JOE PAYS TRIBUTE TO 'ICON' HIGGINS

Joe Meara described 'Hurricane' as an "icon" who inspired him to pick up a cue and take up the sport.

Higgins died after a battle with throat cancer and long term addiction to alcohol, but the Banbridge man said that he should be remembered for what he did on the snooker table, rather than his flaws.

"I can still remember him winning his world titles," said Mr Meara. "He was the reason why I watched snooker and why I got into the sport.

"Snooker's big name back then was Steve Davis but everybody wanted Alex to beat him.

"He played in some classic games and helped to revolutionise snooker from what was seen as a boring game into something that everyone wanted to watch."

Joe played in a few tournaments with Higgins and spoke of his memories of the man who won World Titles in 1972 and 1982.

"When I played in the same tournaments as him he was in his mid-fifties but while he was still past his best there were still flashes of the genius he had," he said.

"Whenever people saw Alex Higgins' name on the billing for an event the crowds always came out to see him.

"I was involved once in an exhibition with Alex, Jimmy White and Alex Judge and everyone was there to see Hurricane."

He added, "He was an eccentric man. The players and people he knew would have got on very well with him but he could have been a bit rude to people he didn't know."

Drawing comparisons to the death of George Best, Joe said, "There were a lot of similarities between the two - they were both at the top of their game and won top honours but they were both flawed. They will forever be legends.

"Alex was a forerunner of snooker and he was the reason why I started playing snooker - I never hit the same heights as he did but he was an inspiration."