When
remembering Bill it will be hard not to think of him without
a pint of lager in his hand but it is with a cue in his
hand he should be thought of most. He was a fine player
with an admirable cue action. Bill was a big guy but cue
power is more than brute force and his timing was impeccable.
Bills
problems have been well documented and sadly that is why
he never achieved his full potential, however, despite them
he managed to become number eight in the world, under the
circumstances a remarkable achievement indeed.
I
was on the board of the WPBSA when Bill had his disciplinary
hearing. Following his Doctor's advice, Bill was taking
Beta-Blockers, a far healthier alternative to the thirty
pints of lager he would consume daily during the World Championships.
Unfortunately, this drug was on the International Olympic
Committee's list of banned substances.
Bill
Werbeniuk tried to make a stand and carried on taking Beta=Blockers
whilst playing, but as you all know, you can't beat the
system and eventually he was fined and suspended from playing.
I think to this day he was unfairly treated by the game,
it was not the games fault but rather the definition of
what a drug is. Are Beta-Blockers a performance enhancing
or a performance enabling drug?
In
Bills case, I think it was the latter but no amount of arguing
to change the drug list helped and it was decided to go
with the IOC list, the main reason presented was that snooker
could, in the future, become an Olympic sport.
My
feelings on the subject are that if a Doctor prescribes
you a drug for health reasons, you should be allowed to
continue with your job, in any other career you would be
allowed to - but obviously not sport!
I
said earlier that you always think of Bill with a pint in
his hand and that is how I will always remember him, particularly
at a tournament many years ago. Bill was sitting in the
players lounge when an official came to inform him that
the practice table was free. To think of Bill going off
to practice with his cue in one hand and a bucket of ice
containing six cans of lager will always put a smile on
my face, as his name will always remind me of a larger than
life character who played the game against all the odds.
