Ken Doherty has made his plea to keep the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre for many more years to come.
The 2025 edition of the game’s flagship tournament commences in just over a fortnight with the qualifiers beginning on Monday next week.
One of the major talking points around this period of the season will be the destination of future World Championships, as has become the norm in recent years.
The Crucible Theatre has been the home of the sport since 1977, but its current contract will expire in two years.
Much has been debated on the advantages and disadvantages of staying in Sheffield, and more specifically at the Crucible itself.
A significant number of people involved in the sport – including a large section of its fans – believe that the World Championship shouldn’t move.
Substantiating this is the belief that the Crucible’s intimate setting has provided the backdrop to many of snooker’s most iconic moments, a legacy that should remain intact.
But many others believe that the venue’s limitations, particularly with regard to its size, prevent the event from reaching its proper potential.
Several ideas have been floated – including an unlikely rebuild of the Crucible itself, relocating to a different venue in Sheffield, or even moving to a different city altogether.
With the BBC signing a new five-year deal to broadcast the World Championship until 2032, it seems implausible now that the tournament would be taken outside the UK.
Until any new contract is signed, however, speculation will continue to be rife.
“I love the Crucible,” Ken Doherty, a three-time World Championship finalist and the champion in 1997, said on ITV.
“I grew up watching it. I went there first as a 14 year-old to watch, and I came back seven years later as a player.”
“I’ve been going to the Crucible since 1991, I think [that] was the first time I played there. I’ve been going there ever since.
“I love it, I think it’s the most amazing venue. Some players like it and some players don’t like it.
“But I think the atmosphere at the Crucible is like no other place that we play in, or the players that play today play in.
“It’s full of great history, great memories, great nostalgia – you get a sense of that when you’re there.
“If you haven’t been, you should put it on your bucket list. For me, the Crucible is the home of the World Championship.
“I know it only fits 950 people there, but that should be our blue-riband event, and if it doesn’t make as much money for Barry Hearn or World Snooker, so be it.
“Let all the other tournaments create all their own history and nostalgia. Keep the World Championship at the Crucible, please.”
Ken Doherty first qualified to compete at the Crucible Theatre in 1991 when he lost 10-8 to Steve Davis in the first round.
Six years later, Davis was among the five players who the Irishman beat en route to securing his maiden world crown.
Doherty overcame then dominant star Stephen Hendry in the final, ending the Scot’s five-year winning streak in Sheffield.
Twelve months later and Doherty was back in the final, but on this occasion he was to be denied by another Scot who would become an all-time great – John Higgins.
Doherty became only the second player – after Joe Johnson in 1987 – to reach the final in the year of being a defending first-time champion.
In the 2025 World Snooker Championship, Kyren Wilson will become the latest candidate to break the fabled Crucible Curse whereby no first-time winner has ever successfully defended the crown.
“Did it really put any pressure on me? I don’t think it did,” Ken Doherty said on the prospect of breaking the Crucible Curse in 1998.
“You’re obviously aware of it, and I asked the question to Kyren Wilson when he came into the studio at the Players Championship.”
“He sort of passed it off. He said, ‘I never heard of the Crucible Curse.’ That’s a great attitude to have.
“But it’s always there, because people keep reminding you. Did it really hinder me against John Higgins in the final?
“I don’t think it did. I think it was just the fact that I had such a wonderful year in 1997 as world champion, I just wanted to hold onto that beautiful cup for one more year.
“The difference between winning and losing? When I won it in 1997, I came back to Dublin Airport, got an open-top bus all the way through the city centre.
“The cars were stopping and people hanging outside the windows with ‘welcome home champ’ [signs], a big civic reception in the heart of Dublin in the Lord Mayor’s residence.
“Thousands and thousands of people turned out, it was fantastic.
“In 1998, I got all the way to the final, came back to Dublin Airport after losing to John Higgins, and I had to get a taxi home. That’s the difference.”
Featured photo credit: ITV
