Miss rule and duration of frames in 70s and 80s

[jacques27]

I've just read Steve Davis' autobiography 'Interesting' and in it he says that safety play and frames went on a lot longer back then due to the how the miss rule was interpreted back then. Not being old enough to remember those times, can anyone tell me what the rule was and how it increased the time a frame took?

[The Statman]

The Miss rule until 1995 was much more akin to accusing a player of "deliberate" foul, rather than "not making best effort", so the referee would essentially be accusing the player of cheating.

The Rule was therefore enacted far more rarely - just watch some of the early/middle parts of the 1985 decider.

I think his meaning in regards to frames taking longer, is that if you could make a 'reasonable non-attempt' which you thought wouldn't be put back for another go, then you got your safe result. So the next player far less often had any chance made from a snooker.

[jacques27]

Thanks for the reply. That seems to make sense. There must have been a lot of players who perfected 'the professional foul' in those days.