Dominic Dale, known for his extrovert nature away from the table but a fierce competitor on the baize, has called time on his 33-year career.
Part of the ‘Class of 92’ as he turned pro in the same year as Ronnie O‘Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams, Dale is one of only 41 players in snooker history to win multiple ranking events. He triumphed at the 1997 Grand Prix and 2007 Shanghai Masters, as well as winning the Shoot Out when it was an invitation event in 2014. Though he has never been ranked among the top 16, the Welshman has enjoyed many other highlights including quarter-final appearances at the Crucible in 2000 and 2014.
But at the age of 53, the player nicknamed the Spaceman has decided he has made his last orbit of snooker’s global circuit.
He explains: “Around four or five years ago I noticed that I had stopped trying to improve. Previously I would often tinker with cues or different practice routines, trying to find a way to get better. But perhaps in your mid or late 40s your mindset changes, you stop experimenting with those things and you just stagnate.
“Around that time, WST introduced a £20,000 guarantee for all tour players, so it made sense for me to keep going. But I was only practising an hour a day, five days a week. That was still enough to survive and hold my own. Then last season I had a lot of good results and I stepped up my practice to more like 15 hours a week. But I found that hard on my body, I suffer with carpal tunnel syndrome from time to time and other various aches and pains expected of a quinquagenarian and my eyes aren’t as good as they once were, so I didn’t want to commit to that amount of practice.
“That led me to the decision that this season would be my last. At my age, the travelling is very tough, and all pros spend lot of time away from home with the constant highs and lows of winning and losing. That can have an effect your relationships and other aspects of your life. So there comes a time when you think ‘how much longer do I want to do this?’
“I don’t want to lose touch with the game. I still want to play in Seniors tournaments and that will give me some enjoyment and excitement of competition.”
Dale will also remain a familiar face on the circuit through his work and a commentator and analyst for TNT Sports and BBC Wales. He first commentated on snooker in 1998 and is renowned for his articulate delivery and the insight he offers from behind the microphone.
“It is something I have really enjoyed for many years,” he said. “It’s a way of being part of big events without the pressure of playing, and it’s a chance to use my expertise on the game to, hopefully, help the viewers enjoy the matches. I’d like that to be the main focus of my career now. I’ve learned a lot over the years from the likes of Clive Everton and David Hendon which hopefully has helped me become a better commentator.
“Away from snooker, I’m determined to keep active and I do a lot of running and walking around where I live in the Cotswolds. I have a strong interest in horology so I’ll spend more time on studying that.
“One thing I will miss is the camaraderie and the terrific respect which exists between the players on the tour. There’s a great respect between players because we have all invested a lot into playing snooker and there are a lot of close friendships. I have always been knowledgeable about cues and for that reason players have come to me for advice or to ask me to put a tip on. Even all-time greats like Jimmy White, John Higgins and Mark Selby have come to me for advice which is very flattering. I idolised Jimmy when I was a child watching snooker so when he asks me for help I am always wide eyed! I even carried out some refurbishment on his cue a few years ago as I have always had a keen interest in antiques and I am a self-taught French polisher and wood finisher.
“I have been very lucky to travel the world and visit some amazing places, for example this season we went to Xi’an in China for the first time and I went to see the famous Terracotta Warriors which was a wonderful experience. The game is in a great place now with so many events around the world and the standard of play is just incredible compared to how it was when I turned pro. I’m glad it has a safe future.”
Dale’s Big Titles
1997 Grand Prix
Ranked 54th in the world at the time, Dale registered a huge shock by going all the way to the title at this event in Bournemouth which was televised live by BBC. He beat Steve Davis and Jimmy White on his way to the final, then stunned another all-time great, John Higgins, by a 9-6 scoreline.
2007 Shanghai Masters
A decade later in China, Dale doubled his tally of ranking titles at the inaugural Shanghai Masters. Again, he took huge scalps in reaching the final, including Ken Doherty and Mark Selby, then came from 6-2 down to beat close friend Ryan Day 10-6. Having dyed his hair peroxide blonde half way through the event, he perfectly complemented that look with a bright pink shirt for the final.
2014 Shoot Out
One of the fastest thinkers on the tour with a natural gift for shot selection, Dale has an excellent record at the Shoot Out. In 2014 in Blackpool, three years before it because a ranking event, he beat Stuart Bingham in the final and thrilled the crowd with his skill on the table and affinity with the fans.
Dale’s Stand Out Crucible Moments
Making a Maltese Cross
Dale made his Crucible debut in 1997 and – unlike many greats who have lost their first match at the Theatre of Dreams -he won 10-9 in an epic battle with Tony Drago.
