It’s been almost 12 years since snooker legend Alex Higgins tragically passed away penniless in Belfast. The Hurricane was undoubtedly one of the most colourful, charismatic, and complicated characters in British sports history.
His nickname is fitting: a rapidly rotating storm of strong winds, thunder and lightening amid heavy rain that strikes fear as it approaches and leaves destruction in its wake. Hurricanes rotate in circles, imitating the cyclical nature of Higgins and his demons throughout his controversial career.
Higgins was an unpredictable personality who firmly established himself as one of snooker’s greatest characters, but this same persona robbed him of becoming one of the sport’s best players. Such a description implies how Higgins was very much a flawed genius, whose tormented soul could never separate his explosive inhibitions from his play with a cue in-hand.
