Snooker fan attends every session of Sheffield World Championships

For 15 days in a row Jennie Bankcroft has watched on as snooker’s top players go head to head in the World Championships at Sheffield’s Crucible theatre.

But, having won a competition to attend every session of the tournament, is the 37-year-old from Irvine starting to go snooker loopy?

“At first, I was like ‘is it a joke?’ I had that moment of ‘is it a hoax? this isn’t real’ but I was over the moon, I was thrilled. I don’t win things normally so it was amazing,” she says.

“Thankfully the seats at the Crucible are quite comfortable, but they’re not designed to be sat in for eight hours a day. It’s been a little bit hard on the back and the knees. Especially approaching 40, there’s a lot of creaks, a lot of cracks.”

Ms Bankcroft first got into snooker as a child, watching alongside her dad, grandma and brothers.

Then, after a hiatus from the sport as a teenager, the 2008 match between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter drew her back in.

That year, O’Sullivan beat Carter 18-8 to take his third World Championship Crown.

To be able to see every frame of every match, Ms Bankcroft has been sat in the middle of the Crucible, turning her head back and forth between tables – so she’s thankful the championships are now down to just one game.

“It’s easier on the brain,” she says. “Because, with the idea being you watch every match, every frame, I’ve been able to see both tables, so it’s been a bit like Wimbledon. Which is fun, but I couldn’t keep track on who was on a deciding frame, who is winning, so it’s nice now it’s calmer.”

And, while the rest of Sheffield has been enjoying unseasonably warm weather, she has seen very little of it.

“It has been weird, the last few days, where it’s been so sunny outside and I have been stuck inside having to put my jacket on because the air conditioning gets too cold.

“But it’s not been too bad. It’s not going to stunt my growth at this point. I’ve not got rickets,” she says.

Much like Wimbledon, snooker is famous for its quiet, hushed audiences, meaning at times Ms Bankcroft has had to stay silent for hours at a time.

“People who know me will be surprised at how easy it’s been to stay quiet,” she says.

“I’m usually quite loud. I’ve become really sensitive to noise though, because as soon as someone rustles or whispers I’m like ‘shhh shut up’ and get angry. So I might need some noise therapy afterwards.”

Ms Bankcroft went into the tournament hoping for a win for Mark Selby – her favourite player – but unfortunately he went out of the championships in the first round.

“I was very sad when he went out in the first round, I cried,” she says.

“I met the guy who beat him, Ben Woollaston, the other day and he was really sweet.

“He stopped for a picture and I said to him ‘I forgive you, I was very angry with you for beating Selby’ and he said ‘everyone was’.

“Selby is pretty easy on the eye and he’s such an interesting player to me because he can bash in the balls and make centuries.

“People say he’s slow but he can be very fast but then he’s got this amazing tactical brain. Just watching that is the magic of snooker.”

This year’s tournament has been overshadowed by the announcement from Barry Hearn that the competition could leave Sheffield.

So, after spending almost three weeks in the city, how would Ms Bankcroft, who runs a snooker podcast called Wine Rack, feel if it left and she had to go elsewhere?

“Awful. It would be the death of it,” she says. “It would be the worst idea in the world.

“I understand where they’re coming from that they think ticket sales are the be all and end all but there are other ways to generate revenue that they’ve not thought about. It’s that lack of imagination that would kill off snooker.

“The Crucible is synonymous with snooker. It’s like Wimbledon or Lords. So to take it away from here would be the biggest mistake.

“It is small but because of that it makes life harder for the players. It’s making their job more difficult because they’re under so much more scrutiny.

“When you’re talking about the pinnacle of any sport that should be the hardest things that you do. It should be the toughest not the biggest and that’s what it is here.

“It’s a fantastic place for live snooker. There’s nothing like this place, so while it is here, if you get the chance, take it.”