The 1988 Rothmans Matchroom League was a professional non-

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

snooker tournament that was played from 23 January to 15 May 1988.

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

topped the table and won the tournament.

Tony Meo Anthony Christian Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player. He won the 1989 British Open by defeating Dean Reynolds 13–6 in the final, and was runner-up to Steve Davis at the 1984 Classic. He won four World Doubles Cham ...

recorded a maximum break in his match against

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

. __TOC__

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: £70,000 *Runner-up: £30,000 *3rd place: £25,000 *4th place: £20,000 *5th Place: £17,000 *6th Place: £15,000 *7th Place: £13,000 *8th Place: £11,000 *9th Place: £9,000 *10th Place: £5,000 *Highest break: £5,000 *Total: £220,000

League phase

If points were level then match wins, followed by most frames won determined their positions. If two players had an identical record then the result in their match determined their positions. If that ended 4–4 then the player who got to four first was higher. * 23 January – Thermae Palace Hotel,

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

** Cliff Thorburn 6–2 Dennis Taylor * 24 January – Thermae Palace Hotel,

** ''Steve Davis 4–4 Stephen Hendry'' * 24 January – St David's Hall,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

** Tony Meo 5–3 Neal Foulds ** Jimmy White 6–2 Terry Griffiths * 13 February – Ritz Billiard Club,

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

** Willie Thorne 5–3 Joe Johnson * 13 February – Antrim Forum, Antrim ** ''Terry Griffiths 4–4 Cliff Thorburn'' ** Steve Davis 5–3 Neal Foulds * 14 February – The George and Dragon Pub,

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

** Jimmy White 5–3 Tony Meo * 14 February – Newry Lesuire Centre,

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

** Neal Foulds 5–3 Cliff Thorburn ** Terry Griffiths 5–3 Dennis Taylor * 19 February – Aston Villa Sports and Leisure Centre,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

** Jimmy White 5–3 Dennis Taylor * 20 February – The Winding Wheel,

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

** Stephen Hendry 6–2 Tony Meo ** ''Dennis Taylor 4–4 Willie Thorne'' * 20 February – Beach Plaza Hotel.

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

** ''Neal Foulds 4–4 Terry Griffiths'' * 21 February – Gateshead Lesuire Centre, Gateshead ** Willie Thorne 6–2 Stephen Hendry ** Jimmy White 6–2 Joe Johnson * 21 February – Beach Plaza Hotel,

** Steve Davis 5–3 Cliff Thorburn * 20 March – Central Hall,

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

** Steve Davis 5–3 Tony Meo * 20 March – Woodford Leisure Centre,

Kingston-upon-Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east o ...

** Neal Foulds 5–3 Willie Thorne ** Dennis Taylor 8–0 Joe Johnson * 2 April – New Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent ** ''Tony Meo 4–4 Willie Thorne'' ** Steve Davis 5–3 Dennis Taylor * 3 April – The Hotel Andalucia Plaza Casino,

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the reg ...

** Neal Foulds 6–2 Joe Johnson * 4 April – The Hotel Andalucia Plaza Casino,

** Stephen Hendry 7–1 Dennis Taylor * 4 April – Corn Exchange,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

** Willie Thorne 6–2 Cliff Thorburn ** Terry Griffiths 5–3 Joe Johnson * 9 April – Cleethorpes Leisure Centre, Cleethorpes ** ''Tony Meo 4–4 Dennis Taylor'' ** ''Steve Davis 4–4 Terry Griffiths'' * 9 April – Northgate Arena Leisure Centre, Chester ** ''Neal Foulds 4–4 Stephen Hendry'' ** Cliff Thorburn 6–2 Jimmy White * 10 April – Thornaby Pavilion Leisure Centre,

Thornaby-on-Tees Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census, in t ...

** ''Tony Meo 4–4 Cliff Thorburn'' ** Stephen Hendry 7–1 Joe Johnson * 10 April – Victoria Community Centre, Crewe ** ''Willie Thorne 4–4 Terry Griffiths'' ** ''Jimmy White 4–4 Neal Foulds'' * 7 May – Perdiswell Sports Centre,

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

** Tony Meo 6–2 Joe Johnson ** ''Jimmy White 4–4 Stephen Hendry'' * 7 May – Granby Halls Leisure Centre, Leicester ** Steve Davis 5–3 Willie Thorne * 8 May – Royal Concert Hall,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

** Steve Davis 8–0 Jimmy White * 8 May – Swansea Leisure Centre, Swansea ** Cliff Thorburn 7–1 Joe Johnson ** Stephen Hendry 6–2 Terry Griffiths * 13 May – Brighton Centre, Brighton ** ''Steve Davis 4–4 Joe Johnson'' * 14 May – Crest Hotel, Antwerp ** Terry Griffiths 5–3 Tony Meo * 14 May – The Court Centre,

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

** Stephen Hendry 6–2 Cliff Thorburn * 15 May –

Fairfield Halls Fairfield Halls is an arts, entertainment and conference centre in Croydon, London, England, which opened in 1962 and contains a theatre and gallery, and a large concert hall regularly used for BBC television, radio and orchestral recordings. Fa ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

** Neal Foulds 6–2 Dennis Taylor ** Willie Thorne 6–2 Jimmy White

References

{{Snooker season 1987/1988 Premier League Snooker 1988 in snooker 1988 in British sport