Snooker History - Snooker Ancestors
Snooker history is short comparing to the history of billiards. According to the most accepted version of snooker history, the invention of snooker dates back to the end of the 19th century and referred to a British army officer who was stationed in India.
Snooker Ancestors
Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain is credited for the invention of the snooker game and for its distribution in England. Joe Davis is responsible for turning snooker into a professional sport and for forming the first World Championship (in which he also won).
Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain
By suggesting that the then popular game called black ball will be played with an addition of colored balls to the set of 15 red balls and a higher point value black ball, Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain has brought to life the game of snooker. Back then, snooker used to be played with 15 red balls, black ball, yellow ball, green ball and pink ball and the player who potted the colored balls had gained a higher score. The name ’snooker’ was borrowed from an English army slang used as an insult for young recruits. The snooker game was brought to England by the billiards player John Roberts who had met Chamberlain in India in 1885.
Joe Davis
About 30 years after the English billiards circle was introduced to the snooker game, the first amateur snooker championship was held. About a decade later, in 1927, the first professional world championship was organized by Joe Davis, until then an English billiards player. Joe Davis came to the first place in the 1927 World Championship and in the next consecutive Championships, until retired from the game in 1946. On the first world championships, the highest snooker break was 33. In 1955, Joe Davis was the first snooker player to achieve 147 maximum break.
More to come on the ups and ups in snooker history