The History Of Snooker

What is this crazy game that we’re all striving to master instead of going out and playing football or going round town and pestering women telling them just how good we are at just about everything that’s ever been invented?

In fact telling them that ‘yeah, I invented that!’.  That’s more like it.

Where did this silly game come from, who started it all off and why?

Imagine yourself in the 16^th Century. Not easy I tell you, unless you're on LCD or a substitute.

You’re in the huge lush garden of some aristocrat. Well trespassing more like. You're sitting on the lawn wondering when the hell is someone going to invent the internet, or SKY perhaps or even just a beer garden would do. You’re bored aren’t you? Well you should be. In your boredom you start kicking around the garden and you decide you need something to do. You think hmmmmm I know some of my upper class chums like to knock the odd ball through some hoops on the lawn. Maybe even challenge each other to some contests to show off in front of our brides-to-be.

Croquet your thinking? Well yes, by Jeeves you’re right.

Guess what, we’re not playing snooker. We’re playing some sort of deformed maniacal indoor croquet game on a table. I told you we were crazy didn’t I. Mind you I've some stances of some players in our league and I reckon they suit croquet better tahn snooker.

How the hell does snooker derive from Croquet?

 The Beginning (No, I mean the very, very beginning!)

 Now we all know Croquet was a very popular game in the 1500’s don’t we? Don't we? Well you do now.

One thing we do know though is that the British weather ain’t all that’s it’s cracked up to be. So what happens when you want to play Croquet with your posh friends and its raining? Well we go indoors of course. No this aint some kinky sex game.

We need to simulate the lawn though (mind you some tables in our league do still simulate lawns to this day. Good job Glasson's not entered this year).

Croquet on a table covered with green cloth, now we’re getting somewhere.

But how the hell do you stand up and hit stone balls on a table. Ha ha, I’ve an idea. We’ll turn the mace around and use the handle to hit the balls through the hoops. This aint rocket science really is it?

But the balls keep falling off the table durrrrr! Righty ‘O’ then, I’ll stick some wooden edges around the side to stop them falling off. I know a good joiner

Wouldn’t it be easier if we just had holes to hit the balls into rather than just through hoops which don’t stick in the table very well? Good idea my lord.

Hey, guess what? This is starting to look very familiar now.

These stone balls are hard and they break the sticks we’re using to hit them with. OK then we’ll have wooden balls.

The Beginning. (Yes, the real beginning this time).

Snooker is a mixture of several games really, but we know that the game right at the top of the family tree is Croquet but it soon developed into a game that is still played in its same form today, Billiards.

In early billiards history, the game was played with an upright target stick behind a hoop, like the stake in croquet. Eventually the hoop and stick were phased out and pockets were added.

The word "billiards" is believed to come from either the French terms "billart", which means stick, or "bille" which means ball.

It seems France was the first country in billiards history to embrace the game in a big way, from the French kings down to the lowest commoner.

Players began to use the narrow end of the mace for shots along the rail, which were difficult to hit with the larger head section. The handle of the mace was called the "queue". This word is believed to be the origin of the modern term "cue". Eventually the queue evolved into just a straight stick without the larger head of a croquet-type mallet.

 Snooker Equipment.

Balls were now made of elephants ivory and not wood. Of course ivory was expensive and so plastics such as celluloid was used but they cracked when hit hard. Today balls are made of a Phenolic Resin. The cues were now shaped more like cues of today. In 1823 leather was used on the tip of the cue for more ball control and even chalk was used as an aid. American’s who took on the game of Pool as their preferred cue sport termed the spin created by this as ‘English’ as it was the English who invented this with the addition of leather tips.

Even the tables were improving. Even though the beds were still made of wood, green felt was used on both the table and the sides. Today the cloth is 100% wool and is specially made for snooker and pool tables and has no other commercial use at all.

The sides were now being covered using cork to cushion the balls when they hit the sides. Cork later being replaced by leather and then by rubber as time went on. Hence the term ‘cushions’.

The vulcanising of rubber wasn’t invented until the mid 19^th Century but a master Billiards Table builder called John Thurston revolutionised the game by fitting vulcanised rubber onto cushions to improve the response. Normal rubber is only pliant above room temperature and so before this introduction players had to heat up the cushions before play.

