| Born | 30 January 1955 Llanelli, Wales |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  Wales |
| Professional | 2005–present |
John Pellew (born 30 January 1955) is a Welsh snooker referee from Llanelli. [1]
| Born | 30 January 1955 Llanelli, Wales |
|---|---|
| Sport country | Wales |
| Professional | 2005–present |
John Pellew (born 30 January 1955) is a Welsh snooker referee from Llanelli. [1]
Pellew has been an active snooker player since he was 15 years old, [2] with a highest break of 68. [1] He became a Grade III referee in 2002, and Grade II in 2004. [1] He has been working as a professional referee since 2005. [3] He has officiated at five maximum breaks in professional tournaments, [4] [10] and two ranking tournament finals.
Snooker is a cue sport played on a rectangular billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets: one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century, the game is played with 22 balls, comprising a white cue ball, 15 red balls and 6 other balls—a yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black—collectively called 'the colours'. Using a snooker cue, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the cue ball to pot other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful pot and for each foul committed by the opposing player or team. An individual frame of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points, and a snooker match ends when a player wins a predetermined number of frames.
A maximum break is the highest possible break in snooker in normal circumstances and is a special type of total clearance. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 reds with 15 blacks for 120 points, followed by all six colours for a further 27 points. Compiling a maximum break is regarded as a highly significant achievement in the game of snooker, and may be compared to a nine‑dart finish in darts, a hole‑in‑one in golf, or a 300 game in ten‑pin bowling.
The Welsh Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament that has been held annually since 1992. It replaced the Welsh Professional Championship, which ran annually from 1980 to 1991 and was open only to Welsh players. The Welsh Open is now the longest running ranking event after the World Championship and the UK Championship. Since the 2016–17 season, it has been one of four tournaments in the Home Nations Series, alongside the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open, and the English Open. Since 2017, the winner of the event has received the Ray Reardon Trophy, named after the Welsh six-time world champion. Reardon himself presented the newly named trophy to 2017 winner Stuart Bingham.
Neil Alexander Robertson is an Australian professional snooker player, who is a former world champion and former world number one. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he is the most successful player from outside the United Kingdom, and the only non-UK born to have completed snooker's Triple Crown, having won the World Championship in 2010, the Masters in 2012 and 2022, and the UK Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2020. He has claimed a career total of 24 ranking titles. He won at least one professional tournament every year between 2006 and 2022.
Judd Trump is an English professional snooker player who is a former world champion and the current world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently in fourth place on the list of all-time ranking event winners, having won 30 ranking titles. He has also won five Triple Crown titles.
In snooker, a century break is a break of 100 points or more, compiled in one visit to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a mark of the highest skill in snooker. Ronnie O'Sullivan has described a player's first century break as the "ultimate milestone for any snooker player". Joe Davis made the first televised century break in 1962.
The 2006–07 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 13 July 2006 and 14 May 2007.
The 2010–11 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 20 May 2010 and 2 May 2011. The German Masters was the first ranking tournament in Germany since the 1997/1998 season. The Grand Prix was renamed to World Open, and the format of the tournament was changed with 32 amateurs joining the Main Tour professionals. The Players Tour Championship minor-ranking series was introduced to the calendar. These events were open to amateurs and professionals with a separate Order of Merit. The top 24 in the Order of Merit qualified for the Finals, which was a ranking event. The Premier League was for the first time part of the Main Tour. The Jiangsu Classic was renamed to the Wuxi Classic, and other events were introduced to the calendar: the new cue sport Power Snooker, the World Seniors Championship, and Snooker Shoot Out. The Scottish Professional Championship was held for the first time since 1989.
Championship League is a professional snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. The tournament was originally held at the Crondon Park Golf Club in Stock, Essex, from its debut in 2008 until 2016. From 2017 it has been held in Coventry, Barnsley, Milton Keynes and Leicester.
The 2011–12 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 1 June 2011 and 7 May 2012. The Brazil Masters became the first major professional event held in South America, and the Australian Goldfields Open the first ranking event in Australia. The World Cup was held again after 1996. At the end of the season Ronnie O'Sullivan was named the World Snooker Player of the Year and the Snooker Writers Player of the Year, Judd Trump the Fans Player of the Year and Luca Brecel the Rookie of the Year. Stuart Bingham received the "Performance of the Year" for winning his first ranking event, the Australian Goldfields Open. Stephen Hendry's maximum break at the World Championship received "The Magic Moment" award. Walter Donaldson, Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Gary Wilson is an English professional snooker player from Wallsend in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear.
Zhao Xintong is a Chinese snooker player. Zhao won the 2021 UK Championship, but received a 20-month ban from the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association after committing offences relating to betting on snooker in 2023. This ban expired on 1 September 2024. He secured his return to the World Snooker Tour for the 2025–26 season by topping the Q Tour Europe rankings list.
Shaun Peter Murphy is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight cue action and his long potting.
The 2017–18 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 4 May 2017 and 7 May 2018. The season began with the pro–am Vienna Snooker Open in May 2017 and ended with the 2018 World Snooker Championship in April the following year. Ronnie O'Sullivan earned a joint-record five ranking titles in the season. He joined Stephen Hendry (1990/1991), Ding Junhui (2013/2014), and Mark Selby (2016/2017) in winning five ranking titles in the same season.
Joe O'Connor is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He was the 2018 English Amateur Champion and a ranking event finalist at the 2022 Scottish Open.
Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record for the highest numbers of competitive centuries and maximum breaks, as well as the fastest maximum break of all time, in the professional sport of snooker.
Marcel Eckardt is a German snooker and pool referee.
Nutcharut Wongharuthai, better known as Mink Nutcharut, is a Thai snooker player who competes on both the professional World Snooker Tour and the World Women's Snooker Tour. She is the only woman known to have made a maximum break, having achieved the feat during a practice match in March 2019. She is, as of September 2024, number one in the world women's snooker rankings.
Brendan Moore is an English former professional snooker referee.
 | This biographical article relating to snooker in the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |