Editing Snooker (section)

==History==
<!-- To be replaced with a definitely PD image [[File:Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain.png|thumb|right|upright|alt=Portrait of a British army officer in full dress uniform with aiguillettes and service medals, facing forward with one hand on hip|[[Neville Chamberlain (police officer)|Sir Neville Chamberlain]], a British Army officer who devised the game and its rules in the late 19th century]] -->
Snooker originated in the second half of the 19th century in India during the [[British Raj]].<ref name="origins" /> In the 1870s, [[English billiards|billiards]] was popular among [[British Army]] officers stationed in [[Jabalpur|Jubbulpore]] (now Jabalpur), India, and several variations of the game were devised during this time.<ref name="origins" />{{sfn|Boru|2010|pages=3–4}} A similar game, which originated at the [[Mess|Officers' Mess]] of the 11th [[Devonshire Regiment]] in 1875,<ref name="heritage2008" /><ref name="WST History of Snooker" /> combined the rules of two [[Pool (cue sports)|pool]] games: [[pyramid pool|pyramids]], played with 15 red balls positioned in a triangle,{{efn|A game called pyramid pool, like pyramids, was also played on a billiard table in England prior to 1850. The rules of these two games were very similar. However, that game of pyramid pool was played at this time in England with 14 reds instead of 15. In both games, each player shared the same cue ball.<ref name="Kentfield_book" />}}{{sfn|Kentfield|1850|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gp8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA48 48]}}<ref name="LWC1881" /><ref name="Snooker-Forum.com" /> and [[black pool]], which involved potting designated balls.<ref name="FullHistory" /><ref name="Neville Chamberlain disambiguation" /><ref name="Shamos 1994" /> Snooker was further developed in 1882 when its first set of rules was finalised by British Army officer [[Neville Chamberlain (police officer)|Neville Chamberlain]],{{efn|This is not the former [[Neville Chamberlain|British Prime Minister]] of the same name.<ref name="WST History of Snooker" />}}<ref name="heritage2008" />{{sfn|Boru|2010|p=3}} who helped devise and popularise the game at [[Stone House, Ooty|Stone House]] in [[Ootacamund]] on a table built by [[Burroughes & Watts]] that had been sent to India by sea.<ref name="telegraph2014" /><ref name="AZ Billiards" /> At the time, the word ''snooker'' was a slang term used in the British Army to describe new recruits and inexperienced military personnel; Chamberlain used the word to deride the inferior performance of a young fellow officer at the table.{{sfn|Boru|2010|p=3}}{{sfn|Everton|1986|page=48}}{{sfn|McCann|2013|page=1}}

The new game of snooker featured in an 1887 issue of the ''[[Sporting Life (British newspaper)|Sporting Life]]'' newspaper in England, which led to a growth in popularity.<ref name="heritage2008" /> Chamberlain was revealed to be the inventor, 63 years after the fact, in a letter to ''[[The Field (magazine)|The Field]]'' magazine published on 19&nbsp;March 1938.<ref name="heritage2008" /> Snooker became increasingly popular across the Indian colonies of the British Raj and in the United Kingdom, but it remained a game played mostly by military officers and the [[gentry]].{{sfn|Boru|2010|p=vii}} Many [[gentlemen's club]]s with a snooker table would refuse entry to {{nowrap|non-members}} who wished to go in and play snooker;<ref name="heritage2008" />{{efn|Reflecting the game's aristocratic origins, the majority of tournaments on the professional circuit still require players to wear [[waistcoat]]s and [[bow tie]]s, although the necessity for this attire has been questioned.<ref name="MEN waistcoats" /><ref name="Eurosport waistcoats" />}} to cater for the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker clubs were formed.<ref name="heritage2008" /> The Billiards Association (formed in 1885) and the Billiards Control Club (formed in 1908) merged to form the [[Billiards Association and Control Club]] (BA&CC) and a new, standardised set of rules for snooker was first established in 1919.{{sfn|Everton|1986|page=49}}{{sfn|Gadsby|Williams|2005|p=8}} The possibility of a drawn game was abolished by the use of a {{cuegloss|re-spotted black|{{nowrap|re-spotted}} black}} as a tiebreaker.{{sfn|Everton|1986|page=49}} These early rules are similar to those used in the modern game, although rules for a minimal point penalty were imposed later.{{sfn|Everton|1986|pages=49–50}}
[[File:Billiards_(24148162622).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=A full-size snooker table in a brightly lit room with bookcases and a boardroom table in the background, all cordoned off at the right-hand side as part of an English country house display|A full-size snooker table set up for a game]]
Played in 1926 and 1927, the [[1927 World Snooker Championship|first World Snooker Championship]]—then known as the [[1927 World Snooker Championship|Professional Championship of Snooker]]—was won by [[Joe Davis]].<ref name="origins" />{{sfn|Boru|2010|page=4}}<ref name="ProfessionalChampionship" /> The [[Women's Professional Snooker Championship]] (now the [[World Women's Snooker Championship]]) was created in 1934 for top female players.<ref name="EVERTONWTC" /><ref name="wome_Worl" /> Davis, himself a professional English billiards and snooker player, raised the game from a recreational pastime to a professional sporting activity.{{sfn|Shamos|2002|pp=228–229}}{{sfn|Everton|2012|page=2}} He retired from the world championships in 1946, having won all fifteen tournaments held up to that date.<ref name="5J29x" />{{sfn|Everton|2012|pages=3–4}} Snooker declined in popularity in the {{nowrap|post-war}} era; the [[1952 World Snooker Championship]] was contested by only two players and was replaced by the [[World Professional Match-play Championship|World Professional {{nowrap|Match-play}} Championship]], which was also discontinued in 1957.{{sfn|Boru|2010|page=4}}<ref name="WST History of Snooker" /> In an effort to boost the game's popularity, Davis introduced a variation known as "[[1959 News of the World Snooker Plus Tournament#Snooker plus|snooker plus]]" in 1959, with the addition of two extra colours, but this version of the game was {{nowrap|short-lived}}.{{sfn|Fotherington|2006|page=106}} A world championship for top amateur players, now known as the [[IBSF World Snooker Championship]], was founded in 1963,<ref name="f9rUu" /> and the official world championship was revived on a challenge basis in 1964.{{sfn|Morrison|1989|p=8}}

At the end of 1968, the [[World Snooker Championship]] reverted to a [[knockout tournament]] format, with eight competitors; the tournament concluded in [[1969 World Snooker Championship|1969]] with [[John Spencer (snooker player)|John Spencer]] winning the title.{{sfn|Everton|1986|pages=72–73}}{{sfn|Everton|2012|pages=36–37}} The BBC had first launched its [[colour television]] service in July 1967;<ref name="BBC Pot Black" /> in 1969, [[David Attenborough]], then the controller of [[BBC2]], commissioned the snooker tournament television series ''[[Pot Black]]'' primarily to showcase the potential of the [[BBC]]'s new colour television service—the green table and {{nowrap|multi-coloured}} balls provided an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of the new broadcasting technology.<ref name="WST History of Snooker" /><ref name="news_BBCS" /><ref name="Cue China" /> The series became a ratings success and was, for a time, the second most popular show on BBC2 after [[Morecambe and Wise]].<ref name="thet_Whit" /> Due to these developments, the year 1969 is taken to mark the beginning of snooker's modern era.<ref name="telegraph_JHeyes" /> The World Snooker Championship moved in [[1977 World Snooker Championship|1977]] to the [[Crucible Theatre]] in [[Sheffield]], where it has been staged ever since,<ref name=wst_crucible /> and the [[1978 World Snooker Championship]] was the first to receive daily television coverage.<ref name="commonwealth" /> Snooker quickly became a mainstream sport in the United Kingdom,<ref name="theg_Hearn" /><ref name="GuardianThatch" /> Ireland, and much of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]], and has remained consistently popular since the late 1970s,<!--{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}--> with most of the major tournaments being televised.<ref name="FullHistory" /> In [[1985 World Snooker Championship|1985]], an estimated 18.5&nbsp;million viewers stayed up until the early hours of the morning to watch the conclusion of the [[1985 World Snooker Championship final|World Championship final]] between [[Dennis Taylor]] and [[Steve Davis]], a record viewership in the UK for any broadcast on BBC Two and for any broadcast after midnight.<ref name="dsoH1" /><ref name="inde_Grea" />

As professional snooker grew as a mainstream sport, it became heavily dependent on [[tobacco advertising]]. Cigarette brand [[Embassy (cigarette)|Embassy]] sponsored the World Snooker Championship for thirty consecutive years from 1976 to 2005, one of the longest running deals in British sports sponsorship.<ref name="Marketing Week" /> In the early 2000s, a ban on tobacco advertising led to a reduction in the number of professional tournaments,<ref name="GuardianSponsor" /><ref name="sponsor" /> which decreased from 22 events in 1999 to 15 in 2003.<ref name="snoo_WWWS" /><ref name="snoo_WWWS_GThzD" /> The sport had become more popular in Asia with the emergence of players such as [[Ding Junhui]] and [[Marco Fu]],<ref name="BeebDing2" /><ref name="BeebDing1" /> and still received significant television coverage in the UK—the BBC dedicated 400 hours to snooker in 2007, compared to just 14 minutes 40 years earlier.<ref name="gE3Ec" /> However, the British public's interest in snooker had waned significantly by the late 2000s. Warning that the sport was "lurching into terminal crisis", ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper predicted in 2010 that snooker would cease to exist as a professional sport within ten years.<ref name="Guardian neg" /> In the same year, promoter [[Barry Hearn]] gained a controlling interest in the [[World Snooker Tour]], pledging to revitalise the "moribund" professional game.<ref name="fUEoB" /><ref name="peHgu" /><ref name="GuardianHearn" />

Over the following decade, the number of professional tournaments increased, with 44 events held in the [[2019–20 snooker season|2019–20 season]].<ref name="snoo_Cale" /> Snooker tournaments were adapted to make them more suitable for television audiences, with some tournaments being played over a shortened duration,<ref name="bbc._Holt" /> or the [[Snooker Shoot Out]], which is a timed, one {{cuegloss|frame}} competition.<ref name="worl_2019" /> The prize money for professional events increased, with the top players earning several million pounds over the course of their careers.<ref name="IFuYf" /> During the [[COVID-19 pandemic|{{nowrap|COVID-19}} pandemic]], the professional tour was confined to events played within the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the [[2022–23 snooker season|2022–23 season]], only two professional ranking tournaments were played outside the UK, the [[European Masters (snooker)|European Masters]] in Fürth and the [[German Masters]] in Berlin, while lucrative Chinese events remained off the calendar.<ref name="SnookerHQ" />

Snooker referees are an integral part of the sport, and some have become {{nowrap|well-known}} personalities in their own right. [[Len Ganley]], [[John Street (snooker referee)|John Street]] and [[John Williams (snooker referee)|John Williams]] officiated at seventeen of the first twenty World Snooker finals held at the Crucible Theatre.<ref name="wst_refs" /> Since 2000, {{nowrap|non-British}} and female referees have become more prominent in the sport; Dutch referee [[Jan Verhaas]] became the first {{nowrap|non-Briton}} to referee a World Championship final in [[2003 World Snooker Championship|2003]],<ref name="wst_Verhaas" /> while [[Michaela Tabb]] became the first woman to do so in [[2009 World Snooker Championship|2009]].<ref name="wst_Tabb" /> Tabb was the only woman refereeing on the professional tour when she joined it in 2002,<ref name="sg_Tabb" /><ref name="bbc_Tabb" /> but tournaments now routinely feature female referees such as [[Desislava Bozhilova]],<ref name="wst_Bozhilova" /> [[Maike Kesseler]],<ref name="wst_Kesseler" /> and [[Tatiana Woollaston]].<ref name="wst_Woollaston" />