Sporting Life
Kyren Wilson roars with delight
Kyren Wilson roars with delight

Nick Metcalfe on the worst curse in sport ahead of the World Snooker Championship

By Nick Metcalfe
Snooker
Thu April 17, 2025 · 8M ago

We make far too much of the "Crucible Curse" - it's the worst curse in all of sport.

The celebrating Mayo team were on their way back home after claiming victory in the 1951 All-Ireland Football Championship. They were so busy having a good time on their lorry that they didn't notice a funeral was taking place as they passed through the town of Foxford.

Tradition in Ireland demanded complete silence and respect on such a solemn occasion. But the happy Mayo players were oblivious to other events and the partying continued.

A priest on duty, as legend has it, then cursed the team by saying: "As long as you all shall live, County Mayo will never win another All-Ireland."

That was 74 years ago and Mayo, remarkably, have never enjoyed another success in the All-Ireland since then.

I suspect you're probably wondering why I'm starting my latest snooker column with an old Gaelic football tale. Well, this is all about curses.

The one I've mentioned here is called the "Curse of County Mayo". And it's a proper sporting curse. Mayo, a big team in Gaelic football, have had a chance every single year since 1951 to win the All-Ireland but just can't get the job done. They've lost in eight of the last 21 finals.

There are other strong curses in sport too. Another good example is the "Curse of the Bambino", which refers to baseball legend Babe Ruth leaving the Boston Red Sox for deadly rivals the New York Yankees in 1920, a move that was said to be behind an extraordinary 86-year wait for World Series glory for the Red Sox, one of the world's most famous sports teams.

Kyren Wilson bids to defy the weight of history at the Crucible

Now let's turn to snooker's most famous curse. The old "Crucible Curse". That refers to the fact that no first-time winner has defended the title a year later since the World Championship was first played at the famous Sheffield theatre in 1977.

Frankly, this is not a strong sporting curse. Why do I say that? In short, it's too restrictive and too difficult an achievement to be allied with a "curse" narrative.

It's also not relevant every year, which doesn't help its credentials. In the last decade alone, it's not mattered in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 or 2023.

It is a thing again this year because Kyren Wilson won the title for the first time 12 months ago. So Wilson, who plays his first round match on Saturday, gets his go. His only go, of course. He can't come back and try to end the curse in 2026 or 2027. His moment comes right here and right now. His one solitary attempt.

Just to clarify again, it's three quarters of a century since Mayo tasted the ultimate glory in their sport. They get the chance to end it every year. The Red Sox had 80-odd attempts at winning baseball's greatest prize before finally getting over the line. Again, proper curses.

I take on board the point some snooker fans have made when I've sneered over the "Crucible Curse" in the past that it was at least a little more interesting when Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan had their turn to beat it.

All three have been generational superstars after all, and hugely successful in Sheffield. Davis won six titles in the 1980s, Hendry helped himself to seven crowns in the 1990s and O'Sullivan has now won seven since the turn of the century.

But remember, they still only had one go at banishing the curse. And frankly it remains an immensely difficult ask, however good you are. Winning any tournament in snooker two years in a row is tough. Winning the World Championship in successive years is monstrously hard. Only O'Sullivan and Mark Selby have done it in the last 25 years.

Even the great Ronnie O'Sullivan fell victim to the Crucible Curse

To expect somebody to win it again a year after their first title? Let's be serious, this is not curse territory. It's just a very very unlikely thing that someone would do it.

Come on Kyren, all you've got to do is get further than Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, John Higgins, Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Luca Brecel, Mark Allen, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui. Oh, and former UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong, who has made it through qualifying. Easy. Just go and win it, son.

As it happens, it's Joe Johnson and Ken Doherty that have come closest so far to defying the curse, reaching finals a year after glory in 1987 and 1998.

Of course, this is ultimately all a bit of fun. I doubt my media colleagues will be thanking me much. We write and talk endlessly about the curse and get proper good value out of it. But it's still a rubbish curse and it's high time somebody pointed it out.

In fact, I think it's probably the worst curse in sport. Unless you can think of a worst one. I'm easily contactable and I'm all ears.

By the way, I suspect I'll be bombarded with messages if Wilson doesn't end up being the last man standing this spring. But it won't change my mind in the slightest and it shouldn't change yours.

Another snooker journalist put it very well to me recently when saying: "In the history of things that have been overplayed, it really is right up there."

So go on, pretend the "Crucible Curse" is some big thing and some funny, quirky part of snooker if you must. I won't be stopping you.

But I think we all know the truth deep down. The profile of the "Crucible Curse" is entirely undeserved.

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