The British Junior English Billiards championship is an English billiards competition for players in the UK. There are three divisions, the "Girls" Championship for all female players under 19 years, the "Boys" championship for players under 16, and the "Junior" championship for players under the age of 19.[1] The under-16 competition was organised by the Billiards Association and Control Council from 1922.[2]
There were previous championships for young players. A 1905 article in the Darlington-based newspaper The North Star said that "boy billiard matches appear to be good drawing concerns now" and noted that there was an upcoming round-robin tournament at at Burroughes and Watts, London.[3] Tom Newman recalled in a 1938 interview in The Billiard Player, that he won a Boys Championship in 1909 at the age of 15 at Burroughes and Watts.[4]
Rex Williams, Mark Wildman, Mike Russell, Peter Gilchrist, David Causier, and Chris Shutt all won Junior titles before going to win the World Billiards Championship. World Snooker Championship winners to have recorded wins in the Junior Billiards event are Walter Donaldson, Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis. Fred Davis, champion in 1928, went on to win world professional titles in both billiards and snooker.
In 2022, William Thomson of Southampton, Hampshire (9 years old) became the youngest-ever winner of the Under-16 event.[5]
Robin Wilson (Middlesbrough) holds the record for the most wins in the Championship, with 2 wins in the Boys and 5 in the Junior.
The highest Championship breaks recorded in each event are, Hannah Jones (Derby), 43 in the 2011 Girls, Donald Cruikshank (South Shields), 130 in the 1936 Boys and Glen Cromack (Middlesbrough), 150 in the 1989 Junior.
- ^ Everton, Clive (1985). Guinness Snooker – The Records. Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 125. ISBN 0851124488.
- ^ The Billiards and Snooker Control Council Handbook and Rules. London: Billiards and Snooker Control Council. 1971.
- ^ "The North Star". Darlington. 9 March 1905. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Lewis, Harold (October 1938). "He beat John Roberts by 2000". The Billiard Player. pp. 10–14.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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