1979 UK Championship

1979 Coral UK Championship

Tournament information
Dates	19 November – 1 December 1979 (1979-11-19 – 1979-12-01)
Venue	Preston Guild Hall
City	Preston
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£15,000
Winner's share	£4,500
Highest break	Terry Griffiths (WAL) (119)
Final
Champion	John Virgo (ENG)
Runner-up	Terry Griffiths (WAL)
Score	14–13
← 1978 1980 →

The 1979 UK Championship (officially the 1979 Coral UK Championship)^[1] was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 19 November and 1 December 1979 at the Guild Hall in Preston, England. This was the third edition of the UK Championship that would later become part of snooker's Triple Crown. The event was sponsored by Coral for the second year in a row.

John Virgo won the championship, in his only major tournament win, by defeating Terry Griffiths 14–13 in the final, despite being deducted two frames for arriving late. The defending champion, Doug Mountjoy, was defeated 5–9 by Steve Davis in the opening round. Griffiths compiled the tournament's highest break of 119 in his semi-final win over Bill Werbeniuk. The last session of the final was broadcast by the BBC on their Grandstand programme; however, due to a strike by BBC personnel, the final frames of the match – including Virgo being awarded the championship – were never broadcast or recorded.

Tournament summary

The 1979 UK Championship was a professional non-ranking event held between 19 November and 1 December 1979 at the Preston Guild Hall, England.^[1] The tournament was the third annual UK Championship, first held in 1977. The event saw 27 players compete, with the highest-ranked eight players based on the previous years world championship receiving a bye to the last 16,^[2] and the last six players competing in a playoff round.^[2] This was the first time that any seedings list for a professional snooker tournament had occurred.^[2] Ray Reardon did not compete at the event, having signed a sponsorship contract with General Motors to only play in specific tournaments and exhibitions.^[2] World Championship semi-finalist Eddie Charlton and Rex Williams did not play at the event, instead opting to play in a tour of Australia.^[2]

Matches until the final were contested as best-of-17-frames matches, with the final played as best-of-27-frames. The preliminary rounds saw two matches reach a final frame decider, with both John Dunning and Jackie Rea winning matches 9–8.^[3]

Early rounds

The last 24 round was played from 20 to 23 November 1979. Future six-time world champion Steve Davis made his debut in the competition and defeated John Dunning 9–3.^[3] Another future world champion Joe Johnson also made his debut in the competition, playing his third professional tournament, but lost 3–9 to Bill Werbeniuk.^[3] All three players who competed in the preliminary round were defeated in the last 24.^[3]

The round of 16 saw Steve Davis overcome reigning champion Doug Mountjoy 9–5. World number four and three-time world champion John Spencer was defeated by Bill Werbeniuk 8–9.^[4] Former winner Patsy Fagan defeated two-time Pot Black champion Graham Miles 9–5. John Virgo defeated Tony Meo 9–6, despite being 5–0 and 5–3 down after the first session, making a break of 102 in frame 11.^[5][6] Dennis Taylor and Willie Thorne contested a final frame decider, with Taylor defeating Thorne to win 9–8. Having won the 1979 World Snooker Championship earlier that year, Terry Griffiths defeated Cliff Wilson 9–4.^[3]

Quarter–semi-finals

The quarter-finals were contested from 24 to 26 November 1979. John Virgo took an early lead over Steve Davis 4–3, and later 8–7 in their match. In frame 16, Virgo had the chance to win, and Davis accidentally dropped his cue, making a loud sound. Virgo still potted the next shot during the noise and make a clearance to win the match 9–7. Post-match, Davis commented to Virgo that it was the only time he had ever wanted his opponent to not miss.^[5] Elsewhere, Dennis Taylor defeated Patsy Fagan 9–6, Bill Werbeniuk defeated Ray Edmonds 9–8, and Terry Griffiths defeated Alex Higgins 9–7.^[3]

The semi-finals were played from 27 to 29 November 1979. The semi-finals were similar to the 1979 World Snooker Championship, where John Virgo played Dennis Taylor and Terry Griffiths played Eddie Charlton. In place of Charlton, Bill Webeniuk took on Griffiths.^[5] Despite having lost heavily at the world championships (12–19), Virgo defeated Taylor 9–4 to reach his only major final. In the second semi-final, Terry Griffiths defeated Werbeniuk 9–3.^[3]

Final

John Virgo (pictured in 2003) won his only major title defeating Terry Griffiths 14–13.

