The 1972 World Snooker Championship

World Snooker Championship

The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...

, between March 1971 to February 1972, took nearly a year to complete. In a preliminary competition eight qualifiers were reduced to two, and they joined the eight other entrants in the competition proper. Those in the qualifying section included Alex Higgins

Alex Higgins

Alexander Gordon "Alex" Higgins , also known by his nickname of Hurricane Higgins, was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who was twice World Champion and twice runner-up. Higgins earned the nickname The Hurricane because of his speed of play...

, who became the first champion who played qualifying matches, and four former amateur champions, Ron Gross, Maurice Parkin, Pat Houlihan

Pat Houlihan

Patrick "Pat" Houlihan was an English snooker player. He was born in Deptford, London.He turned professional in 1971 at the age of 42 after many years as an amateur including beating future world champion John Spencer 11-3 at Blackpool Tower during the 1965 World Amateur Championship...

 and Geoffrey Thompson, who all turned professional when well past their prime.

Higgins was not extended until the semi-final when Rex Williams

Rex Williams

Rex Williams , son of Minnie Roberts and William Williams, is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player.Williams was an excellent junior player in both snooker and billiards. His professional career began in 1951, during a period of decline in snooker...

 led by six frames before the Irishman got home in an exciting finish by the odd frame in 61. Williams had beaten Ray Reardon

Ray Reardon

Ray Reardon, MBE is a retired Welsh snooker player. He dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning six World Championships in that decade...

 25–23, one of the surprise results of the championship, in a match contested in five different club venues in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

The final, at Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

's Selly Park

Selly Park

Selly Park is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb of Selly Park is located between the Bristol Road and the Pershore Road .-Toponymy:...

 British Legion, was evenly matched until Higgins struck the front with a 6–0 victory in the Thursday evening session, a gap which John Spencer

John Spencer (snooker player)

John Spencer was an English professional snooker player who won the World Professional title at his first attempt, was the first winner at the Crucible Theatre, was the inaugural winner of the Masters and Irish Masters and was the first player to make a 147 break in competition...

 was never able to close. Higgins' win made him the youngest champion at the age of 22 years and 345 days until Stephen Hendry

Stephen Hendry

Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion, at the age of 21. He has won the World Championship a record seven times and was snooker's world number one for eight consecutive years between 1990 and 1998, and again...

 in 1990

World Snooker Championship 1990

The 1990 Embassy World Snooker Championship took place at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield between 13 and 29 April 1990.The tournament saw the first world championship victory of Stephen Hendry, who beat Jimmy White 18–12 in the final...

.

Prize money

The prize money was by arrangement with individual promoters. The winner Alex Higgins

Alex Higgins

Alexander Gordon "Alex" Higgins , also known by his nickname of Hurricane Higgins, was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who was twice World Champion and twice runner-up. Higgins earned the nickname The Hurricane because of his speed of play...

 won £480

Main draw

First Round Best of 37 frames

  Alex Higgins

Alex Higgins

Alexander Gordon "Alex" Higgins , also known by his nickname of Hurricane Higgins, was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who was twice World Champion and twice runner-up. Higgins earned the nickname The Hurricane because of his speed of play...

  19–11 Jackie Rea

Jackie Rea

Jack 'Jackie' Rea is a retired snooker player from Northern Ireland.Rea was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland...

  

  John Pulman

John Pulman

John Pulman was an English professional snooker player who dominated the game throughout the 1960s....

  19–7
John Dunning

John Dunning (snooker player)

John Dunning was an English professional player of snooker. Considered a Yorkshireman through and through, he was eleven times Yorkshire amateur champion. In 1964, he became CIU champion, beating Geoff Thompson in the final, making this his best win as an amateur...