Table sizes were varied. Tables were built to fit the rooms that they would be used in and no standard size was used.

This was until 1892 when the Billiards Association decided that 12’ x 6' would be the standard size. This was great for manufacturer’s of tables as now slate was beginning to be used as the beds and slate is expensive so having all the slates cut the same size was cost effective even though slate had been used for some tables since 1835.

Early Variations Of Snooker

As Billiards was so popular then so various versions of it became apparent as people re-invented their own versions of the game. Even today we have various versions of snooker being re-created all the time.

Pyramid Pool was where ten red balls were placed in a Pyramid shape like today at one end of the table. Two players would try to pot as many of these red balls as possible. This could be played by a number of players at the same time and if more players were added then more reds were added and so becoming 15 reds eventually. Also each player would have his own cue ball and so they had to be either coloured or numbered to differentiate them.

It was very common in the British Army where in the mess hall the soldiers would relax with a game of Pyramid Pool or ‘Shell Out’ as they would call it.

Life Pool evolved from Pyramid Pool. Players would have their own coloured cue ball to hit the reds with and scored 1 point for potting reds but if a player potted an opponent’s coloured cue ball then they would lose a life. By using coloured balls the game was taking on the shape of today’s game of snooker.

Black Pool was the next version created. Black Pool was similar to pyramid pool, except that the black ball from Life Pool was added to the game and could be potted for more points. The game really was beginning to resemble snooker in its current form, though the blue and brown balls were not used as yet, there were yellow, green, pink and now black balls with each ball having its own point’s value if potted. Blue and Brown were to be added later on.

 19^th Century Snooker

 The name “Snooker” was applied to the game.

This was given by Neville Chamberlain in Woolwich in the early 1870’s when a young 18 year old cadet played him and beat him but having never played the game before. The term ‘snooker’ was military slang and referred to someone who was a rookie or had beginners luck and so was called ‘A Regular Snooker’. So when this young cadet was to beat him he had been well and truly ‘snookered’. This was the term used when a player inadvertently made it impossible for his opponent to strike the object ball head on because another ball was in the way, hence the term ‘A Snooker’.

By the end of 1882 ‘The Rules Of Snooker’ had been drafted stating that a red should be potted before attempting to pot a coloured ball and to continue so until all the balls have been potted. Very crude, but the basics of the games rules today. It allocated points to the different coloured balls and those points have remained the same up until present day snooker.

20^th Century Snooker – (The Joe Davis Era)

Snooker eventually took over from English Billiards as the dominant cue sport in the 1930’s when the legendary Joe Davis actively promoted the game throughout the World.

The first official competitions, the English Amateur Championships, took place in 1916. In 1927, Joe Davis helped to establish the first Professional World Championship of snooker. Joe Davis won and took home the prize of £6.10. At that time, the standard of play was not very high considering that the highest break of that tournament was just 60. By the 1930s, Snooker was becoming one of the most popular cue sports.

Joe Davis continued to dominate the era, winning every World Championship until his retirement in 1946. Having said this, the ruling back then that the defending champion received a bye into the final so the other players were battling it out for a shoot-out with the defending champion.

Between 1952 and 1957, a dispute arose between the games' governing bodies, The Control Council and the Billiards Association. As a result, only two people participated in the official World Championship, although an unofficial one was organized. At the time, the winner of the unofficial tournament was generally considered the best player in the world. During this time frame Horace Lindrum won the official World Championship. Due to a decline in popularity, there were no world championships between 1958 and 1963.

In order to try and revitalise the popularity of snooker Joe Davis invented Snooker Plus.

He decided to add an orange ball between the pink and blue valued at 8 points, and a purple ball between the brown and blue valued at 10 points.

The idea was that this would increase the maximum break from 147 to 210, and so help to attract a greater audience. At the end of the frame after the six normal colours were potted in their usual order, then they were followed by orange and purple. If the frame ends in a tie, then the purple was re-spotted on the black spot.

The new format was introduced to the public on 26 October 1959 at the Burroughes Hall, London during the News of the World Championship. The variation failed to catch on, and the extra colour balls necessary to play the game are not available from any major supplier.

20^th Century Snooker (Pot Black)

 In 1969, the BBC launched the Pot Black tournament, which proved to be very successful in helping put snooker back into public view.

