How 'dropout's hangout' became snooker's ultimate stage

Sahadan kritik gelişmeler geliyor. How 'dropout's hangout' became snooker's ultimate stage Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Ronnie O'Sullivan won his first World Championship title in 2001, after finding the Crucible a tough nut to crack in the early years of his career By John Skilbeck Sport senior journalist Published 25 minutes ago Down go the lights inside Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, an overhead galaxy replaced by darkness. Heavyweight auditorium doors thud closed. A handshake between the protagonists disguises hell-bent hunger to degrade each other as far as non-contact sport allows.

The world beyond this claustrophobic den of tension and turmoil becomes irrelevant. Phones are switched off, senses flick to high alert. New energy fills the air: anxious, anticipative.

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Crowd commotion hits a heavy metal high and drops steeply to silence. All that matters in this moment is one of life's most edifying trivialities: snooker. The gunshot clack that follows is resin on resin, the cue ball rippling off the pack of reds, signalling the start of a stage show without a script.

Rinse and repeat for 17 days. The marathon of the mind has begun. Never take a result for granted at the Crucible; high stakes can discombobulate the very best.

"It has its own fingerprint as a snooker venue," says six-time world champion Steve Davis. "I've had moments in there when it's been the most wonderful place. There were other times when I wanted the whole place to swallow me up because it was the worst place ever.

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" Davis was humbled 10-1 on day one by Tony Knowles in 1982, his first year as defending champion. He was turned white as a sheet by Dennis Taylor in the 1985 black-ball final, then turned over by a Yorkshireman when Bradford's Joe Johnson triumphed a year later. Fortunately for him, Davis also has rip-roaring memories of triumph at the theatre that this year is staging the World Snooker Championship for a 50th time.

Twenty-four men have lifted the trophy in Sheffield; hundreds have left empty-handed. The Crucible and all that it entails chews up players, scars them. All the greats have been through the wringer.

But what is it that makes the 980-seat venue so special? How did a venue once considered a "dropout's hangout" become snooker's ultimate stage? Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Sheffield's Crucible Theatre has staged snooker's World Championship since 1977 "It's the history, the quirkiness, the layout of the arena, how close the spectators are.

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