OTHER WINTER SPORTS:

SNOOKER AND POOL

Level: Advanced

Snooker and pool are games – or sports – for colder climates. Generally we find snooker and pool played in public rooms, or clubs, especially in the winter months.

In the United Kingdom a snooker center may have about fifteen snooker tables but in other countries the public snooker rooms are bigger. Snooker rooms of sixty tables are reported to exist in China!

Eddie Charlton, the great Australian snooker champion who died in 2004, always said that his efforts to develop snooker in Australia were hampered by the simple fact that ‘Australia is a country of the great outdoors.’

Eddie Charlton, multiple Australian Snooker Champion

As a true Australian he loved the outdoor life, but sometimes he wished that a little rain and snow would drive his compatriots to play more snooker! But as a great Australian he was glad of the hot climate.

If people who live in cold countries relish snow and ice, and all the outdoor activities that go with them, they will not resent the winter. That is assuming, of course, that they are fortunate enough to have the money and leisure time to enjoy such activities.

In most of North America the winter air is sharp and the snow is fine and clean. You can ski on it, ice-skate in it, build snowmen, ride skidoos and snowmobiles. Fortunately, this kind of climate produces bright sunlit days too.

But sometimes it is not so much fun to leave the comfort of home and at other times, especially in snowstorms, it is undeniably perilous to go out.

A Pool room at home

When the winds are high and visibility is low it might be best to stay home and enjoy some indoor entertainment. Video games and DVDs provide new forms of entertainment that we could hardly have imagined a few years ago, while reading books, playing board games, doing puzzles or making music have always been popular.

The feature of a substantial North American house that always impresses me is the basement, or cellar, running the length and width of the house, often as a single space.

The ceiling is usually two meters high, which means that the room can be used for the same purposes as any other room in the house. It is easy to keep this underground space warm as in most cases there are no external windows and doors.

The floor is usually carpeted and of course electrical points are installed. This is a really luxurious retreat from winter!

One of the great things to do in a basement like this is to install a Pool table or Snooker table. Even in the countries where Snooker is highly popular you would need to be rich – and probably obsessive – to put a full-size Snooker table in your cellar because a Snooker table measures twelve feet by six and demands a room size of twenty two feet by sixteen feet.

There are many keen players of Snooker who have a full-size table in their home, even if they don’t have an American-style basement.

Snooker is very popular all over the world, but it has not ‘caught on’ in the United States. However, although it is second to Pool, Snooker is very popular in Canada, and has produced a World Professional Snooker Champion (Cliff Thorburn of Toronto, 1980).

Historically and culturally, the game that is played in the home, especially in the United States, is Pool. This makes sense because, although a Pool table can come in various sizes, it is usually about half the size of the more traditional Snooker table.

There are various kinds of Pool games, with 9-ball and 8-ball Pool perhaps being the favorites. Pool games are quicker and more exciting than Snooker, at least in the ‘quick rush’ definition of exciting; Pool has simpler rules and the newcomer to the game can reach a reasonable standard in a few weeks.

In addition, the Pool table, being smaller, has the advantage that outside the home environment, it can easily fit into a bar or a club in a space that would be too small for Snooker. Many people, especially students, first come into contact with Pool in a club at work or at college.

One way or another, Pool reigns supreme in North America and it is the only part of the world in which the ‘play at home’ market is bigger than the club/salon game.

Pool is one of those indoor games, like poker, that is essentially American, no matter where it travels. United States television channels have poured money into championship Pool and the top professional players can make a good living by playing Pool. However, it is doubtful if the prize money in American Pool can match the millions of pounds available in prize money to professional Snooker players.

WOMEN POOL PLAYERS

Top row (left to right): Alison Fisher of Britain now based in USA. Alison has been the outstanding woman player for most of the last twenty five years; Xiao-Fang Fu (China) 2010 World Champion of 9-ball Pool; Karen Corr (N. Ireland, now based in USA); Kelly Fisher (Britain, now based in USA). Bottom row: Shanelle Lorain (USA) Kim Jones (USA) Jeanette Lee (USA).

