1980 World Snooker Championship - Tournament Summary

Tournament Summary

• Tony Meo, Cliff Wilson and Ray Edmonds made their Crucible debuts, however they lost in the first round 9–10 against Alex Higgins, 6–10 against Doug Mountjoy and 5–10 David Taylor respectively. John Pulman who had made his last appearance at the World Championship, but lost 5–10 against Canadian Jim Wych.
• The championship extended the players who played the Crucible from 16 to 24 with the top eight players going automatically round 2.
• To accommodate these eight extra matches, the frames in each match were also revamped. The first round went to 19 frames, the second and quarter-finals to 25, the semi-finals to 31 and the final to 35 frames. The format still continues today except for the semi-final, which became a 33-frame match in 1997.
• The coverage of the final was interrupted by coverage of the Iranian Embassy Siege, as the BBC took the snooker off the air to bring live coverage about the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy in London.
• John Street refereed the final.