I go to Crucible’s World Snooker finals every year – what you don’t see on TV | Other | Sport

The World Snooker Championship final is just hours away now – but the sport plays out very differently in person compared to the BBC’s TV coverage, according to a superfan who goes every year.

Christian Evans, 33, from Sheffield, has not missed a single Championship at the hallowed home of snooker, the Crucible, since 2007.

The snooker-loving railway engineer and dad of three also hangs around at the players’ entrance after every match and has racked up a collection of selfies and signatures from big-name players.

But for those watching at home, Christian says the experience in person is radically different to how it’s framed on the BBC.

He told the Express: “I suppose the main thing you experience from watching inside the auditorium is the sense of atmosphere. From the very moment you step inside the building, you get a sense of the weight of history from all the iconic moments from the last 50 years.

“The whole place is buzzing with excited chatter before the play even begins.

“When play does start, you can feel the atmosphere in the room, it becomes this almost tangible being, you can hear people breathing, little gasps and ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ and sharp intakes of breath when something happens on the table.

“Things like that aren’t picked up by the microphones but it all adds to the unique atmosphere only the crucible can produce. All the players talk about ‘the pressure of the Crucible’ and it all starts with the buzz of feeling from the crowd, even in complete silence.

“The crowd are allowed earpieces to listen to the commentary, and one of the little noises you don’t pick up on TV is the clicks of people setting them just as play begins.”

Christian added that the cameras are one of the hidden secrets that, ironically, are rarely seen on TV.

He said: “When you’re watching on TV, it doesn’t give you a sense of where the cameras actually are, they’re so close to the table and the play that the players are virtually tripping over the cameras, operated by cameramen, with the cameras on special tripods with 3 wheels, silently gliding around the table to provide the best angles of the play you see from home. But to see how it’s done with your own eyes is something amazing, and if you’re not used to it, you can end up just watching the cameras wheeling around the table!”

In March, it was confirmed that snooker will stay at the Crucible until at least 2045, with an option to extend to 2050, with a long-term deal being signed.

Plans are being developed to transform the Crucible, including up to 500 additional seats in an ‘in the round’ configuration – news which was welcomed by superfans like Christian – not just because he lives nearby.

He added: “In my opinion, there’s no venue in the world like the Crucible, if you move the world championship, you can’t take that sense of history, atmosphere and unique pressure that only the Crucible can give you, and if you do ever experience the buzz of the crucible first hand, then I don’t see how anyone could ever want the world championship to be played anywhere else.”

On Saturday night, Shaun Murphy twice overturned a two-frame deficit in the final session to beat John Higgins 17-15 and seal his place in his fifth World Snooker Championship final.

Murphy was forced to dredge up his best form to see off the 50-year-old Scot in a titanic tussle that looked nailed-on for a decider until Higgins fluffed a black on a break of 50.

Higgins’ miss gave Murphy a chance and despite a rare miss with the rest he seized on a second chance to clear to black and give himself a shot at a first title since his solitary win in 2005.