Farewell our snooker hero!

-
Yesterday came the sad news of the passing of Mike Watterson. Mike, a former amateur player, loved the bones of snooker. Unknown out the walls of the sport, Watterson was the man responsible for formatting the idea of bringing the game to the Crucible. After going to a play with his wife in 1977, Mike brainchilded the idea after knowing that the World Championship was struggling to find a venue. A conversation with his friend, the player, John Pullman led to discussions with the theatre management and a deal was subsequently agreed to host the iconic event at the Crucible. The rest as they say is history.

Wattterson, later became a professional player in 1981 and also turned his hand to commentary. Mike, a former car salesman, also became a promoter, being responsible for help set up the UK Championship, British Open, International Open and World Cup and also set up the BDO in darts, an idea he thought up in a barber’s chair in 1977. He also brought indoor bowls to the Preston Guildhall in 1981. Watterson was also along time snooker commentator for Eurosport and Sky.

Mike passed away yesterday after a period of ill health but will always be remembered as as an innovator of snooker His sharp mind and entrepreneurial brain meant that he was able to create some of the greatest tournaments in various sports.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Which way, left or right?

-
Image
One of the greatest spats that occurred in snooker history was between my friend Alain Robidoux and Ronnie O’Sullivan. It occurred in 1996 at the World Championship. Ronnie, a then young whipper snapper at 19, trounced Alain in the match, winning 10-3. However beyond the win, a spat occurred when Ronnie decided to take a number of shots left handed. Robidoux criticised O’Sullivan after the match for being “disrespectful”. Ronnie hit back at Alain saying “if he wants to act like a baby that’s up to him” adding “ the crowd enjoyed it, that’s the main thing”. This was probably the first time that a player had dared to take multiple shots left handed and led to players attempting the same feat. Perhaps this wouldn’t have been become a regular occurrence if this hadn’t of happened. This snooker bust up led to Alain refusing to shake Ronnie’s hand at the end of the match. Robidoux later explained his actions saying “Ronnie was being disrespectful to his fellow professionals and should sa
Read more

Place your bets

-
Image
Match fixing in snooker has unfortunately been in operation since the very early days of the game with reports of Joe Davis having "carried" weaker opponents in multi-session matches to maximise the gate revenue. This trait continued through the history of the sport with players such as Willie Thorne and Alex Higgins claiming they were offered large sums of money to lose matches. Players may not enter a match fixing agreement on their own free will, being subject to threats of violence if they fail to submit. The lucrative criminal act is largely based in the Far East where gangs devise money making scams in various sports, using their players to infiltrate the individual sport and extract multimillion currency earnings. Although this happens, World Snooker has been very vigilant to attempt to stamp out this criminal activity in recent years. The main punishment being heavy fines or bans from the game. Recognisable figures such as Quentin Hann, Stephen Lee and Joe Joggi
Read more

The Ooty Club, birthplace of snooker

-
Image
Snooker was first born millions of miles away from the UK in a small town in the Nilgiri hills of Southern India. Recently Dennis Taylor went to this club and played on the first ever table produced. The Ooty Colonial Club was set up amongst 65 hill stations for the British army. Built by Sir William Rumbold In 1836, the club was built in a colonial style  and houses a bar and billiard room. A relic of the Raj period, the mixed bar still has a strict dress code and is set in a building and surrounding area that could be produced by bursting a time bubble and even has the original ball room. Inside the Billiards Room, stands the first ever snooker table made. A rare antique that is still playable and reminds us how old the game and how far it has travelled
Read more