The BBC had just started to broadcast in colour and they were looking for programmes that could exploit this new technology.

It was a non-ranking event and players were invited to play. It was originally a knockout competition but as popularity grew, its format became a round robin event.

Pot Black re-vitalised the game of snooker and introduced many famous players who would go onto win the World Championship.

Its success was its own downfall though and as snooker popularity grew so many more tournaments were created and Pot Black became outdated. It ended in 1986 to return briefly in 1990 but only lasted 3 years.

With money going decimal and the whole of Europe going closer to be becoming metric rather than imperial the size of the snooker table was to change.

An attempt to introduce the ‘metric’ snooker table evolved in 1979 through to the early 80’s.

The blue spot on imperial snooker tables was not exactly in the middle of the table and to correct this snooker tables were adjusted so each half measured 1.75m x 1.75m with the blue being exactly in the middle.

However, even though there was no real problem with this and many manufacturers’ did make and supply a large number of metric tables, it was generally not accepted by players and the standard reverted to the earlier imperial specification.

 Snooker In The 70’s (A new era is born)

There were many developments made to the sport in the 1970’s. its popularity was further increased by its standard of play becoming far greater and also many of the characters in the game.

In 1972, at the age of 23, Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins clinched the first of his 2 World Titles and through a mixture of bravado, charisma and an ability to make headlines became the games first true "rock'n'roll superstar" who helped to popularise the sport in the new age of colour television.

His flair and skill made for excellent viewing and in 1973 The World Snooker Championship was aired for the very first time by the BBC.

This shot the game to new heights and more and more people did not only want to watch the sport but also play the sport.

It was becoming so popular around the world that in 1976 The Snooker & Billiards Association began world rankings and ranking events were now created.

With many faces being on the screen regularly, players soon became stars as well as snooker players. John Spencer, Ray Reardon and Alex Higgins were all superstars in the sport.

The World Championship had previously been held in various venues all over the globe, but in 1977 the tournament moved to The Crucible in Sheffield where it has been played every year since.

 Snooker In The 80’s (The Davies Years)

 The 1980s capitalised on the sport's already growing popularity.

Steve Davis dominated for much of the decade thanks to a smooth technique, all-round game, vast amounts of dedication and PR savvy off the table from his ambitious manager Barry Hearn.

Maverick left-hander Jimmy White came along as a people's champion candidate very much in the mould of his good friend and idol Alex Higgins.

The number of tournaments on the calendar was to increase further as from the 1984/1985 snooker season ITV started to televise three new ranking events in the International, Classic and British Open.

Snooker's finest hour and ultimate peak occurred at the 1985 World Snooker Championship Final as heavy favourite and 8-0 early leader Steve Davis succumbed to an inspired comeback from Northern Ireland veteran Dennis Taylor. The 35th and deciding frame lasted for 68 minutes, and had a nation gripped as Taylor sunk the final black at 12.20am with a record audience of 18.5 million UK TV viewers who tuned in for the nail-biting climax.

The domestic success of Snooker continued to remain strong into the late 1980s. During this time, with the help of Barry Hearn, tournaments were starting to expand globally into Europe, Asia and North America. The 1988 Canadian Masters was the first ranking event to be staged outside the UK.

In December 1988, the invitational Matchplay (featuring the world’s top 12 players) was the first ever professional tournament to have a £100,000 winner's prize.

In the late 1980s, Steve Davis' dominance was starting to be challenged by future World Champion Stephen Hendry.

By the end of the decade, there were more than 200 playing professionals on the circuit, a figure which increased to more than 400 professionals during the 1990s.

A new generation of players came to the fore in the 1990s, most notably Stephen Hendry who went on to dominate for much of the decade. Hendry eclipsed many of Steve Davis' records including most World Championships, most ranking titles and most major titles. Hendry became the youngest ever winner of The World Championship on 29^th April 1990 at the age of 21 Years, 106 days.

Hendry's attacking style and break-building ability often clinched frames in one visit. His style and flair ushered in a new era of player. In 1993, at the age of 17, Ronnie O'Sullivan became the youngest ever winner of a ranking event by beating Hendry himself at the 1993 UK Snooker Championship Final.

