Speaking candidly to The Scotsman, Jimmy White reflects on his career, his current situation and says why his love of snooker is still as strong as ever.
Click the above link for the full article, here are a selection of his actual quotes:
On why he carries on:
“It’s very difficult because every sportsman has to come to the end of his career,”
“but I feel like I know that I still have the game so I can’t put down my cue, not yet. I love to go and do exhibitions, I love travelling, and I love playing once I get there. I feel I’m capable of playing to a good standard. The belief is still there.
“People say that I’m the best player never to have won the world championship but I’ve won 10 ranking tournaments and 27 invitational tournaments. I wasn’t exactly an early-to-bed person so I’ve done really well. As a kid my ambition was to be a snooker player so I’m living the dream. I still love the click of the balls and the noise around the table. I love this game and my passion for it is still there. As long as I still love the game and people still want to come and see me play then I’ll carry on.”
“My addiction is snooker now, but I don’t just want to play, I want to compete. I have that dying ambition, not necessarily to win the world championship but to get up there and give it one more big shot.”
On qualifying:
“All the other guys in qualifying are right up for beating me,”
“For many of them this is the biggest match they’ll ever have, so they bring their A game every time. They also bring their families: we play in very small cubicles with room for 30 spectators, so that usually means my friend and driver plus 28 of the other guy’s friends and family. If I don’t get myself out of there (qualifying] this year I might just go off and play golf.”
On his past:
“I was compulsive,”
“In one day it would be dogs, then horses, then cards, then casinos. I was a binge gambler and I only stopped when I went skint, which I did a few times.”
“When I was drinking I’d only go to bed when the laughing stopped but the problem was that I always had such a good time that the laughing went on all night. I’d find places that gangsters couldn’t get to open. I had that knack of getting landlords and nightclub owners to open or to stay open. It was carnage but I had a good time.”
On his regrets:
“Of course I wish I’d done things differently, but you can’t go back and change things to the way you wanted them to turn out. Then again if I’d been a bit more focused then maybe I’d have put my cue away six or seven years ago, like Stephen Hendry did. But I’ve got no complaints: I’ve had a fantastic life, I’ve met fantastic people, and I like to think I’ll be remembered.”