Young people have greater access to a Pool table or Snooker table and the professional champions are becoming younger and younger. The ‘older generation’ now starts at about thirty!

Another point that has been noticed in the last fifteen years or so is that women can play Pool at a high level and attract good audiences. Many female Pool players are now making a good ‘salary’ via prizes, mainly on cable television. I am not qualified to comment on their comparative lack of success on the ‘wide open spaces’ of the Snooker table, but somehow the game of Pool seems to suit them very well.

The Pool versus Snooker argument is not really about cold winters or basements. It’s a cultural thing – India and Pakistan don’t have cold winters (except at altitude) but they do have excellent Snooker players.

This is because of the British influence there for so many years and, I imagine, partly because it was in India that the Englishman, Sir Neville Chamberlain, an army officer, invented the game of Snooker.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have some of the world’s best Billiards players too. Billiards is a game played on a full-size Snooker table, but only three balls are used. Although still popular on the Indian sub-continent, Billiards is a minority sport elsewhere.

There is another important table game – Billar, sometimes known as carom billiards or caramboule. In Billar the table has no pockets and the players score by making ‘cannons’ i.e. causing the cue ball to strike the other balls. It is a very skilful game, but I regret that I do not have enough knowledge to say anything useful about this sport;

I do know one thing about Billar which I think is interesting – it is the principal table game in most countries where the British never had a strong presence.

This includes nearly all European countries. I think that Billar is also the primary table game in Scandinavia and Russia. I know they have cold winters there, but I’m not so sure about their basements….

QUESTIONS:

1.  What two things are needed to enjoy outdoor activities?

2.  What new kinds of home entertainment are mentioned?

3.  Only one of the following statements is TRUE –

a) North American shelves run the length of the house.

b) A television set is the same width as a house.

c) It is easy to keep a North American cellar heated.

d) The cellar floor is usually tiled.

4.  Where is the game of Snooker popular?

5.  How big is a Snooker table compared to a Pool table?

6.  Only one of the following is TRUE –

a) A Pool table can fit into an oven.

b) Most people see a Pool table for the first time when they go swimming.

c) A Snooker table can fit into a space that is too small for a pool table.

d) Many young people are introduced to Pool at a social club.

7.  Apart from Pool, what other game is said in this article to be ‘essentially American’?

8.  How have US television channels affected professional Pool?

9.  Who generally wins more prize money – Snooker players or Pool players?

10.  Only one of the following is UNTRUE (false)

a) Professional champions are younger nowadays.

b) Women don’t play Snooker or Pool.

c) Women’s Pool matches are popular with the paying public.

d) Cable television presents women’s Pool tournaments.

11.  Are women players more successful in Pool or in Snooker?

12.  Only one of the following is TRUE -

a) The pool versus Snooker argument is about money.

b) Basements usually freeze in winter.

c) Snooker was invented in India.

d) India has no Snooker players.

13.  What was Sir Neville Chamberlain’s occupation?

14. This article asserts that one game is ‘a minority sport elsewhere’. Which one?

15.  On what kind of table is Billiards played?

16.  Only one of the following is TRUE -

a) A Billar table has only three legs.

b) A Billar table has no pockets.

c) The table used for Billar has four pockets.

d) No skill is needed to play Billar

17.  What does the writer say about his knowledge of Billar?

18. Which game is said to be more popular in Scandinavia?

ANSWERS:

1.   Money and leisure time.

2.   Video games and DVD.

3.   c.

4.   “all over the world”.

5.   Approximately double the size, twice the size.

6.   d.

7.   Poker.

8.   They have given it a lot of money (“poured in”).

9.   Snooker players.

10. b.

11. In Pool.

12. c.

13. Army officer.

14. Billiards.

15. A Snooker table.

16. b.

17. “I do not have enough.”

18. Billar.