Though the standard of snooker continued to rapidly increase, the immense popularity that Snooker enjoyed started to wane. ITV stopped screening ranking events after the 1992 British Open and during this period, much attributed to the economic recession, prize money totals started to stagnate or decrease for events outside the World Championship.

From the mid 1990s onwards, Snooker still enjoyed decent exposure thanks to BBC continuing to televise the major events and the continuation of tobacco sponsorship.

Snooker still had its favourites though and the likes of Jimmy White were one of the most popular viewers’ favourites. Jimmy is probably famous for the number of times he has become a losing finalist at The World Championships. After losing his first final to Steve Davis in 1984 it wasn’t until 1990 that he was to reach the final again. He made the final five years in a row from 1990 to 1995 but was to famously lose all five, one to John Parrot in 1991 and the other four to Stephen Hendry as Hendry was to win five World Championships in a row from 1992 to 1996. A magnificent feat which is still yet to be beaten.

 As snooker drifted into the new century the standards were still increasing at an alarming rate. This was unfortunate in making the game look simple and skill-less. The players were reaching such high standards that viewers were starting to get bored of watching players clean up with considerable ease.

All the players were so good now that any player in the top 16 were good enough to destroy anyone if given the chance. The winners of The World Championship in the 2000’s prove this.

No player won the title twice in a row. In fact from 2000 to 2010 there are 8 different winners of The World Championship. This is exciting for snooker enthusiasts but the public viewers needed something extra, something to make them want to watch.

Things were about to get even worse for snooker. Due to the increasing restrictions or eventual ban on tobacco advertising in sport, Benson and Hedges last sponsored the invitational Masters in 2003 and Embassy's long-standing association with the World Championship concluded after the 2005 tournament.

With cutbacks necessary (due to loss of tobacco funding) and less events, the main tour roster was reduced to 96 professionals for the start of the 2005/2006 season.

Afterwards, the number of events on the circuit started to dwindle. However, since the loss of tobacco sponsorship, the online gaming and gambling industry has stepped in to sponsor numerous events on the snooker calendar. WPBSA chairman Sir Rodney Walker was ousted in a vote of no confidence in December 2009 which cleared the path for long time sports promoter Barry Hearn to attempt to revitalise the sport.

As we move into a new decade we find snooker is getting its second wind.

It has recovered from recession, the loss of sponsorship and the loss of popularity. To do this something had to change, snooker itself needed to become exciting to watch, to play and to follow. But who is going to this?

Barry Hearn was appointed Chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association which was reformed into a rules and regulatory body. In winning a players vote on 2 June 2010 by a margin of 35-29, Hearn also took control of World Snooker Ltd, which is the commercial arm of the sport. A number of new tournaments like the Player Tour Championship and Sky Shootout have been added to calendar. The Grand Prix tournament has been revamped the World Open.

One of the matters most relevant to the ousting of the previous WPBSA board and the return of Barry Hearn was giving the players more playing and earning opportunities. In the 2009/2010 snooker season (pre Hearn) there were 6 ranking tournaments, added with invitational's the number of events on the calendar being at around 15 competitions in total that were open to most professionals. Those players lower down the rankings required second jobs to supplement their income as the game for them had become a part time chore.

In contrast, the provisional calendar for the 2011/2012 season features 9 ranking tournaments, 13 minor ranking events under the Players Tour Championship brand and 7 invitational’s which include the traditional Wembley Masters and the shot clock Premier League.

The calendar increasing to a record breaking 29 official World Snooker events.

The sport is now a full time profession once again.

Format alterations such as Power Snooker and Six Reds also include the very top players, with these types of tournaments added to the mix, there could potentially be 35 events available on the circuit for the 2011/2012 season.

With an expanded tour schedule, it will give players an option to pick and choose their events, similar to the practice in other sports like tennis and golf.

ITV and Sky Sports are seeking to broadcast more coverage of the sport once again.

More tournaments are scheduled to take place in Asia in the coming years.

The current generation of top players remain Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins. In recent years, new global talents have emerged such as Australian Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui from China. Multiple World Snooker Ladies champion Reanne Evans was the first ever female to be granted a place on the main tour for the 2010/2011 snooker season.

The prize money fund for each season currently stands at £5 million ($8 million US dollars). The winner of the sports flagship World Championship collects £250,000 ($400,000 US dollars)

The Future’s bright. The Future’s red, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink & black.