Snooker history

Although billiards existed in the 16th century , the first mentions of snooker as a separate type of this game appeared in the 1870s . It is not known for certain who exactly created this type of billiards, but most experts agree that Sir Neville Chamberlain , colonel of the British colonial troops in India , was the “author” of snooker. In 1938, he wrote in one of the British magazines about his own, which had already become a fairly well-known invention, describing the game and the history of its creation.

It is believed that they began to play snooker in 1875 , but the first official mention of it refers to May 2, 1886 , when a certain captain Sheldrick from Calcutta in his letter told in detail about the game "snooker." From his letter it followed that this kind of billiard was similar to a “ shell-out ”, but additionally there were yellow, brown, green and black balls on the table (and the cost of the green was more than brown). To start the series it was necessary to score a red ball. Thus, initially on the table were located four colored balls on special marks and a pyramid of 15 red. Already at that time, this game was quite popular in billiard clubs in the British colonies in India. A few years later, the game reached the British Isles themselves.

Over time, the rules changed (in particular, the number of color increased to six), and in 1919, the Billiards Association and the Control Council officially recognized snooker as a type of billiards , setting a set of rules for playing snooker . Since then, the game began to develop gradually and after a while English billiards bypassed in popularity. Since 1927, regular snooker tournaments have been held, the first of which - the World Cup - has become the main event of the year in this game. However, in the 1950s – 1960s, there was a serious recession in snooker, which ended with the replacement of the main management organization. Since 1964 , after a seven-year hiatus, the World Cup has resumed, and in 1968, the WPBSA , the World Association of Professional Billiards and Snooker, was formed. Snooker "modern era" begins in 1969 . In the 1970s, snooker began to be broadcast on television , and since the 1980s, this game has been actively promoted in the Far East . In the 1990s, snooker was on the rise - the number of tournaments has increased dramatically, and their prize fund has increased several times in comparison with the last decade. It is noteworthy that tobacco companies have often become sponsors of tournaments.

Perhaps the financial rise of snooker ceased at the beginning of the 21st century along with the new British law: now tobacco advertising on television was banned, which meant that numerous sponsors of major snooker competitions had to stop their cooperation. The popularity of the game has not suffered much from this - recently, people began to play snooker in China and Australia , and in the post-Soviet space (at the amateur level so far).

Also recently, the quality of the game itself has grown - more and more snooker players began to make century-breaks , and Steven Hendry , perhaps even more talented, replaced the best player of the 80s, Steve Davis . The most successful snooker players of the early 21st century are Ronnie O'Sullivan , John Higgins and Mark Williams ; among these three players, O'Sullivan is ranked by many in the first place.