‘It’s a very different place.’ John Parrott has been going to the Crucible since 1978, first playing there as a junior at 14 years old and he has never known anywhere quite like it.
Snooker’s hallowed ground has been the home of the World Championship since 1977 and 32 players will arrive at the Sheffield venue again this year looking to leave with the iconic trophy.
Parrott was the man who did just that in 1991 and while he doesn’t get the same mild panic of his playing days, returning in his punditry role is still a buzz.
‘I don’t quite get the sweaty palms driving there like I used to when I was playing, but it’s still very iconic, it’s a very special building,’ Parrott told Metro.co.uk.
‘That drive, coming off the M1 and you’re driving down and your palms genuinely start sweating. If you’re a snooker player it’s where you aspire to play. It’s a very different place.’
Talk of a move away from the Crucible grew loud in some circles over the last couple of years, with thoughts of a bigger venue attracting a much larger audience and expansion for the sport.
Parrott would be dead against it, though, knowing money would be the motivating factor but believing other things are much more important.
‘Not for me. It’s like taking the FA Cup away from Wembley, it’s the iconic venue for the sport,’ he said.
‘I know there’s people who want more people there, sell more tickets, make more money, but it goes beyond that. As a player, you forget all about the financial implications of it, it’s about wanting to play at the Crucible and wanting to be champion at the Crucible.
‘That’s what it’s all about from a player’s point of view. There was talk about extending it, but I think it’s just all part of its charm, leave it how it is.’
Parrott was a real force in Sheffield for years, with his victory in ’91, his first final in ’89, a semi in ’90 and eight runs to the quarter-finals.
He remembers how tricky the conditions were there during his pomp, whether that was space of smoke, but feels it all added to the challenge.
‘The first two rounds it’s very tight with the dividing wall down, there’s hardly any room for the players,’ he said. ‘You can hear the people on the front row breathing.
‘You earn the right to get to the bigger venue of the semi-finals when you come through the first three rounds. It’s all part and parcel of it, it’s what makes it very special.
‘The other thing is sitting next to your opponent, which you don’t do at other events. I kept getting chain-smokers every time I went.
‘The hardest part of beating Terry Griffiths in 1991 in the quarter-finals was he chain-smoked the entire way through the match, my eyes were stinging, my clothes were smelling.
‘When you get up to play there’s no room, Neil Robertson doesn’t like it because he likes to step back and walk into the shot, it’s not ideal but it is what it is.’
Another thing Parrott would not change are the voices alongside him in the BBC commentary box and he is delighted that John Virgo and Dennis Taylor are remaining there, despite reports suggesting they were set for retirement.
‘They’re the voices of snooker, the two of them. They’ve seen the game over all the eras, all the greats,’ said Parrott. ‘We have a broad spectrum of people who love the game and there’s plenty of older people who still remember John and Dennis playing and they like the old stories, the memories.
‘Dennis and JV put it over brilliantly. Their voices are synonymous with the sport. They’re very knowledgeable, they’re sitting in the commentary box talking about it, it’s not a massive physical effort, so at there’s no reason at their age why they shouldn’t be allowed to carry on. Both of them are excellent at their jobs.
‘It’s an art, to put it over. We’ve had one or two players who have come into the commentary box and it’s a bit of an eye-opener. It’s not as easy as it looks at home, there’s an art to it and those two have certainly got it.’
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