By Fin Ruane The Republic of Ireland snooker team this week won the 2012 Home Internationals. This brings to four the number of times Ireland has now won the Prince Of Wales Shield following the successes in 1993, 2000 and 2001. The series that is held every Autumn has always[Read More…]
Features
Fin’s Fables: The Return of the Rocket
By Fin Ruane This weekend sees the snooker season continue with PTC3 at the SWSA in Gloucester. Of particular interest, however, is that it also sees the first appearance of world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan on a snooker table since he lifted his fourth world title last May. Plenty has been[Read More…]
Fin’s Fables: Surviving the Cut
By Fin Ruane The retirement of Stephen Hendry during last season’s World Championship raised quite a few eyebrows. The seven-time world champion stunned the snooker community with his announcement after his quarter-final defeat to Stephen Maguire. Many thought, including myself, that he still had a lot to offer the game[Read More…]
Fin’s Fables: The Season So Far
By Fin Ruane So three months into the new snooker season and with the first ranking cut off last weekend it’s time to run the rule over the winners, movers and shakers of the 2012 /2013 season. With qualifiers starting for the Wuxi Classic and Australian Open just a couple[Read More…]
Fin’s Fables: Snooker in the Olympics
By Fin Ruane As this summer’s Games nears its end, the discussion has once again arisen as to whether snooker should be included in the Olympics. The list of sports that make up the Games range from the obvious which are track and field and gymnastics to the more obscure[Read More…]
Fin’s Fables: Life on the Tour
By Fin Ruane The first time I watched any of the boys play at a ranking event venue was October 1990 when myself, Ken Doherty and a sizeable contingent from Ilford travelled up to see Stephen Murphy play John Parrott in their pre-televised match of that season’s Rothmans Grand Prix.[Read More…]
Fin’s Fables: The Professional Years
By Fin Ruane The year was 1990 and the number of registered professional snooker players stood at 128. The governing body WPBSA held all the strings and had the final say on who would and would not be allowed to join their exclusive club. Amateur snooker was thriving and every[Read More…]
Fin’s Fables: The London Years
By Fin Ruane England in 1988, and particularly in London, was a hotbed of snooker, some of the world’s finest snooker talent converged there to improve and fine tune their skills. Ilford and Barking Snooker Clubs in Essex were just two of the many gathering points for a new breed[Read More…]
Fin’s Fables: The Beginning
By Fin Ruane My first memory of being around snooker was the World Amateur Championship in Dublin in 1974. I was five years of age and my dad who was chairman of RIBSA at the time brought me to a match. To say I was captivated by the game is[Read More…]
