History of the Sport

Joe Davis OBE 1901-1978

The biggest individual contribution to snooker came from Joe Davis and his brother Fred who dominated the game for over 50 years between them and were instrumental in the games transition from a grand aristocratic game to a working class pastime. Joe won 15 consecutive world championships and Fred won 8 world championships. There was only a handful of decent players but the standard was relatively low the highest break in 1922 being 33, Joes game developed to a point where he made a 147 maximum break which was recognised in 1957, and was obviously way ahead of his time in terms of skills and techniques. Fred was younger than Joe by 12 years and was unlucky not to have had his name highlighted in snooker history like his brothers. Fred came very close to beating Joe on a number of occasions especially when you consider that three of there finals came down to the final frame, Joe winning them all one 35-34 and some which spanned 80+ frames with Joe the victor.

With the introduction of pot Black on TV in the 1960's the game began to get some appeal and Riley leisure began implementing some tables in clubs for commercial use even though the game had not caught on. Ray Reardon and John Spencer emerged in the 1970's along with Dennis Taylor and others that gave the game a boost. The biggest boost undoubtedly coming from the introduction of colour TV which made snooker an overnight sensation. Players became national heroes and there was a large demand for tables at the grassroots level. In the 1980's lots of youngsters were taking up the game at a very early age but the massive amount of hours with which snooker was on the TV caused a withdrawal of peoples interest quelled only by Steve Davis and his 6 world championship victories during that decade. The single greatest moment for snooker was without doubt the 1985 world final where the championship came down to the final black with Dennis Taylor claiming the prize. Over 18.5 million people tuned in at 12.30am to last this piece of sporting legend and the game is still talked about today.

Where did Snooker (& Billiards) originate ? No one really knows the origin of the game of Billiards, although the invention of Snooker from the game of Billiards is fairly well documented.

We are unable even to state when or where the game was born. The French word 'Bille', meaning a ball, could provide the first syllable of the word 'Billiards'. Charles Cotton, author of 'The Complete Gamester' in 1674 suggests both Spain and Italy. The Encyclopedia Britannica records that a game similar to billiards was seen by a traveller called Anarcharsis in Ancient Greece in 4th Century B.C. Catkire Ore, a King or Ireland during the 2nd Century A.D. reputedly left 55 balls with 'pools' and cues of the same material.

We have evidence that the game existed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. In Shakespeare's play 'Anthony & Cleopatra' Cleopatra says to her handmaiden "Let us to Billiards". This is, of course, merely proof that the game existed at the time of Shakespeare and cannot be treated as evidence that the game was played by the Egyptians or Romans !

The situation is further confused as two distinct variations of the game exist. In areas of the world where the British have settled, the game of Billiards consists of three balls, and is played on a table with six pockets. The European influenced game, more commonly known as Carom, also consists of three balls but with the object being to use one ball to strike both other balls - this is known as a cannon in the British game - and the table has no pockets. The Spanish supposedly introduced the game (on the pocketless table) to Florida in approximately 1565 and a 'Billiards Table' in the U.S.A. has no pockets. Pool is therefore played on a 'Pocket Billiard Table'.

Over the years, three distinct types of table have flourished. The Carom table, which is used for the game of the same name, the Pool table used for the game of the same name, and the Snooker (or Billiard) Table which can be used for the games of Pool, Snooker, and Billiards.

The most commonly held belief is that Billiards is related to the game of Croquet, which consisted of a hoop, a king post and an implement used to propel the balls. The game was brought indoors and was raised to table height for convenience as evidenced by the engraving by Trouvain, housed by the National Library of Paris, which depicts King Louis XIV playing a table version of the game, still consisting of the hoop, king peg, balls, and an implement used to propel the balls.

The tables were of light construction with beds consisting of wood panelling. The surface of the table was covering in rough cloth, coloured green (probably to imitate the game played on grass), and the table had a rim to prevent the balls falling from the table. The implements used to propel the balls were known as 'maces', the forebear of the cue.

How the game further developed by the loss of the hoop and the king post (all types of the game) and the introduction of the pockets (the British version) is not documented, and further explanation would be totally speculative.

Other developments of equipment are easier to follow.

To prevent damage to the balls as a result of striking the rim of the table, the rim was upholstered with layers of felt. This then formed the earliest form of 'cushion'. This resulted in an inconsistent bounce due to different materials used, and a man called John Thurston introduced the first rubber cushions to the world in 1835. Being of natural rubber, the cushions would have different effects on the bounce of the ball depending on the temperature in the room. The rubber became very hard in cold weather and had to be heated using pans filled with hot water. These pans were shaped to fit as closely as possible to the shape of the cushion being heated. As a permanent solution, vulcanised rubber was used in cushions from 1845.

John Thurston was also responsible for the introduction of the slate bed to the Billiard Table (in 1826). The aim, once again, was to ensure consistency throughout the table, as flat wooden beds would also be affected by the temperature and other climatic conditions. Indeed, John Thurston is considered to be the 'Father' of the modern billiard table. In 1851, a Thurston table won the highest award in the Great Exhibition, and in 1892 the Thurston design was accepted as the standard table by the Billiards Association and has been specified in the rules ever since.

When the ball was positioned very close to the cushion, the players found it impossible to play the shot using the normal rounded (butt) end of the mace, and would use the pointed end. A book of rules dated 1779 states that the players had to chose which instrument they would use in the game, In 1866 Captain Crawley published a book which gives advice about cue selection "The Butt must be well flattened on one side so that could be used to strike with when necessary". However, when the Billiards Association was formed in 1885 the rules stipulated that the ball must be struck with the tip of the cue.

The introduction of the leather cue tip is credited to Captain Mingaud, a retired French infantry officer, who in 1807 punched out small leather discs from an old horse harness and attached them to the cue, making possible the application of "Side", "Top", or "Bottom" of the ball in an attempt to affect the route taken by the cue ball.

Around 1825, John Carr, a billiard room keeper, would show the patrons a shot by placing the red ball on the centre spot and play the white ball from the baulk and would then "Screw" the ball into one of the middle pockets. He challenged his patrons to perform the same shot, but they would miscue, so he would sell them the special "Twisting Chalk" required to prevent miscueing at the extortionate rate (in 1825) of 2s 6d (12.5 pence)

Billiard balls were originally made of wood. We cannot state when ivory balls were introduced but they were a great improvement, albeit requiring constant attention to make sure they remained spherical and restaining to maintain the required colour. Sadly, the best ivory for billiard balls came from the small tusks of the female elephant, and, at the beginning of the 20th Century, some 12,000 elephants had to be slaughtered to supply just the British game ! Fortunately, composition balls became more prevalent in the late 1920's as evidenced by their use in the amateur Billiard championships in 1926 and the Professional championships in 1929, although they had been originally developed at the end of the 1870's

So how did the game of Snooker develop ? In 1875 the junior officers of the Devonshire Regiment serving at Jubblepore, India, became disenchanted with the game of billiards, and Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain decided to take the coloured balls from the game of 'Pool' (where every player has a different coloured ball) and placing these on different spots on the table. In 1882 the officers arranged a meeting at Ootacamund where precise rules were drawn up and published. With the constant movement of personnel both throughout India and Britain, the game was soon accepted throughout the British Empire, although the Billiards Association resisted formal acknowledgment of the game until 11th December 1900, when they officially recognised the game and published the rules.

Billiards remained the most popular of the two games until the late 1930's when Snooker took over.