“Because it was my first time at the Crucible, I didn’t know if the atmosphere would get the better of me. I had watched the World Championship for so many years on television. The build-up is different to any other tournament, there is so much anticipation. The arena feels very confined and there is a high expectation on you to play well and embrace the occasion. It can be intimidating, and if things go against you, the atmosphere hits you like an inferno. Tony was one of the toughest opponents I could have faced because he was well established in the top 16 at the time, an inspirational player, and he can win frames so quickly that you don’t have time to settle into the match. I managed to compete but when I was 9-8 down it looked as if I would lose because Tony was clearing up the colours. He left himself a little high on the final black but as he reached over the table I couldn’t see the shot because his body was in the way. I just heard the ‘oohs’ from the crowd and realised he had missed. The match on the other table had finished, and his immediate reaction was to slam his cue down on the bed of the other table. He left me a horrible black to a centre pocket, but I somehow potted it for 9-9. In the decider we were both very nervous but I came out on top. Years later I saw a video of that match and when Tony slammed his cue on the table, and with the TV cameras fixed upon him, you could clearly see him mouthing the words “How the **** did I miss that black!?”
Sailing Away Against David Gray
In 2000, Dale enjoyed an astonishing 13-1 second round victory over David Gray. This remains a joint record for a last 16 tie, equalled on only four other occasions.
“There were times when I played my best snooker at the Crucible and this was one of them. The funny thing is that I should have won the only frame I lost – the reds were everywhere but I tried to pinch the pocket on the opening red, missed it and David made an 82. He had beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-9 in the opening round, that was a massive shock but he was an extremely solid player, so to beat him by such a wide margin was one of my best ever wins. Last year I played at the Crucible for the first time in ten years, lost 10-1 to Kyren Wilson and I was really surprised by how much I struggled with the occasion. It’s a unique place because the atmosphere either brings the best or the worst out of you, nowhere else is quite like that.”
So Close to Grounding The Hawk
On his second quarter-final appearance in 2014, Dale was 11-5 down to Barry Hawkins, but launched an incredible fight back, winning seven frames in a row to lead 12-11. However, Hawkins finished with a brace of frame winning breaks to win 13-12.
“When you are that far behind, you have to break it down into small objectives and think, ‘what can I do to put my opponent under pressure’? Sometimes just winning one or two frames can change the whole feel of the match. I played well from 11-5 although Barry did have chances, he just couldn’t score. Once I was 12-11 ahead, I just made a couple of small safety errors and Barry made two very good breaks.”
Funny stories have been a theme of Dale’s life in snooker, here are just a handful…
In 2000, Dale was drawn against Jimmy White in the first round at the Crucible. But his preparation and the match itself didn’t go to plan…
“A week or so before going to Sheffield I went to visit a sick teenager in hospital who loved snooker. He didn’t want his food and suggested I ate it instead. The next day I came down with food poisoning and I couldn’t get out of bed. So I barely practised before the match and I played awfully. After losing 10-2, I went back to my dressing room. I had been thinking about changing cues, so I decided to break mine by leaning it against the wall and snapping it with a martial arts kick. I threw the pieces out of the window on to the grassy verge. Years later, a woman came up to me at a tournament and said she had picked the pieces up and still had them. I wish now I had kept the cue, it would have been worth a lot.”
Dale’s journey from Cardiff to York for the 2001 UK Championship was not quite ‘as the crow flies’…
“I set off around 4pm and I was driving along, happily singing away to a Franco Corelli CD. I must have driven up the M5 and then onto the M40 because after a couple of hours I saw a sign for Banbury, then it hit me that I was going back towards London instead of heading north. Back then there was no Sat Nav, I only had a map and I’m not the best at orientation. Eventually I saw a sign for Reading so I followed that and found myself on the M4 heading west back towards Cardiff. I had travelled 276 miles and I was further away than I started. At first, I thought I’d go home and set out the next day, but when I got towards Cardiff I decided to keep going and try to make it to York and to make sure I went the right way this time. I eventually got to York at 4am having driven well over 500 miles. So, these days, when Neil Robertson makes a mistake getting to a tournament, I’m the last person who should make fun of him.”
A fan of operatic singing, Dale broke into a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way during a press conference after winning the Shanghai Masters.
“I enjoyed that because I was singing a lot at the time and I was able to produce my best baritone voice. What people don’t realise is that signing is like gym work, if you don’t do it for a while, the muscles reduce and in singing terms, the voice returns to a more untrained state. The technique is still there, but the voice is not. When Rachel Casey or Jimmy White ask me to sing in the Eurosport studio, I hate it. I can only manage a few bars. I don’t sing much at home because I live in an apartment building, I doubt the neighbours would enjoy it.”