Modern snooker‘s pristine image is a long way from the heyday of the sport – when it was played in smoke-filled rooms, with players who almost always had a pint within touching distance.
Nobody encapsulated the era more than Bill Werbeniuk, a four time World Championship quarter-finalist – but a man who was better known for his heavy drinking and chain-smoking whilst playing than for his incredible exploits with a cue in hand. Big Bill, as the 20 stone Canadian was known throughout the game, famously once downed an incredible 76 cans of lager during a match – and then went on to continue drinking for another seven hours into the night.
Werbeniuk’s remarkable drinking ability was because he suffered from hypoglycaemia, a condition which enabled his body to burn off sugar and alcohol exceptionally quickly. In his prime Big Bill would polish off at least six pints of lager before a match, a pint per frame during it, and then usually had time for a few more with friends or rivals afterwards. As his career progressed he ballooned in weight however as he decided that alcohol was the best way to control the pronounced tremor he developed in his cue arm – and his story, which saw him forced to retire due to the medication he was taking, has a tragic ending.
Who was Bill Werbeniuk?
Born in Canada on January 14, 1947 Werbeniuk had an unconventional childhood, with his father known to have committed armed robberies and sold drugs. His dad owned a snooker club called Pop’s Billiards meaning that Bill took up the sport at a young age and spent time in his childhood travelling with 1980 World Champion Cliff Thorburn. The two players would go on to become rivals, with Bill winning the North American Amateur Championship against Thornburn in 1973. From there he became a well known face in one of snooker’s golden eras – losing the 1983 Lada Classic to Steve Davis a year after being part of the victorious Canadian team in the 1982 World Cup.
What was his ‘pot of the century’?
Whilst he was better known for his drinking exploits, Werbeniuk was an incredibly talented snooker player – with one of his shots was described as ‘pot of the century’ by legendary BBC commentator Ted Lowe. The Daily Express reported that, in a match against Joe Johnson, Werbeniuk was left with the cue ball at the top of the table and the majority of the reds towards the bottom.
He chipped the cue ball over the red, hit another red and sent that one into the bottom corner to a raucous applause inside the arena. Werbeniuk himself appeared surprised that he pulled off the shot, perhaps hinting that it was indeed a fluke, but others have argued that it should have been called a foul.
The cue ball jumped over the object ball, which is not allowed in snooker, but Werbeniuk was not penalised and instead the big-drinking snooker star dazzled those in attendance with a once-in-a-lifetime pot.
How much did Bill Werbeniuk drink?
Rivals have said that Big Bill would always head off practice with a cue in one hand and six pack of cans in the other, and in the 1970s whilst touring Australia he was challenged to a drinking competition by Scotland’s Eddie Sinclair. The Glasgow man passed out after 42 pints, with Bill said to have celebrated his victory by walking into the bar and asking for ‘a proper drink’. Before a match he was rumoured to sink 10 pints to settle his nerves, whilst after his last professional match in 1990 he told the BBC: “I’ve had 24 pints of extra strong lager and eight double vodkas and I’m still not drunk.”
What happened to Bill Werbeniuk after he retired?
Werbeniuk’s story took a tragic twist when he was forced to retire from the game as a result of taking the banned substance Inderal, a beta blocker used to deal with the impact years of heavy drinking had taken on his heart. He continued to compete right up until 1992, paying fines for using the drug, until he hung up his cue as rules on drugs classed as being performance enhancing were tightened.
With his career over Big Bill disappeared off the radar, returning to Canada and livingwith his mum and sister – cutting all ties with the sport he had once loved, and living on disability benefits.
What was Bill Werbeniuk’s cause of death?
Werbeniuk died at the age of just 56 on January 20 2003 from heart failure, after spending much of the final three years of his life in hospital.