The 1975 World Snooker Championship was a professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournament that took place between 9 April and 1 May 1975 across Australia. The event was the 1975 edition of the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

, first held in 1927. The tournament featured 27 participants, 8 of which were seeded and received byes to the second round. The event featured a prize fund of A$30,000 with the winner receiving A$7,500. This was the second (and to date last) World Snooker Championship to be held outside of the United Kingdom. The final was held at the Nunawading Basketball Centre on

Burwood Highway Burwood Highway is a major transportation link with Melbourne, Melbourne's eastern suburbs. It begins in the suburb of Kooyong, Victoria, Kooyong, Melbourne at the junction of the Monash Freeway as Toorak Road between Monash Freeway and Warriga ...

, in

Burwood East, Victoria Burwood East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located 17 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse local government area. Burwood East recorded a population of 10,675 at the 2021 ...

Ray Reardon Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

played

Eddie Charlton Edward Francis Charlton, (31 October 1929 – 8 November 2004) was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winn ...

in a best-of-61 match. Reardon won 10 of the 12 frames on the second day to lead 16–8 but

won the first nine frames on day three to lead. Reardon then led 23–21 before Charlton won eight frames in a row to lead 29–23 requiring just two of the last nine frames to win. However Reardon then won 7 frames in a row to lead again and, although Charlton levelled the match at 30–30, Reardon won the deciding frame to win 31–30.

Overview

The

is a professional tournament and the official

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

of the game of

. Founded in the late 19th century by

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldiers stationed in India, the sport was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game i ...

won the first World Championship in 1927, the final match being held in

Camkin's Hall William Alexander Camkin (1894 – 26 April 1956) was a billiard hall owner who came to prominence in the early years of the World Snooker Championship, when many of the tournament's matches were held at his clubs. He was involved in various aspe ...

, Birmingham, England.

was the defending champion in 1975, having defeated

Graham Miles Graham Miles (11 May 1941 – 12 October 2014) was an English snooker player. Career Miles turned professional in 1971. He first gained recognition in 1974, when he reached the final of the World Championship. Although he lost 12–22 to Ray Re ...

22-12 in the 1974 final.

Format

The championship was held from 9 April to 1 May 1975 at multiple locations across

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. This was the second time since 1969 that the championship was held outside the United Kingdom, after

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

. Tobacco brand Park Drive did not continue their sponsorship from 1974. The WPBSA appointed Eddie Charlton Promotions as the promoter. The event featured 27 participants, with a preliminary round, and eight seeded players who were awarded byes to the second round. The number of frames increased during the tournament, with the opening rounds being the best of 29, the quarter-finals and semi-finals best of 37 and the final a best of 61 frames match. There was controversy about the seedings. John Spencer was seeded 8 which meant that he met top seed

in the quarter-final; the pair were regarded as the two leading players.

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

champion

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Wor ...

was also in the top half of the draw, while promoter

was in the bottom half.

Schedule

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: A$7,500 *Runner-up: A$4,000 *Semi-final: A$3.000 *Quarter-final: A$1,500 *Last 16: A$750 *Total: A$30,000

Tournament summary

Most of the early round matches were played in

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although the semi-finals were played in Canberra and Brisbane with the final in Melbourne.

South African Professional Championship The South African Professional Championship was a professional snooker tournament which was open only for South African players. History South Africa held a professional championship beginning in 1948. As with Australia it was originally held as ...

winner

Perrie Mans Pierre "Perrie" Mans (born 14 October 1940) is a retired professional snooker player from South Africa, who first won the South African Professional Championship in 1965, and won the event 20 times. Mans won the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1979 ...

was defeated in the opening round, by

Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a ...

15-12. Mans was down by two frames after the first session, but recovered to 7-7, before Taylor pulled ahead in the third session. Reardon and Higgins were level at 10-10; Reardon went on to win 19-14. The final was held at the Nunawading Basketball Centre on

, in

, as the best of 61 frames. Reardon led 16-8, but Charlton then won the next nine frames to take the lead. Reardon was ahead 22-20, but Charlton won eight of the following frames lead 28-23. Reardon produced a seven-frame winning streak to leave himself needing one further frame at 30-29. Charlton won the 60th frame. In the deciding frame, Reardon made a 62 break, to claim victory at 31–30. It was Reardon's third consecutive championship win, and his fourth overall. In all, he won six world titles. The tournament received significantly less UK press coverage than the three preceding world championships had; the level of coverage in the Australian press was described as "very poor" by ''Snooker Scene''.

Results

Preliminary matches

Results of the preliminary matches were as follows.

Main draw

Below is the results from the event. Players in bold denote match winners, whilst numbers in brackets are the players seeding.

Notes

References

{{Snooker season 1974/1975

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Sports competitions in Melbourne 1970s in Melbourne