I always remember as an Amateur playing The World Open at
the Cafe Royal London. The then World Champion, Ray Reardon,
to my amazement was in the gents toilet stripped to the
waist having a shave. When he saw the look on my face he
said " There's more to this game than potting balls".
This was never more brought to my mind when I think of Patsy
Fagan. Here was a young Irishman with tons of ability. A
great Amateur, and in his first season as a professional
won the UK Championship in which he beat me in the semi-final.
I suppose the difference then was, there were only a couple
of tournaments a season. The main source of income was on
the exhibition circuit and doing a summer season at the
holiday camps. This proved to be Patsy's downfall.
Being a rather shy person he had problems communicating
with an audience. This was made even worse at the holiday
camps where the tables were not very good. Even for somebody
as talented as him, it was impossible to play well. That's
where you needed to have a bit of fun and involve the spectators.
However his answer to his embarrassment was to have a drink
before he played. Couple this with the fact he had only
just passed his driving test and you had the recipe for
disaster.
After two summers at the camps it was obvious that he was
not happy. His game started to suffer and he had a problem
letting the cue go through when using the rest. The problem
with the rest never left him and in the end forced him to
retire from competitive play. The main reason I blame the
holiday camps was the fact that Patsy had four bad car accidents
during that period. It seemed funny at the time but when
I took over from Patsy on the same holiday circuit, it seemed
every time I went around a sharp bend there was a hole in
a hedge where Patsy had been. As Ray Reardon had put it
years earlier "there's more to this game than potting
balls"
I see Patsy once a year at the Masters in Wembley. He is
in good health and enjoys nothing more than going to Highbury
to see his beloved Arsenal. He doesn't play snooker any
more, but I will always remember him as one of the toughest
opponents I ever played.
