Champions, Memories and a Menu Fit for a King: Sheffield's World Champions Dinner Returns
A Night to Remember at the Radisson Blu
Imagine sitting at a dinner table and glancing to your left to find Stephen Hendry, the man who redefined what it meant to dominate snooker, quietly nursing a glass of something fine. To your right, Steve Davis — six world titles, a career spanning decades, a man whose name became shorthand for excellence in the 1980s. Across the table, the reigning champion, Zhao Xintong, the young man from China who walked out of the Crucible last May carrying the weight of history on his shoulders and wearing it beautifully. This was Thursday evening at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sheffield, and it was, by any measure, a rather extraordinary room.
WPBSA Players staged the second annual World Champions Dinner, bringing together eleven former Crucible kings just days before the greatest tournament in the sport swings into life once more. It is an event modelled deliberately on the Champions Dinner held every year since 1952 at Augusta National ahead of the Masters — that storied golf tradition where past winners gather quietly, away from the cameras and the crowds, to mark what they have achieved and what the week ahead represents. Snooker, a sport with its own deep well of ceremony and history, has taken that idea and made it its own.
Zhao's Menu and a Moment in History
At the centre of Thursday's occasion sat Zhao Xintong himself, who begins his title defence on Saturday when he faces Liam Highfield in the first round. Twelve months ago, Zhao made history by becoming the first player from China ever to be crowned world champion — a moment that sent shockwaves of excitement through a global fanbase and opened a new chapter for the sport. In a touch that felt both personal and fitting, this year's three-course menu was inspired by Zhao's achievement, a culinary nod to the cultural milestone he represents.
Each of the champions in attendance received a unique black velvet 'Champions Jacket' — designed by McCann Bespoke in London — a keepsake that mirrors the spirit of Augusta's famous green jacket, tangible and permanent, something to hold long after the applause has faded. It is a detail that speaks to how seriously WPBSA Players are taking the cultivation of this tradition.
Raising a Glass to John Virgo
Not every element of the evening was celebratory in the straightforward sense. A toast was led by Ken Doherty — the 1997 world champion whose emotional Crucible journey remains one of the sport's most cherished stories — in honour of the late John Virgo and all the departed champions who have helped shape snooker into what it is today. Virgo, the larger-than-life broadcaster and former professional who entertained generations of fans both at the table and on television, passed away earlier this year, and his absence was clearly felt among those gathered.
Shaun Murphy, who lifted the trophy in 2005, spoke with characteristic warmth about the evening's dual nature. "It was a great pleasure to attend the second official Champions Dinner and spend time with fellow champions past and present," he said. "Especially on a day like today when we gathered earlier in the day to honour our late friend and colleague John Virgo, events like tonight remind us to cherish these special occasions all the more." It was a sentiment that hung over the room — the bittersweet awareness that sporting greatness is fleeting, that the men who came before deserve to be remembered, and that these evenings are as much about gratitude as they are about glory.
Legends, Stories and Something Worth Preserving
Neil Robertson, the 2010 world champion and one of the most naturally gifted players the game has ever produced, was characteristically direct in his assessment. "It was an awesome evening and a privilege to spend time with legends of the game and hearing their endless stories," he said. You get the sense that in a room containing Hendry's seven world titles, Davis's six, and the accumulated wisdom of champions from across five decades, the stories would indeed be endless — and worth every minute.
There is something quietly important about what WPBSA Players are building here. Snooker has always had its history — the ghosts of Alex Higgins and Ray Reardon are never far from the Crucible's famous auditorium — but a formal tradition that gathers its champions together, honours its past, and welcomes its present feels like the sport maturing in exactly the right way. Only in its second year, the World Champions Dinner already has the texture of something that will one day be spoken about with the same reverence as the tournament itself.
Come Saturday, Zhao Xintong will walk out under those famous lights again, cue in hand, defending a title that changed snooker's story. But on Thursday night, he was simply one champion among many — and that, somehow, felt just as special.
