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Post by felixdeburgh on Jul 20, 2024 12:23:27 GMT
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Post by McCann on Jul 20, 2024 12:31:35 GMT
A great of the game and a big name in the 1970s when snooker was finding it's feet on the BBC.
He was still a top player into the mid 80s but it is hard to play to the very highest standard once you reach 50. As Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams may find in the next few years.
6 World Championships and he might have won more if the game was in better shape during the 60s when he was young.
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Post by jjmooney on Jul 20, 2024 13:31:40 GMT
We're all of an age here to recall that the UK and Ireland were snooker loopy back in the 80's. Even though he had mostly finished by then he was still a legend. Dracula he was famously known as also. Must have been in good health overall as he was coaching Ronnie until very recently I think. RIP Ray.
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Post by McCann on Jul 20, 2024 14:00:00 GMT
He was involved with Ronnie about 20 years ago now when O'Sullivan won his 2nd World title in 2004.
They did stay in touch since.
BBC Wales made a film about Ray two years ago which will be on again doing the rounds now.
Ray was very active, I hadn't realised he did get cancer eventually but he lived around a Golf course down in Devon, and last year when he was 90 he made a century break at Snooker. He was a serious player.
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Post by jno on Jul 20, 2024 15:28:25 GMT
RIP Ray ... childhood hero and snooker great.
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Post by billymedhurst on Jul 20, 2024 16:23:57 GMT
Absolute legend. RIP.
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Post by Arch Stanton on Jul 20, 2024 18:15:38 GMT
Agree with this. RIP Dracula. |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Jul 20, 2024 18:18:26 GMT
RIP Ray ... childhood hero and snooker great. Agree with this also. He was one of the greats, when I was growing up he seemed like the best player. The fact he looked like Dracula but with a snooker cue also helped. |
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Post by billymedhurst on Jul 20, 2024 18:19:38 GMT
Absolutely. Watched him on the box many times back in the day.
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Post by AlanH on Jul 20, 2024 21:49:00 GMT
Ray first came to my attention in the BBC's Pot Black, which was a great single-frame distillation of what can be an enjoyable but long-winded sport. He had a likeable manner and the TV cameras loved him. As I grew up playing snooker in the family's mostly unused downstairs lounge, it was him and Alex Higgins I was trying to emulate rather than local but staid hero Steve Davis. Ray always came across as a lovely guy and he was Welsh. What's not to like? A classy player and a classy man. RIP.
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Post by ontheslate on Jul 21, 2024 5:18:38 GMT
He was a rare breed of sportsman who was known by many not just fans of the sport his name and Dracula appearance will be remembered by fans of his playing ability and non fans of the sport especially for his participation in Pot Black . RIP
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Post by ltd on Jul 21, 2024 7:57:45 GMT
Apparently the partial inspiration for the Trevor Preston penned film Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire. Never actually seen it but looks interesting. Alun Armstrong plays the Ray Reardon character.
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Post by McCann on Jul 21, 2024 8:03:05 GMT
The old snooker players always had to cross over into comedy to keep their exhibition work going. Ray, John Virgo and Dennis Taylor were probably the best of them.
I was at a Legends snooker match between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry at Goffs two years ago. It was a warm summers evening and a bat flew into the arena through an open door. It swooped down around the table and the players had to sit down and duck as you would around a flying bat.
John Virgo was commentating for the crowd openly as it was a knock about match, and straight away picked up on the opportunity:
"hello, I wasn't expecting a guest appearance from Ray Reardon this evening"
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Post by Terry on Jul 22, 2024 6:56:46 GMT
RIP, he was really one of the greats, altho I started getting into Snooker no earlier than 1991 so missed his hayday .
Always wondered why he lowered himself to coach Ronnie of all players.
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Post by metro1962 on Jul 22, 2024 10:02:50 GMT
RIP Ray a true snooker legend.😒
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Post by daz on Aug 3, 2024 8:44:40 GMT
RIP Ray
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Post by coyote on Aug 3, 2024 22:17:03 GMT
RIP, he was really one of the greats, altho I started getting into Snooker no earlier than 1991 so missed his hayday . Always wondered why he lowered himself to coach Ronnie of all players. Because Ronnie phoned and asked him. I don't think you can describe being asked for help by the most talented player ever to pick up a cue as "lowering" and it's Ray's coaching that is generally attributed as responsible for helping Ronnie's safety and tactical game become one of the best in the business when previously it had been a significant weakness. The BBC documentary was on again just after Ray's death and it's discussed by both of them. There is clearly a great warmth between them. Ronnie is my kind of age and would have grown up watching Steve Davis, Jimmy White and the 80s generation, by which time Ray Reardon, John Spencer, Eddie Charlton and co had been put out to grass. That Ronnie saw something in Ray's game that he thought he could learn from rather than a Davis or a Hendry is a great tribute to the man IMO. |
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Post by chopper on Sept 1, 2024 19:53:51 GMT
There was an excellent repeat of Parkinson on BBC4 last night with him on it, I remember persuading my Mum to let me stay up and watch it as I was snooker mad as a kid in the late 70’s.
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