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On Thursday evening, on a gloriously sunny day, I headed down to Sheffield to meet my sister and go to the World Snooker Championship. I went last year with complimentary tickets and when I had the chance to do so again this time around, I jumped at the opportunity. In 2014, we saw a semi-final clash but this year it was just the first and second rounds, although three top names were in action - Shaun Murphy, John Higgins and Ding Junghui. The former was playing Robin Hull in a first round match on table one - while Higgins and Ding were starting their second round match on table two. A dividing board separated the two tables so we only got to see table one initially, although I did have a look at the corner of table two such was the seating orientation of the surprisingly small and intimate Crucible Theatre.
Murphy had a commanding 7-2 lead in his best of 19 frames match against Hull (who I kept saying "I am Rob Hull" in Fist of Fun stylee about) so he needed just three frames to win. In the end it took four, with Hull's tactical snooker failing to come off on many occasion. This meant we saw half a standard session of eight frames but fortunately at the mid-interval, the barrier went up and we could observe all of the action on table two, a titanic tussle involving two of the greatest players in the game. Higgins had raced into a 3-1 lead by the time we joined the action, then made it 5-1 with two frames remaining. However Ding fired his at back into the contest, clearing up on the last frame to end the evening just 5-3 in arrears. There really was some excellent snooker on show and the match kept flipping one way and the other, it was very tactical and almost hypnotic watching the action.
With the match finishing earlier than expected and my sister being a little funny about me staying for some reason, I opted to try and get a train back to Leeds instead of staying with my sister, whose toilet was broken. We yomped to the station and saw a train just departing as we reached the platform, annoyingly the last train I could get to guarantee me getting my last bus. Much to his annoyance, Wolfie kindly picked me up at the station as the next train's arrival time was cutting it very fine (although in the end I probably could have caught the last bus). While I was waiting for Wolfie to arrive, two lads wanted to use my phone to ring a cab as their phones were flat. Not being fully trusting, I rang the number for them but it was just a continuous ring tone despite the piece of paper with which they provided me looking quite official. They seemed genuine lads, not sure if this was a scam or not. I avoided it either way. On the way home too, EF nearly ran over a dog, who darted out in front of our car. Fortunately we just managed to avoid him.
My sister, who conveniently lives in Sheffield, is a huge snooker fan - she went to the final a couple of years back and always tried to get tickets for the event - so was delighted when I could secure some tickets. I left work early and arrived in Sheffield just before 5pm, after which she took me to a delightful family-run pizza place just around the corner from the Crucible. The crispy pizza and garlic bread as well as the ale was delicious (although too many options with mushrooms in for me, I choked them down) while afterwards we craved to sit in the sun so we went to the Crucible Bar on the main square outside the theatre and had a drink outside, watching the world go by. We also saw the snooker themed topiary which was a nice addition along with the bedecked Betfred banners turning the square blue with facts and stats about the pinnacle event in world snooker. I've always thought it odd that it's in Sheffield in such a small arena but I do hope it stays here, having a world class tournament on your doorstep is fantastic and I hope to go again next year.
Murphy had a commanding 7-2 lead in his best of 19 frames match against Hull (who I kept saying "I am Rob Hull" in Fist of Fun stylee about) so he needed just three frames to win. In the end it took four, with Hull's tactical snooker failing to come off on many occasion. This meant we saw half a standard session of eight frames but fortunately at the mid-interval, the barrier went up and we could observe all of the action on table two, a titanic tussle involving two of the greatest players in the game. Higgins had raced into a 3-1 lead by the time we joined the action, then made it 5-1 with two frames remaining. However Ding fired his at back into the contest, clearing up on the last frame to end the evening just 5-3 in arrears. There really was some excellent snooker on show and the match kept flipping one way and the other, it was very tactical and almost hypnotic watching the action.
With the match finishing earlier than expected and my sister being a little funny about me staying for some reason, I opted to try and get a train back to Leeds instead of staying with my sister, whose toilet was broken. We yomped to the station and saw a train just departing as we reached the platform, annoyingly the last train I could get to guarantee me getting my last bus. Much to his annoyance, Wolfie kindly picked me up at the station as the next train's arrival time was cutting it very fine (although in the end I probably could have caught the last bus). While I was waiting for Wolfie to arrive, two lads wanted to use my phone to ring a cab as their phones were flat. Not being fully trusting, I rang the number for them but it was just a continuous ring tone despite the piece of paper with which they provided me looking quite official. They seemed genuine lads, not sure if this was a scam or not. I avoided it either way. On the way home too, EF nearly ran over a dog, who darted out in front of our car. Fortunately we just managed to avoid him.
My sister, who conveniently lives in Sheffield, is a huge snooker fan - she went to the final a couple of years back and always tried to get tickets for the event - so was delighted when I could secure some tickets. I left work early and arrived in Sheffield just before 5pm, after which she took me to a delightful family-run pizza place just around the corner from the Crucible. The crispy pizza and garlic bread as well as the ale was delicious (although too many options with mushrooms in for me, I choked them down) while afterwards we craved to sit in the sun so we went to the Crucible Bar on the main square outside the theatre and had a drink outside, watching the world go by. We also saw the snooker themed topiary which was a nice addition along with the bedecked Betfred banners turning the square blue with facts and stats about the pinnacle event in world snooker. I've always thought it odd that it's in Sheffield in such a small arena but I do hope it stays here, having a world class tournament on your doorstep is fantastic and I hope to go again next year.
