Why fans have never stopped loving Jimmy White - snooker's great survivor and unique character

Jimmy White turned 60 earlier this year. There are players who have won more of the trophies that matter but few who inspire such a timeless devotion. Buffeted by the winds of life and sport but still standing, snooker’s great survivor is sure of a full-throated roar of approval when he enters the arena at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall this week.

Win or lose, his loyal support base will be cheering on every shot. Ad White was a fantastically exciting new kid on the baize when he joined the circuit as a teenager four decades ago and is now snooker’s oldest professional. If he beats Luca Brecel in the Northern Ireland Open on Tuesday, he will become the first 60-something to reach the last 32 of a ranking event in 29 years.

Northern Ireland Open‘I honestly believe he’s got it in him’ – Allen backed to win world title in future2 HOURS AGO The last man to do so was Eddie Charlton at the 1993 International Open. At that time, White was in the world’s top four and the reigning UK champion. Every year back then, he went to the Crucible playing well enough to win the sport’s biggest title.

Every year it ended in tears – not his, but those of his army of fans for whom he was more than just a snooker player. They loved him like family. They still do.

James Warren White is a Tooting boy. He played truant so often from school that he eventually came to an arrangement with his headmaster that, as long as they knew he was safe in the snooker club, he could skip lessons. Talent poured from him.

Snooker was a rather staid game at the time but, like his great hero and friend Alex Higgins, White had something special. He did not so much make the cue ball talk as get it to recite poetry. He won the English amateur championship at 16 and the