How Stephen Hendry changed the way snooker was played and inspired a nation with legendary career

One of the most joyous scenes in all of British cinema is the opening to Trainspotting, which sees Renton and his pals careening down Princes Street and other parts of Edinburgh to Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life.

The year was 1996. While anarchy reigned on the big screen, another Scotsman was at the peak of his powers, monopolising TV time as he swept all before him. Stephen Hendry bestrode the sport in the 90s in an almost imperious way. To be the best was all he had ever wanted. He’d sacrificed much to get to the top and had no regrets.

Choose life? Choose winning.

When the 96/97 season began, there were nine Scots ranked inside the top 64 and plenty more coming up on the rails. The scene was vibrant. As the Scottish Open begins in Edinburgh, it’s worth remembering that this had not always been the case.

Walter Donaldson became the world champion in the post-war era, but for a long time, Scotland lagged behind the other UK nations. At the first World Team Cup in 1979, there was not even a Scottish team.

There were a handful of Scottish professionals in the early years of TV snooker but they did not seriously challenge for titles, although one hard man, Eddie Sinclair, did take on the notoriously thirsty Canadian Bill Werbeniuk in a legendary drinking contest. Tied at 42 pints apiece, Sinclair hit the deck and Werbeniuk went to the bar for a celebratory beer.

The age of professionalism in Scottish snooker came courtesy of a shy teenager who possessed a laser-like focus rarely witnessed before or since. Hendry had not even played the game before his parents bought him a half-sized table for Christmas in 1981. Four years later, he turned professional.

Just 16 when he joined the circuit, he was completely driven from the start. Hendry had observed Steve Davis’ aloofness, the way he set himself apart from his rivals. He admired and coveted Davis’s success and adopted his mindset.

However, one big difference was how he approached the game itself. Davis was the best player of his generation but still played the percentages. Hendry was full-on attack, casting safety aside and always looking to open the balls and kill frames off in one visit.

He practised with military discipline, watched over by his no-nonsense manager, Ian Doyle, and the rewards came quickly. At 18, he won his first ranking title, the 1987 Grand Prix. At 20, he captured the Masters and UK Championship, and at 21 was crowned the youngest ever world champion.

Hendry changed the way snooker was played, ushering in a more attacking era and establishing records that took decades to be matched.

His youth made him a relatable figure to youngsters everywhere, but especially in Scotland. Wishaw’s John Higgins was taken with one of his brothers to a snooker club as a boy by their father, who could have a social drink with his friends while his sons were happily occupied.

Higgins showed some early promise, developed a maturity in his game beyond his years and won the junior event at the 1991 World Masters in Birmingham, beating fellow 15-year-olds Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams en route. They each joined the pro circuit the following year.

Glaswegian Alan McManus had already turned professional in 1990 and made an immediate breakthrough, reaching the UK Championship semi-finals and winning the Masters qualifying event in his debut season. McManus would win the Masters itself in 1994.

During this period in the early 1990s, a wave of Scottish talent flooded the professional ranks. Some were more successful than others but they became regular faces on the circuit. 20 Scots have so far competed in the Crucible stage of the World Championship.

Graeme Dott, raised on the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow often associated with social decay, demonstrated his iron toughness by becoming world champion in 2006. On either side of this triumph, he appeared in two other Crucible finals.

Stephen Maguire became UK champion in 2004 and currently has six ranking titles to his name. Fellow Glaswegian Anthony McGill has won two and Edinburgh’s Chris Small, forced to retire in 2005 due to a chronic back condition, one.

Higgins, 47, continues to have a successful career at the top level with 31 ranking event victories to his name, including four world titles.

There are some young prospects in Scotland, but not in the numbers of 30 years ago. The circuit currently boasts only eight Scottish professionals. Maybe they need another talisman to look up to, but the Hendrys of this world are rare.

He represented his nation at the highest level of a hugely popular sport with distinction, winning 36 ranking tournaments including seven World Championships. The seventh, though, was like a dam breaking. Hendry was 30 and the extraordinary intensity he had given to be the best seemed to wane. Perhaps it had to if he was to avoid serious burnout.

Having spent most of his career doing his own thing, he suddenly became friendly with the other players and, by his own admission, lost some of his edge.

By now, those he had inspired had become good in their own right, and so a decline began which ended in his retirement in 2012 at the age of 43.

He was employed on a lucrative contract promoting cue sports in China and enjoyed punditry and leisure time spent playing golf, but nothing can compare with the thrill of competition.

In 2020, Hendry was offered an invitational wildcard by World Snooker Tour, making him eligible to compete again on the circuit. He had 24 hours to decide whether to take it and he could not resist. His comeback was much anticipated but has been largely underwhelming. He has played only a handful of events and found victories hard to come by. Last week, he was thrashed 5-0 by Matthew Stevens in the German Masters qualifiers.

To be fair, Hendry had done everything to lower expectations. He had never intended to be like his old rival Jimmy White and enter every event.

Unlike White or even Davis, he did not play for the pure love of snooker but because of an obsession with being the best.

These days, he is playing not just against the new players but his own past, judged by the performances of his pomp and suffering in comparison.

At 53, it is surely impossible for Hendry to recapture former glories. He is much older and less driven, and the game has moved on with far more players capable now of playing to a high standard.

But why is that? Who set these standards?

The winner of this week’s Scottish Open receives the Stephen Hendry trophy. As if to underline how disappointing the comeback has been, the man himself did not enter the event.

This is a shame as the audience at the Meadowbank Centre would surely love to salute him. He won’t even be there to present the trophy. The only trophies Hendry has ever wanted to handle are the ones he has won.

He might not have been the last snooker king of Scotland but was the man who inspired a nation, and who brought it respect.

And just as the 2017 sequel to Trainspotting doesn’t alter the majesty of the original, Hendry’s stuttering comeback doesn’t change any of that.

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