The Snooker Legends was created in 2009 by Jason Francis at Premier Stage Productions to stage events for retired and current snooker players to play exhibition matches once again in some of snooker's most iconic venues. In 2017, Snooker Legends promoted and held its first professional event the

2017 World Seniors Championship The 2017 World Seniors Championship was an invitational senior snooker tournament, that took place at the Baths Hall in Scunthorpe, England, from 22 to 24 March 2017. Qualifying for the tournament was open to non-tour players, who were aged 40 a ...

. Later in 2017 they created the

World Seniors Tour The World Seniors Tour is the professional snooker tour for senior players aged 40 and over, running in parallel to the main World Snooker Tour. Founded in 2017 by Snooker Legends, it has been run since 2018 by World Seniors Snooker, a subsidiary ...

for players aged 40 and above. This tour consisted of four non-ranking events in the 2017/2018 season. They introduced an invitational event in the 2021/2022 season. In early 2022 The 'Merseyside Masters' was staged in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

History

2010

The first event was 8 April 2010 and saw

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

John Parrott John Stephen Parrott, (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player and television personality. He was a familiar face on the professional snooker circuit during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and remained withi ...

John Virgo John Virgo (born 4 March 1946) is an English former professional snooker player who has since developed a career as a snooker commentator and TV personality. Snooker career Early professional career (1973–1978) Virgo's first notable appea ...

Michaela Tabb Michaela Tabb (born 11 December 1967, in Bath, Somerset, England) is a Scottish snooker and pool referee. She established significant milestones for female officials in professional cue sports, beginning in pool, where she officiated at top t ...

and

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 Worl ...

return to the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's ...

in Sheffield. The event is best remembered as the last time

played snooker as he died in July that year. Alex was replaced 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 ...

and the tour also featured guest appearances by

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 (gra ...

, Tony Knowles and

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

. The highlight of the tour was a maximum 147 break in Redhill by Jimmy White.

2011

In 2011, a further 30 events were held and

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

Kirk Stevens Kirk Stevens (born August 17, 1958) is a Canadian former professional snooker player. Career Stevens started playing young, achieving his first aged just 12. He turned professional aged 20, and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship ...

Doug Mountjoy Doug Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the ...

Tony Drago Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 G ...

joined the team. In Dundalk Jimmy White again had a maximum break, however this was from the break off without his opponent ever having a shot.

2012

In 2012, events saw

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 ...

and

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 ...

join the team. 'The Legends Cup' was staged in Bedworth where a team from England and Northern Ireland beat a team from The Rest of the World 18–16. In 2012 Snooker Legends staged a series of 7 events between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy White. In the first match in Croydon Ronnie made a maximum 147 break, the 3rd perfect break since the tour began.

2013

In 2013, there were 12 events held on the Snooker Legends tour. This included the Legends Cup which was again staged in Bedworth on 10–12 May, and coverage was broadcast live on

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

. The teams were England and Northern Ireland vs The Rest of the World, with

and

as respective captains. The Rest of the World won 18–14. Other events in the same year included the additions of Mark Williams and Joe Johnson to the tour. The format was changed to include doubles matches as well as the single matches, and also involved a colour clearance time challenge in which two teams of doubles cleared only the colours as quickly as they could alternating shots. The exhibitions also gave members of the audience a chance to play a doubles match with the professional players.

2014

The tour started off with visits to Guildford where Chelsea Footballer John Terry played and also Southend, Watford and Durham. In April the legends went back to the crucible with the addition of Joe Johnson and Tony Knowles and then in May moved onto Ipswich and Hamm in Germany. A snookerlegends app was created to show live streaming with the 2014 legends cup shown on pay per view in the app. The Legends Cup saw debuts for 10 times world champion Reanne Evans. In July 2014 the first snooker legends pro am series was held. This was a competition to allow amateur players to challenge some of the best professionals in the world, receiving a 21 handicap start. The competition as attended by 70 amateurs and won by Daniel Wells who carried off £1200 for beating professional Ben Woollaston 4–3 in the final.

2015–2016

More exhibitions were held with the doubles event in Watford being won by Cliff Thorburn and Tony Drago. Also the Snooker Legends Book was published. Ronnie O'Sullivan made 147 breaks in Scunthorpe, Copenhagen, Leicester and Newry.

World Seniors Championship 2017

In 2017, Snooker Legends organised the

World Seniors Championship The World Seniors Championship is an invitational seniors snooker tournament which has been played under different formats. As of 2020 the minimum age is 40, but it was 45 in 2011 and 2012. History The event was first held in 1991 with 16 pla ...

for the first time. It had previously been a

WPBSA The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

sanctioned event. This paved the way for the creation of the

the following season.

World Seniors Tour 2017/2018

In 2017 Snooker Legends created the

for players aged 40 and above. This tour consisted of a series of 4 non-ranking events in the 2017/2018 season: the

UK Seniors Championship The UK Seniors Championship is a snooker tournament, part of the World Seniors Tour. History The event was created in 2017, as a part of the World Seniors Tour. The first UK Senior championship took place in October 2017, and was won by Jimmy W ...

, the Seniors Irish Masters, The Seniors Masters and the

Snooker Legends 2021/2022

Snooker Legends staged its first invitational event in four seasons in February 2022. This was in part due to the fact that the World Seniors Tour was only staging two events in the 2021/2022 season.

won the ''Merseyside Masters'' beating

6–5 in the final.

References

External links

* * https://www.facebook.com/SnookerLegends {{World Seniors Championship Snooker competitions in the United Kingdom Snooker amateur competitions Sports organizations established in 2009 2009 establishments in the United Kingdom