Snooker Loopy

Darren Morgan, one of the greats of Welsh snooker and former professional with a highest ranking of number 8 and highest break of 145. Now on the amateur circuit, Darren is still travelling around the world, picking up titles with recent silverware in Burma. Morgan also has turned his hand to commentary, contributing his pearls of wisdom for BBC Wales at the recent Welsh Open. Darren has his own snooker club and I am fortunate enough to have him as a friend. I recently caught up with him in the player’s lounge at Cardiff, where he agreed to do a Q&A with me. What or who first made you interested in snooker? My Father first got me started and got me interested with the game of snooker. At what age did you first start playing? I started playing on a full size table when I was 16 so I was a late bloomer. What is your earliest snooker memory? Playing in my back garden with my brothers on a 5ft table set up for us my my dad, I was about10-11 years of age Which player in ...

For sometime now I have been campaigning for World Snooker to bring back a Doubles tournament. In the 1980s the World Doubles Championship or Hoffmeister World Doubles was played between 1982-1986 and the Fosters World Doubles in 1987. Players such as Jimmy White and Alex Higgins, Steve Davis and Tony Meo, used to play in Doubles teams and this non ranking event was very popular at the time. Recently I spoke to Barry Hearn and asked him if he could bring this great event back but as I have learnt about my friend, you always get an honest response. He replied, “ there is no money in it and no one will watch it”. Not the response I wanted to hear but Barry never minces his words and I do admire that about him. However, this will not stop my resolve to bring back this great tournament to the tour and even make it a ranking event like the Shootout. It could be played over a weekend and use a great venue such as Goffs to play it in. Failing that, the Watford Colosseum could literally “d...

The snooker tour has now left Watford and moves to the warmer climbs of Kochi in India. Ironically India is the birthplace of snooker where the first ball was struck in a small hill station club in Ooti by a British soldier in the late 1800s. Unfortunately snooker is not widely played in India with people preferring to play billiards. The main tour has seen two Indian players, Pankaj Advani and Adita Mehta, both originally billiards players but neither seemed to do very well on the tour. The Indian Ooen had to be cancelled several years ago due to flooding in the area and has never really got the media attention it deserves, being shown on Asian channels and streaming instead of mainstream, Eurosport coverage. There is definitely a strong, potential market for snooker in India but the game needs to be widely publicised with what could be a massive audience due to the dense population of the country. China has already achieved this, hosting five tournaments in the season and snooker...

It seems so long ago that Thailand produced a quality player, James Watanna was the last, reaching number three in the rankings in the early 1990s. Last night in the Shootout we saw Thepchaiya Un-Nooh make not only the highest break in the tournament’s history but also the title. The Thai has been knocking on the silverware door for sometime but has always ended up being a nearly man, memorably missing the crucial black for a 147. Thepchaiya is a quick player and a fantastic potter and so was well suited for this event but has always lacked the all round game to play conventional snooker. His attacking play has sadly become his Achilles’ heel. This type of play works when you can maintain the break but if you miss and let your opponent in, the world becomes their oyster, leaving them plum in the balls. Despite this critique of the Thai, Michael Georgiou’s win last year showed that this tournament can be the first stepping stone in improving a lower rank player’s form, ranking point...

With the superb win by Lukas Kleckers in the Shootout last night, Germany stands on the brink of having its first snooker champion. For years this country has been able to produce the dedicated fans but not the players. Kleckers is the best player in Germany, one of only two on the main tour and isn’t known as a household name. His win last night against Ken Doherty proves that this man does have the capability to lift silverware but is the moment or will he just sink back into obscurity? The great success of the German Masters has overshadowed what is less than a thriving sport in Germany. Few snooker clubs exist and the Paul Hunter Classic is no longer a televised event. Kleckers from Essen in Germany is only 22 and has the best chance of creating a German champion. By winning the Shootout, he will be able to compete in the Champion of  Champion, vastly increase his £7,500 career winnings with a cheque for £32,000 and earn valuable ranking points. Kleckers does one title und...

I have always had a passion for snooker but recently found out that I have a talent for creative writing. My first taste for this when I wrote a blog on the UK Championship several years ago and I was able to combine my own knowledge of the game with drawing on my snooker contacts to contribute to the piece. The response was very positive from readers and people said I had a flair for writing. However, following a rebuff from Riley’s for future blogs, I put down my creative pen and shut it in a drawer for a while as dejection set in. It wasn’t until several months ago that I started again, writing small blogs on my Facebook page for my followers. Again the reaction was positive and I then dabbled with vlogging on Instagram with video pieces. However I didn’t feel comfortable with this medium and so returned to the written blog. Having become recently single, has given me the freedom to travel and watch live snooker events in places I never dreamt of visiting. My recent trip to Berl...

Snooker is probably one of the hardest games to learn how to play and even more difficult to play well. Like it’s closest comparison golf, snooker involves so many interactions even before the cue ball is struck. Your stance has to be correct, head remains still on the shot, the cue timed so that when the cue ball is struck your arm follows the shot through in a straight line. If not done correctly, the player will either miscue or not achieve the desired shot. Secondly, when the cue ball is struck, the tip of the of the cue has to strike the right part of the ball, the centre for a straight shot, top or bottom, left of right for the correct type of spin. Only then will you will start to master the shot and take the cue ball to where you need to have it for your secondary shot. I have been playing snooker for over twenty years but have never been able to play to a high standard. There are aspects of my game which are good, such as my break off, long ball potting and safety game but...