Crowds to mourn snooker star Higgins

Friends, family and sports stars are expected to attend a thanksgiving service today for snooker star Alex Higgins.

St Anne’s Church of Ireland Cathedral will be packed with former colleagues and friends of the twice world champion. Jimmy White will be among the players paying their final farewells to the “Hurricane”.

Higgins, 61, was found in bed at his flat in Belfast’s Sandy Row area last month. It is believed he had been dead several days after a long battle with throat cancer.

The funeral cortege will wind its way through Belfast city centre from the family home pausing at his birthplace in the south of the city. Much of Belfast will be closed off and large crowds are expected.

They will pay their respects to a former champion considered to be one of the finest snooker players of all time.

Taking up the sport at the age of 11, he won the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland amateur championships in 1968.

After turning professional he became the youngest World Championship winner at his first attempt, beating John Spencer in 1972. The record was eventually beaten when 21-year-old Stephen Hendry claimed the trophy in 1990.

Higgins claimed the title for a second time in 1982.

A controversial figure, Higgins was banned from five tournaments and fined £12,000 in 1986 when he headbutted UK Championship tournament director Paul Hatherell.

In 1990 Higgins was banned for the rest of the season after he punched a tournament director at the World Championship.

But despite his numerous fights and rows with referees, he continued to play the game regularly and appeared at the Irish Professional Championship in 2005 and 2006.

He inspired a generation of players to take up the game, with his influence seen in the style of later crowd favourites such as White and Ronnie O’Sullivan.