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Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Witz78

take it youve already asked for all the questions for him then? I musta missed that - DAMN !!

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

It pays to keep up to date on the Island ;)

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Witz78

Brilliant interview, to be fair every question (and more) i could have thought of has already been answered and were only 1 part of 3 through it, the next 2 parts should make for great reading.

Id love Kirk Stevens to come over to play in the Legends too, thatd be awesome.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

Thanks. And yes there's plenty more to come.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Wildey

Great Read and it must have been a real thrill for you as it would have been for me to meet the man.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

Of course. He's such a gent.

I just noticed this which was entirely accidental:

Image


That's Cliff behind Mark's left shoulder isn't it?

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Wildey

yes it is 10 years ago bloody hell where does the time fly to

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Wildey

Talking of Cliff and the Death of Alex for me these 2 players created a speciall rivelery and will always be entangled in each others career.

been thinking back a lot this weekend to my childhood watching this game and i remember a incident involving Alex and Cliff where Alex forgot his extension and he was borrowing Cliff's extension in the match anyway there was a controversial refereeing decision and Cliff turned to Alex asking for support and it never came from Alex and Cliff turned Round and said you see that (pointing at his extension) you wont use it again. :)

that must have been in 1984 UK and just looked at wiki they played in the 1984 Semi of the UK must have been during that match.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Noel

Cliff is Legend. Too!


=o)

Noel

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby SnookerFan

That Snooker Legends event I went to in Redhill keeps getting a plug, doesn't it. I feel like I was actually at a significant night of snooker.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

Part 2 coming tomorrow :santa:

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:http://www.snookerisland.com/blog/cliff-thorburn-interview-2of3/

another great read mate

a truly nice guy.

regarding the Alex Higgins showboating in 1980 clive was mentioning that in this months snooker scene i did not see that match it was before my time aswell so cant coment on it however in his later life 1981-1990 period im with cliff nobody played snooker harder than him and in that time yes he played the game flamboyantly and he went for some amazing pots but i wouldn't call it playing to the crowd during that time.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

In Snookerscene they also mentioned the first day he met Alex and it involved Alex about to throw a snooker ball at Cliff! I did ask the question but he said given Alex's current (at the time of interview) state of health he didn't really want to go into it so I left it at that.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Tubberlad

Very good interview, enjoyed reading it. You can see he had that respect for Higgins in spite of all their run-ins. Nice to hear about Jimmy White's integrity also, had never heard that story. 5 stars <ok>

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Wildey

Sonny wrote:In Snookerscene they also mentioned the first day he met Alex and it involved Alex about to throw a snooker ball at Cliff! I did ask the question but he said given Alex's current (at the time of interview) state of health he didn't really want to go into it so I left it at that.

yes i cant think why on a first meeting someone would even want to throw anything at him lol....not a great way to start a pro relationship but with Alex he just never knew what next to do. off his head is a apt description.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

Has anyone here read Cliff's autobiography? I'm going to try and get hold of it.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Casey

I will give this a proper read through tomorrow, looking forward to it

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Witz78

Another great installment. He didnt elaborate too much on the way he was fed up with snooker when he lost to Bond at the WC but i remember at the time, he pretty much quit the game for good after this didnt he.

Was it the constant travelling, being away from Canada that got to him or the realisation that his career was on the wane?

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

I guess everyone reaches a point. I mean he was outside the top 16 which meant he had to travel from Canada just to play in the qualifiers and it sounds like he wasn't in a very good place in himself around that time. He certainly loved the Legends Tour which is invitational and he gets the respect he deserves from his status in the game. But I'm merely speculating. It was a bit of a comeback when he reached the Crucible for the last time anyway wasn't it?

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Wildey

to qualify for the 1994 World Cliff was ranked 41 and he had to win 3 matches to qualify

he beat Stuart Pettman 10-7, Rod Lawlor 10-6 and Tony Drago 10-6... 3 players thats still on the tour 16 years later that shows how capable he was but when you lose heart to the job you want to do its time to go and obviously his heart wasn't in it despite the ability he still had..

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby snookerbacker

Great Part 2 Sonny. The Mercantile Credit Classic Final sticks in my memory like it was yesterday, I thought Jimmy had lost (again) and at the time it meant so much, the memories are so vivid, the whole family were so excited when he won, probably just for me I suppose as it meant so much to me.

As for Cliff insinuating that Jimbo didn't play that snooker the way it turned out......no comment. Does anyone have that final frame on YouTube?

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

I remember being happy as well but I did check youtube for confirmation of the snooker but alas. I would love to see it though. And in case anyone was wondering, all of the pictures came from books which I scanned myself. I asked Cliff for the "If looks could kill, my god!" photo but he couldn't find it. And then as I was flicking through a book I went past it and stopped, then backtracked and thought to myself "That HAS to be the one!"

So as yet it's unconfirmed but it has to be the photo he's referring to doesn't it?


You can understand Cliff being gutted about the Mercantile though. When else has a player had a tournament in the bag so to speak with the opponent needing a snooker and lost? John Higgins against Nigel Bond is the only one I can think of.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Sickpotter

Great interview all around Sonny :mosh2:

I don't think Cliff was saying Jimmy didn't try to hit that snooker, just that Jimmy went about it the wrong way by playing the shot in a manner where cue and object balls crossed each others line. :idea:

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Roland

Cheers sickpotter. I hope you didn't mind the question about you :redneck:

I left it in because of the advice that came out of the answer which could be taken on board by any foreign player thinking of taking the game seriously.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby JohnFromLondonTown

It comes across as a great interview & fair play to Cliff Thorburn for sharing so much of his time to give the interview. Very admirable of him too.

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby Wildey

Sonny

its been a absalute pleasure for me reading that aswell <ok>

and ps i knew Cliff Joined the Matchroom Mob ;)

Re: Cliff Thorburn

Postby gallantrabbit

Nice one Sonny. Even got my hustler queston in :D I knew Cliff would have a story for that one.

I remember the Bond game well cos I nearly tore up my betting slip that day.. I had an accumulator on all the first rounds but couldn't believe that Thorburn was 9-2 up cos he was on his way out and Bond was playing well. And I was on for bundles <cool>

So I didn't tear it up was just waiting for Brian Morgan to finish off Clark I think. I was on Brian and he was 9-6...twas a banker!!
Morgan lost...

So thanks Cliff but when you line up an interview with Brian Morgan :bowdown: I'll have a question or two for him :evilgrin1: