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The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the governing body for professional snooker, first published official world rankings for players on the main tour for the 1976–77 season. Before this, for each tournament the defending champion was seeded first, and the previous year's runner-up second. [1] [2] [3]
For the 1982–83 season, players' performances in the previous three World Snooker Championships (1980, 1981 and 1982) contributed to their points total. For each of the three years, the World Champion gained five points, the runner-up received four, losing semi-finalists got three, losing quarter-finalists got two, and losers in the last-16 round received a single point. [4] [3] For players with no points, placings were determined on the basis of their results at the 1982 World Championship. [5] [6]
Ray Reardon, who had topped every previous ranking list except during 1981/1982, returned to first position, with nine points. [4] [7] The player whom Reardon replaced as number one, Cliff Thorburn, had eight points and dropped to third position. [4] [7] Also with eight points, Alex Higgins was ranked ahead of Thorburn by virtue of better progress at the 1982 championship. [6] Higgins had two ranking points deducted for misconduct which meant that he was ranked second rather than first. [4] [8] [9] The penalty was applied in respect of Higgins's conduct at an exhibition match at Herringthorpe Leisure Centre in February 1981, when he was late returning to his match against Steve Davis, reportedly because he was playing Space Invaders . [4] [10] Davis moved down two places from second to fourth, while Terry Griffiths fell from third to fourteenth. [4] The top sixteen players in the rankings were seeded through to the main stage of the 1983 World Snooker Championship. [4] [11]
The world rankings for professional snooker players in the 1982–1983 season are listed below. Points gained in each of the three World Snooker Championships are shown, with the total number of points given in the last column. A "–" symbol indicates that the player did not participate in that year's championship. [4] [12]
Ranking | Name | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ray Reardon (WAL) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
2 | Alex Higgins (NIR) | 4 | 1 [lower-alpha 1] | 5 | 8 |
3 | Cliff Thorburn (CAN) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
4 | Steve Davis (ENG) | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
5 | Eddie Charlton (AUS) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
6 | Kirk Stevens (CAN) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
7 | Doug Mountjoy (WAL) | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
8 | David Taylor (ENG) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
9 | Bill Werbeniuk (CAN) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
10 | Jimmy White (ENG) | – | 0 | 3 | 3 |
11 | Perrie Mans (RSA) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
12 | John Spencer (ENG) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
13 | Dennis Taylor (NIR) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
14 | Terry Griffiths (WAL) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
15 | Tony Knowles (ENG) | – | 0 | 2 | 2 |
16 | Willie Thorne (ENG) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
17 | Silvino Francisco (RSA) | – | – | 2 | 2 |
18 | Graham Miles (ENG) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
19 | John Virgo (ENG) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
20 | Fred Davis (ENG) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
21 | Jim Wych (CAN) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
22 | Dean Reynolds (ENG) | – | – | 1 | 1 |
23 | Patsy Fagan (IRL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
24 | Tony Meo (ENG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
25 | John Bear (CAN) | 0 | – | 0 | 0 |
26 | Cliff Wilson (WAL) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
27 | Dave Martin (ENG) | – | 0 | 0 | 0 |
28 | Jim Meadowcroft (ENG) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
29 | Jim Donnelly (SCO) | – | – | 0 | 0 |
30 | John Dunning (ENG) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
31 | Mike Hallett (ENG) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
32 | Jack Fitzmaurice (ENG) | – | – | 0 | 0 |
Preceded by 1981/1982 | 1982/1983 | Succeeded by 1983/1984 |
Alexander Gordon Higgins was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" for his rapid play, and known as the "People's Champion" for his popularity and charisma, he is often credited as a key factor in snooker's success as a mainstream televised sport in the 1980s.
Raymond Reardon is a retired Welsh professional snooker player. He turned professional in 1967 and dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and more than a dozen other tournaments. Reardon was World Champion in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1978, and runner-up in 1982. He won the inaugural Pot Black tournament in 1969, the 1976 Masters, and the 1982 Professional Players Tournament.
John Spencer was an English professional snooker player. One of the most dominant players of the 1970s, he won the World Snooker Championship three times, in 1969, 1971 and 1977. He worked as a snooker commentator for the BBC from 1978 to 1998, and served for 25 years on the board of the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), including a stint as chairman from 1990 until his retirement from the board in 1996.
Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn 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 Higgins 18–16 in the final. He is generally recognised as the sport's first world champion from outside the United Kingdom—since Australian Horace Lindrum's 1952 title is usually disregarded—and he remains the only world champion from the Americas. He was runner-up in two other world championships, losing 21–25 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 6–18 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final. At the 1983 tournament, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship match, achieving the feat in his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths.
Herbert John Pulman was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He first won the title at the 1957 Championship and retained it across seven challenges from 1964 to 1968, three of them against Fred Davis and two against Rex Williams. When the tournament reverted to a knockout event in 1969, he lost 18–25 in the first round to the eventual champion John Spencer. After finishing as runner-up to Ray Reardon in 1970, Pulman never again reached the final, although he was a losing semi-finalist in 1977.
Doug Mountjoy was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 11 consecutive years. He began his professional snooker career by taking the 1977 Masters, which he entered as a reserve player. He won both the 1978 UK Championship and the 1979 Irish Masters. Mountjoy reached the final of the 1981 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by Steve Davis. He was also runner-up at the 1985 Masters losing to Cliff Thorburn, but by 1988 he had dropped out of the top 16.
Desmond Rex Williams is an English retired professional billiards and snooker player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break in snooker, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the World Professional Billiards Championship from Clark McConachy in 1968, the first time that the title had been contested since 1951. Williams retained the title in several challenge matches in the 1970s and, after losing it to Fred Davis in 1980, regained it from 1982 to 1983.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first published official world rankings for players on the main tour for the 1976–77 season. Before this, for each tournament the defending champion was seeded first, and the previous year's runner-up second.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first published official world rankings for players on the main tour for the 1976–77 season. Before this, for each tournament the defending champion was seeded first, and the previous year's runner-up second.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the governing body for professional snooker, first published official world rankings for players on the main tour for the 1976–77 season. Before this, for each tournament the defending champion was seeded first, and the previous year's runner-up second.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first introduced a ranking system for professional players in 1976, with the aim of seeding players for the World Snooker Championship. The reigning champion would be automatically seeded first, the losing finalist from the previous year seeded second, and the other seedings based on the ranking list. Initially the rankings were based on performances in the preceding three world championships, with five points for the winner, four for the runner-up, three for losing semi-finalists, two for losing quarter-finalists, and one for losers in the last 16 round.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first introduced a ranking system for professional players in 1976, with the aim of seeding players for the World Snooker Championship. The reigning champion would be automatically seeded first, the losing finalist from the previous year seeded second, and the other seedings based on the ranking list. Initially, the rankings were based on performances in the preceding three world championships.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first introduced a ranking system for professional players in 1976, with the aim of seeding players for the World Snooker Championship. The reigning champion would be automatically seeded first, the losing finalist from the previous year seeded second, and the other seedings based on the ranking list. Initially, the rankings were based on performances in the preceding three world championships. The list for the 1986–87 snooker season was the first to only take account of results over two seasons.
The 1984 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place between 21 April and 7 May 1984 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and was the eighth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible since the 1977 event. The event featured 94 participants, of which 78 players competed in a qualifying event held at the Redwood Lodge in Bristol from 1 to 13 April. Of these, 16 players qualified for the main stage in Sheffield, where they met 16 invited seeds. The total prize fund for the event was £200,000, the highest total pool for any snooker tournament at that time; the winner received £44,000.
The 1983 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 1983 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. This was the third and final world ranking event of the 1982–83 snooker season following the 1982 Professional Players Tournament. Sixteen seeded players qualified directly for the event, with an additional sixteen players progressing through a two-round qualification round held at the Romiley Forum in Stockport, and Redwood Lodge in Bristol. The winner of the event received £30,000, and the tournament was sponsored by cigarette company Embassy.
The 1981 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament which took place from 7 April to 20 April 1981 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament was the 1981 edition of the World Snooker Championship, and was the fifth consecutive world championship to take place at the Crucible Theatre since 1977. It was sanctioned by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The total prize fund for the tournament was £75,000, of which £20,000 went to the winner.
The 1977 World Snooker Championship is a professional snooker tournament that took place from 18 to 30 April 1977 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. John Spencer won his third World Snooker Championship title by defeating Cliff Thorburn by 25 frames to 21 in the final. It was the first time the championship was held at the Crucible, which has remained as the venue for the Championship. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
The 1973 World Snooker Championship was a snooker tournament that took place from 16 to 28 April 1973 at the City Exhibition Halls in Manchester, England. The scheduling was a change of practice from championships in the preceding years, which had taken place over several months. The tournament was the 1973 edition of the World Snooker Championship established in 1927. The 1973 tournament was promoted by Peter West and Patrick Nally, and sponsored by tobacco brand Park Drive, with £8,000 prize money. There were 24 entrants, which was a new championship record.
The 1982 Professional Players Tournament was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place in two venues in the Birmingham area. One was at the La Reserve in Sutton Coldfield and the other was the International Snooker Club in Aston. It was the first tournament in a series which is now known as the World Open. The event was untelevised and unsponsored.
The 1982 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 30 April and 16 May 1982 at the Crucible Theatre, in Sheffield, England. It was the only event of the 1981–82 snooker season which carried world ranking points. Embassy, a British cigarette company, sponsored the tournament, and the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) governed the organisation of the event. It had a prize fund of £110,000, with the winner receiving £25,000.