He has made rare appearances on the snooker calendar in the last few seasons, since being beaten in the final qualifying round of the world championships.
A seniors world championship title did enable him to play in the Champion of Champions event where he was whitewashed by world champion Mark Selby last season. Aside from a few PTC minor world ranking events, Davis was seen more on the Snooker Legends tour alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and Dennis Taylor.
Davis, who was known affectionately as ‘The Nugget’ was a potting machine in the sport in the 1980s. He won the world championship a record 6 times, which was only overtaken by Stephen Hendry in 1999.
His dominance of the sport was reflected in his world ranking of no.1 which he held from 1983 to 1990, many years before the world ranking list was abolished for the version the sport has today.
The man who made the first televised 147 in 1982, admitted to the BBC, that he partly carried on for his dad, Bill, who recently passed away. “I should have done it ages ago; I played a bit for my father. I am delighted to have such a great time in the game. I was lucky to have a hobby as my profession,” David said.
He picked up his cue one last time for the world championship qualifying event, at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, where you have to win 3 matches to make it to The Crucible Theatre. It ended in a 10-3 defeat to Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien.
“The match was my last and I told Barry Hearn [Davis’ manager] it was time to call it a day. My father passed away recently and it was natural time to stop playing,” said the 58-year old.
His crown was eventually passed on to Scotland’s Stephen Hendry, who went on to succeed Davis at the top of the game with 7 world titles. “He was the best player I learned to be miserable from, I think I have done him proud,” Hendry said.
Dennis Taylor, who beat Steve Davis in the 1985 world final on the black ball, watched by a historic 18.5 million TV viewers added: “It is a sad day because he changed snooker completely when he came on the scene. He was the first player to put in six-seven hours’ practice. What an ambassador he has been.”
A new journey begins for both the sport and Davis but what a ride its been. “It has been a fantastic. The game will move on to other places but I feel like the grandfather of the sport.”
Davis, who is still the only snooker player to win Sports Personality of The Year in 1988, can now enjoy his other pastime; that of records and DJing. Swapping his cue for vinyl, you’re more likely to see Davis mixing obscure records from his collection at any number of London’s hipster venues. Quite a musical challenge from being on Top of The Pops with the Matchroom Mob singing ‘Snooker Loopy.’
Davis also announced this week that he will be DJing on Worthy Farm, next month. The sportsman will be playing at Glastonbury Festival on one of the many stages that the annual music festival holds every summer in Somerset.“
There’s a novelty value of some boring snooker player suddenly playing electronic music,” he told the BBC. “I’ve got my willies ready and we’re going to go down there and bring our records.”
Davis, who will be playing the Stonebridge Bar at the end of June, said of his music: “It’s not necessarily techno. We’re playing some stuff that’s electronic and some that will appeal that people who are into IDM [intelligent dance music].”
Before then, though, Davis will head to the Cross Sports Book Awards at the start of June. His autobiography ‘Interesting’ is on the shortlist for the award ceremony on Wednesday, 1 June.
The event at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, showcases the finest sports writing, and will be broadcast on Sky Sports the following weekend.