The final was contested as a best-of-27 frame match, held between 30 November and 1 December 1979. The match was held over three sessions, with two on the first day and the final on the second, between John Virgo and world champion Terry Griffiths. Virgo took an early lead, winning the first five frames including breaks of 63 and 67.^[3] Griffiths won two of the remaining frames, but trailed 7–2 after the first session.^[3] The second session saw Griffiths win the first three frames to trail 7–5 before Virgo led 11–7 at the end of the session.^[3][5]

The final session was played on 1 December 1979 and was broadcast on Grandstand. With the final being live on national television, the match was moved from the regular 1:45 p.m. start time to 12 noon.^[5][4] Virgo, having not seen that the times had changed, was reading a paper in his hotel room when he was informed that he had missed the start time for the session.^[7] Virgo was over 30 minutes late to the arena and was docked two frames for arriving late.^[8] Griffiths took the two remaining frames before the interval to tie the match 11–11.^[5][4]

During the interval, Griffiths approached Virgo and offered half of the prize money for the event, apologetic at the situation of having frames awarded. Virgo replied: "You haven't won it yet,"^[5] noting the match hadn't finished.^[4][9] Virgo won frame 23 to lead 12–11, before Griffiths tied the match again at 12–12. Griffiths made a break of 68 to lead 13–12, before a break of 50 in frame 26 by Virgo took the match into a deciding frame. Virgo won the final frame to claim the match 14–13 and his sole major title win.^[10] The final frames of the final were unaired, due to a strike of BBC staff, with cameramen leaving the arena during the final frame.^[5][11]

Main draw

The following is the full results from the event. Players in bold are denoting match winners.^[3][12]

Preliminary round Best of 17 frames  John Dunning (ENG) 9–8  David Greaves (ENG)  Mike Hallett (ENG) 9–1  Maurice Parkin (ENG)  Jackie Rea (NIR) 9–8  Bernard Bennett (ENG)

Last 24 Best of 17 frames  Steve Davis (ENG) 9–3  John Dunning (ENG)  Tony Meo (ENG) 9–7  David Taylor (ENG)  Willie Thorne (ENG) 9–4  Roy Andrewartha (WAL)  Patsy Fagan (IRL) 9–4  Mike Hallett (ENG)  Bill Werbeniuk (CAN) 9–3  Joe Johnson (ENG)  Ray Edmonds (ENG) 9–3  Jim Meadowcroft (ENG)  Pat Houlihan (ENG) 9–3  Jackie Rea (NIR)  Cliff Wilson (WAL) 9–7  John Pulman (ENG)

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	Doug Mountjoy	5
	Steve Davis	9
					Steve Davis	7
					John Virgo	9
	John Virgo	9
	Tony Meo	6
									John Virgo	9
									Dennis Taylor	4
	Dennis Taylor	9
	Willie Thorne	8
					Dennis Taylor	9
					Patsy Fagan	6
	Graham Miles	5
	Patsy Fagan	9
													John Virgo	14
													Terry Griffiths	13
	John Spencer	8
	Bill Werbeniuk	9
					Bill Werbeniuk	9
					Ray Edmonds	8
	Fred Davis	6
	Ray Edmonds	9
									Bill Werbeniuk	3
									Terry Griffiths	9
	Alex Higgins	9
	Pat Houlihan	3
					Alex Higgins	7
					Terry Griffiths	9
	Terry Griffiths	9
	Cliff Wilson	4

Final

Final: Best of 27 frames. Referee: The Guild Hall, Preston, England, 30 November and 1 December 1979.
John Virgo  England	14–13	Terry Griffiths  Wales
First session: 70–60, 67–9, 81–24, 100–24 (63), 103–26 (67), 52–61, 73–24 (69), 96–29, 22–90 Second session: 32–68, 4–126 (60), 49–51, 86–38, 50–59, 136–3 (93), 57–56 (57), 8–108 (71), 55–45 Third session: 2–0 Griffiths (Virgo docked 2 frames)[13] 43–61, 50–73, 65–44, 17–91 (56), 26–96 (68), 74–19 (50), 78–8
93	Highest break	71
0	Century breaks	0
6	50+ breaks	4

Century breaks

A total of five century breaks were made during the tournament, the highest of which being a 119 by Terry Griffiths.^[3]

• 119, 118 – Terry Griffiths
• 104 – Alex Higgins
• 103 – Pat Houlihan
• 102 – John Virgo

References

1. Turner, Chris. "UK Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
2. Testing for recruits. Everton, Clive. The Guardian (1959–2003); London (UK) 12 Sep 1979: 25. via ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer 20 August 2019
3. "1979 UK Championship Results". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
4. "A Short History of the UK Championship: The 1970s". snookerscene.blogspot.com. 24 November 2011. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
5. Virgo, John (2 November 2017). John Virgo: Say Goodnight, JV – My Autobiography. John Blake. ISBN 9781786068590. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
6. Virgo, John (19 April 2012). Let Me Tell You About Alex – Crazy Days and Nights on the Road with the Hurricane. John Blake Publishing. ISBN 9781843584407. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
7. "Late Cue in Nick of Time for Virgo". Daily Mirror County. London, England. 3 December 1979. p. 26 – via British Newspaper Archive. 20 August 2019
8. "Virgo penalized but recovers to take first title". The Times. No. 60490. London, England. 3 December 1979. p. 9 – via The Times Digital Archive. 20 August 2019
9. "Hystory [sic] of UK Championship snooker – YouTube". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 21 March 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
10. Luke Williams, Paul Gadsby (5 October 2012). Snooker's World Champions: Masters of the Baize. Random House. ISBN 9781780577159. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
11. Bletchly, Rachael (27 October 2017). "Snooker ace John Virgo reveals how gambling addiction nearly ruined his life". mirror. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
12. "UK Championship". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
13. "Top 10 UK Championship Finals – World Snooker". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.