THE FORGOTTEN WORLD CHAMPION (original) (raw)

The tournament sponsors, Betfred, have had t-shirts produced bearing the image of every world champion since the tournament started in 1927.

Or rather, every world champion but one.

Missing is Horace Lindrum, the 1952 champion.

If Neil Robertson does win the title this year he will not be the first Australian to have his name engraved on the famous old silver trophy.

But Lindrum’s victory is to this day controversial. It came about because of a disagreement between the players and the then governing body that led to all the leading cuemen of the time boycotting the official World Championship to instead play in a World Matchplay Championship won by Fred Davis.

Lindrum thus played Clark McConachy, a player well past his best, for the ‘official’ title.

This would be like Robertson playing, for example, Tony Knowles for this year’s title when all the other top players had their own event.

For this reason, many refuse to acknowledge Lindrum’s victory.

However, his name is on the trophy. When I raised the issue with Joe Johnson, the 1986 world champion, in commentary this week, he said: “If his name’s on the trophy, that means he won it.”