Tributes to Terry Griffiths - a Welsh giant of world snooker - video Dailymotion

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Tributes have been paid to Terry Griffiths - a Welsh giant of world snooker. It was announced on Sunday, that one of Llanelli’s greatest sons Terry Griffiths OBE had sadly passed away. A proud Welshman, Griffiths won the World Championship in 1979 and the Masters in 1980 before completing snooker’s ‘Triple Crown’ in 1982 by winning the UK Championship. He was also crowned BBC Wales Sport’s Personality of the Year in 1979. After retiring as a professional player in 1997, Griffiths turned his hand to coaching and mentored many icons of the game, including Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Ronnie O’Sullivan and many more. He was also a successful snooker commentator and was admired by snooker fans across the world. Carmarthenshire County Council Leader Cllr Darren Price paid tribute, on behalf of the Council. “Terry Griffiths will be remembered as a true snooker legend, whose battles with the likes of Alex Higgins, Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis inspired generations of snooker fans across the world,” he said. “There was no doubting Terry’s pride in his hometown of Llanelli – his amazing accomplishments put Llanelli, Carmarthenshire and Wales on the map. “Whilst working as a commentator and pundit, his strong Llanelli accent was an informative, intelligent and warm expert guide to millions of snooker viewers, whilst his love for the town was evident by his establishing the Terry Griffiths Matchroom in Llanelli during the height of his playing career. “Our deepest condolences are extended to Terry’s family and friends following his passing.” Dennis Taylor, who was beaten by Griffiths in the 1979 final, said he was "one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet". "I managed to see Terry on Saturday, his son Darren brought me in to Llanelli hospital and we did a lot of reminiscing because we go back so far,” said Taylor. ©BBCWales

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00:00he will be very sadly missed and of course that great final in 1979 I mean

00:15his father was so emotional about it and all the families mixed together back at

00:20the hotel afterwards and the lovely story Terry didn't even have a car up

00:24with him and we had to go off with the sponsors for a meal afterwards and

00:28there's me my wife Terry and his wife and in the boot of my car was the World

00:33Championship trophy but it didn't belong to me

00:39Terry Griffiths was admired all over the world he came on the scene and won the

00:46World Championship in 1979 turned pro and then what he's went through the

00:52qualifying rounds and I looked like I was gonna be world champion that year I

00:56led Terry 15-13 and he outplayed me on the the final day of that World

01:01Championship and there's a lovely little story I've told a few times today where

01:07when the final finished the sponsors used to take you out for a meal before

01:12you got back to the hotel to your family because a lot of his family had come up

01:16from South Wales a lot of my family were over from Northern Ireland they were all

01:19mixing together and we couldn't wait to get back to the hotel but Terry didn't

01:24even have a car with him at the time so him and his wife Annette me and my wife

01:28were in my car with the World Championship trophy in the boot of my

01:34car which wasn't coming back to Blackburn it was going to Plymouth so I

01:39had to wait another six years before I got my hands on that trophy but

01:44wonderful player a bit on the mold of Ray Reardon was Terry played the game

01:50similar to Ray and was a great world champion and he was just admired and a

01:56great coach the top players weren't interested in coaching and Terry always

02:01loved coaching and I'm sure a lot of people me included become quite

02:05nostalgic today looking at this extraordinary period for snooker in the

02:101980s and you and Terry were right at the heart of it how did he kind of

02:15compare with the great players like yourself and others at that time very

02:20without doubt was one of the top players of the game and so difficult to beat and

02:25had an awful lot of success in the game and as I say you know in that final or

02:33when he got to the final that look everybody always remembers that about

02:36Terry David Vine interviewed him he said well I'm in the final now you know

02:42everyone says that about about Terry he was just a lovable character

02:48we have some wonderful times going way back you know when the game was really

02:54really popular it still is now but back then you know people like Terry Griffiths

02:59were household names

03:12you

Tributes to Terry Griffiths - a Welsh giant of world snooker

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