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
- Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 146.