Top 10 moments of 2022/23 snooker season: No. 10 – Jimmy White defies Old Father Time as Whirlwind finds vintage form

After the conclusion of another extraordinary snooker season, we pick 10 memorable moments from the 2022/23 campaign as captured by the Eurosport cameras. You can vote for your personal favourite when we reveal our final list of contenders later this month.

No. 10 – Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White defies Old Father Time

Ahead of the 2012 Masters final at Alexandra Palace – a contest won 10-6 by Neil Robertson against Shaun Murphy at the maiden staging of the tournament in the storied London venue – one recalls sitting down with Jimmy White before a storied testimonial dinner to mark his 50th birthday that saw his old mucker Ronnie Wood and the Rolling Stones wash up to pay tribute.

“I love the game too much. I’ve tried to go play golf or sit in the sun, but that is not for me.”

After Paint It Black met Pot Black, little did we know that over a decade on, the Whirlwind of old London town would still want it as badly beyond the age of 60.

“Wow! Jimmy White qualifying for the later stages of the UK Championship at the age of 60 has to be one the greatest achievements in our sport,” said Robertson on Twitter.

In doing so, he became the first figure in his 60s to achieve the feat at the UK since the slothful Aussie ‘Steady’ Eddie Charlton in 1993.

It was far from the grand old fluke of York despite a 6-2 defeat to Ryan Day slightly dampening the 30th anniversary of his 16-9 win over John Parrott in the 1992 UK Championship final.

To put his remarkable longevity into some sort of potting perspective, Peng was seven years short of being born when Jimmy was contesting and losing the last of his six world finals to Stephen Hendry back in 1994.

He succumbed 5-2 to Jack Lisowski after leading 2-0 in Berlin chasing a first quarter-final appearance at a ranking event since he pocketed the Players Championship in April 2004 in Glasgow, but there were words of encouragement from an opponent half his age.

“Jimmy has broken down the barriers,” said Lisowski. “A few years ago, we didn’t think you could really play into your 40s. It was a bit sad at the end, Jimmy gets so much support and it is great seeing him doing well. He has always been so kind to me in my career so I am not going to celebrate beating him.”

While snooker does not demand physical superiority, these remain remarkable goings-on amid the mental maelstrom of competing among the professional elite over five decades of delight and despair since the ongoing Tooting man turned professional in 1980.

Like Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Color of Money, White is performing close to his peak powers when in the mood among the balls, but this is no work of fiction.

Back in the day, Jimmy enjoyed partying as much as potting, probably to his eternal detriment in the company of ferociously dedicated foes Hendry and Steve Davis, but snooker has always been a game of great rebirths.

Rather than feel sorry for himself, White has never thrown in the white towel under the weight of a colourful past that has seen him celebrated as the ‘People’s Champion’ if sadly not a world champion, a title which befitted his burgeoning talent, attacking outlook and epic contribution to the sport’s popularity in the 1980s televised boom.

A 4-2 win over the 2019 world champion Judd Trump in the last 32 of the WST Classic in March ensured he would end the season securing a two-year tour card on his own merit by finishing second on the sport’s one-year money list without the need for a invitational wildcard.

An inspirational story of Jimmy White finding his second Whirlwind.

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