The 1965 Television Tournament was an invitational amateur snooker tournament.[1] Apart from one of the semi-finals, it was held at the National Liberal Club in London, UK, as a series of matches starting on 5 December 1963 and with the final held on 3 April 1965. The competition was organised by the Billiards Association & Control Council and shown on ITV in the United Kingdom.[2]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue | National Liberal Club |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Organisation | Billiards Association & Control Council |
| Format | Single elimination |
| Final | |
| Champion |  Pat Houlihan (ENG) |
| Runner-up | Eric Stickler (ENG) |
| Score | 4–1 |
← 1964 | |
Jonathan Barron had won the invitational pro-am 1962–63 Television Tournament by defeating 4–3 Ron Gross 4–3 in the final,[3] and also its successor, the 1964 Television Tournament, that time with a 4–3 defeat of Mario Berni in the final.[4] Barron was not among the eight participants in 1965.
The 1965 final was played on 3 April at the National Liberal Club, between Pat Houlihan and Eric Stickler. Houlihan won 4–1 to take the title.
Summary
editThe first round and semi-finals were played as best-of-five frames matches. The first match, on 5 December 1964, saw Houlihan eliminate John Spencer 4–2; it was the first time that either player had been in a televised match. The highest break of the encounter was Spencer's 60 in the fifth frame.[5][6] Berni defeated Dennis Robertson 4–1, and made the match's highest break on 66 in frame three; television commentary was provided by Ted Lowe.[7] In the first frame of his contest against Mark Wildman, Marcus Chapman made the match's highest break, 35, but he lost 4–1 overall.[8] Eric Stickler eliminated Ron Gross.[9]
Rusholme Conservative Club, Manchester was the venue for the semi-final between Houlihan and Berni on 13 February; it was the only match in the tournament not played at the National Liberal Club. Houlihan won 4–0.[7][10] The match referee, Fred Mayall, commented that he thought Berni was "under his usual form".[10] Billiards Association & Control Council Chairman Harold Philips agreed, but felt that Houlihan was "playing better than ever before".[10] In the other semi-final, Stickler defeated Wildman 4–1.[9]
Just over two weeks before the Television Tournament final, Houlihan had won the English Amateur Championship, after an 11–3 victory against Spencer in the final.[11] In many British newspapers, this received more coverage than the professional World Snooker Championship title match between John Pulman and Fred Davis held at the same time.[12] Houlihan won the Television title by defeating Stickler 4–1 in the final.[13][2] It was his 17th consecutive competitive match win, in a sequence dating back to 1964.[13]
Draw
edit| Quarter-finals Best of 7 frames | Semi-finals Best of 7 frames | Final Best of 7 frames | ||||||||||||
| John Spencer (ENG)
| 2 | |||||||||||||
| Pat Houlihan (ENG)
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| Pat Houlihan (ENG)
| 4 | |||||||||||||
 Mario Berni (WAL)
| 0 | |||||||||||||
| Mario Berni (WAL)
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| Dennis Robertson (ENG)
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| Pat Houlihan (ENG)
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Stickler (ENG)
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Wildman (ENG)
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| Marcus Chapman (ENG)
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Wildman (ENG)
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Stickler (ENG)
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Stickler (ENG)
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| Ron Gross (ENG)
| [a] | |||||||||||||
Notes
edit- ^ Score unknown
References
edit- ^ "Telesport". Daily Mirror. 20 March 1965. p. 13.
- ^ a b "The 1964–65 season". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. May 1965. pp. 3–5.
- ^ "Snooker: Barron has revenge in ITV final". Cornish Guardian. 28 February 1963. p. 11.
- ^ "Snooker: ITV title retained by Barron". Cornish Guardian. 28 May 1964. p. 11.
- ^ Williams 2023, 1142.
- ^ "Pat Houlihan's TV victory". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. February 1965. p. 10.
- ^ a b "On going to press". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. February 1965. p. 11.
- ^ "BA&CC Television (ITV)". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. February 1965. p. 9.
- ^ a b "Televised knock-out amateur invitation comp. ITV". The Billiard Player. Billiards Association and Control Council. April 1965. p. 8.
- ^ a b c "BA&CC Television (ITV): Pat Houlihan's comfortable win over Mario Berni". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. March 1965. p. 12.
- ^ Williams 2023, 1352, 1403.
- ^ Williams 2023, 1366.
- ^ a b Williams 2023, 1403.
Book
- Williams, Luke G. (2023). The Natural: The Story of Patsy Houlihan, the best snooker player you never saw (Kindle ed.). Chichester: Pitch. ISBN 9781801505680.