1978 World Snooker Championship

Updated on Nov 03, 2023

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Dates 17–29 April 1978 City Sheffield Organisation(s) WPBSA		Venue Crucible Theatre Country England Format Ranking event

The 1978 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1978 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 and 29 April 1978 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

The final was contested by Ray Reardon and Perrie Mans. Reardon led 5–2 after the first session, before Mans levelled the match at 8–8 after the first day's play. After the third interval Reardon led 12–11 and won the 24th frame with a 64 break to lead 13–11. After the second day Reardon led 18–14, and eventually won the match 25–18. This was Reardon's sixth and last world title. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

This was the first championship to have daily BBC coverage as highlights.

Defending champion John Spencer became the first player to suffer the Crucible Curse, when he lost 8–13 to Perrie Mans in the first round.

Ray Reardon became the oldest World Champion of the modern era at the age of 45 years and 203 days, while Fred Davis became the oldest semi-finalist at the age of 64 years and 251 days, losing 16–18 to Perrie Mans.

John Williams refereed the final.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

Winner: £7,500

Runner-up: £3,500

Third place: £2,500

Fourth place: £2,000

Quarter-final: £1,000

Last 16: £500

Highest break: £500

Maximum break: £10,000

Total: £24,000

Main draw

Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings.

Sources:

Qualifying

Source:

Century breaks

There were seven century breaks at championship, the highest being 138 by John Spencer.

138, 118 John Spencer

119, 100 Ray Reardon

108 Eddie Charlton

105 Fred Davis

105 Patsy Fagan

References

1978 World Snooker Championship Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA