Aaaaannnnnd here are the players! In a voice of an MC, that’ll be a wonderful opening to an article about women’s snooker. Unfortunately, this is a written by me who only shouts in a field hockey pitch. Sorry about that.
Since the first ever Women’s World Championship in 1976 in the hidden depths of Middlesborough where Vera Selby whitewashed Muriel Hazeldene 4-0, we have seen many legends within the women’s game. This includes a winner from Australia; a 17-year-old world champion; a player with the longest winning streak in snooker history; an 11-time World Champion; and a rising star from Hong Kong. And this is only in the past 30 years or so! Now that the current tour has revamped and we have a lot of young talent with long careers ahead of them, we should have plenty more to add to the list. So held the torch in the past?
1976-2003: The Fisher Queens
It’s weird to think that women had a non-British champion at the same time as Cliff Thorburn winning the men’s equivalent. Australian Lesley McIlrath won her first and only title by beating Agnes Davies 4-2. Unfortunately, during that time women’s snooker was struggling to find its feet as there were at one point three World Championships during the 8 year period, including one more by Selby and one by Mandy Fisher, who is now the current WLBS President . Then Alison Fisher came along!
Alison was the first dominant force in the sport. After watching Pot Black, she began playing snooker and within a year she was picked to play in the pub team. By the time she left the league she won every trophy going and then upgraded to national tournaments. She won her first tournament on just her fourth attempt and after collaborating with coach Frank Callan, the man behind Steve Davis, she won her first world title at 17-years-old. She then started beating male professionals in the league such as Mike Hallett, Tony Drago and even Neal Foulds [1].
She left snooker to start her successful pool career as the ‘Duchess of Doom’ in America, disillusioned by the sport due to the disorganisation of the 1994 World Championship in India that was postponed on multiple occasions and ended up playing in “just a concrete room with the air conditioning hanging out of the door and a red curtain on the wall.” [1] She left having won seven singles world titles in nine attempts, four doubles titles and over eighty national titles. She was followed suit by rival Karen Corr. Karen also had a significant stint in the snooker scene, winning three world titles and three finals before the Northern Irishwoman joined the WPBA Tour in America after a profitable career in snooker became unlikely due to government legislation to erase all tobacco sponsorship in sport, which had an impact on prize money. [2]
Then there was Kelly Fisher, unrelated to Allison by the way. She started playing pool and snooker at 13 at her parent’s bar, putting practice ahead of school [3]. She has won the world title five times and came runners-up once and amazingly, she has a record of the longest winning streak in snooker history. Her winning streak started on June the 9th 2001 by defeating Christine Sharp 3-0 and ended on March 3rd 2003 after she was defeated 4-3 by Maria Catalano. Kelly won 15 major women’s snooker tournaments and 69 straight matches on the trot [4].
Then it all went to pot in 2003. Tabacco sponsorship was declining, meaning no money in the women’s game. Despite promises of financial prosperity and security from World Snooker Enterprises, all female competitions had been abandoned. Kelly said this:
“I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to ditch the women. Why not all stick together and go through the bad together. It seems that as long as the men’s competition is okay that’s what matters to the governing body. My choice now is to get a full-time job or go to America and play nine-ball pool like former world champion Allison Fisher chose to do.” [5]
As you might have guessed, she chose the latter option. Women’s snooker was in dire straits with the 2004 World Championship withdrawn due to financial difficulties. Thankfully, there are a lovely bunch of people called the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association brought it back the following year. This is the introduction of currently the most successful player in the tournament’s history….
2005-2014: Dominance from the Evans
Good god, these puns are terrible.
Reanne Evans was first introduced into snooker by her older brother Ryan, who was very nearly a snooker pro himself. It was then she was hooked, despite the number of barriers that weren’t in place for men, such as being refused to play or even to support her brother during matches in snooker halls – but that is for the next article! Her reign of terror started in 2005, where she beat Lynette Horsburgh 6-4 in the Ladies World Snooker Championship final, where her crown was sat on her head until 2014, meaning she won the title TEN TIMES IN A ROW, beating Emma Bonney twice and Maria Catalano four times. Damn. [6]
Due to her achievements in the ladies’ circuit, she was given a wildcard to participate in the men’s qualifying events in 2010, the first since Alison Fisher in 1994. She dropped out after a year on the circuit after failing to win a single match. In 2013, she became the first female player to reach a major tournament venue by defeating No. 69 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-4 in a Wuxi Classic qualifying match, even coming back from 3-4 down. [6] This was supposed to be a fantastic opportunity to face Neil Robertson on the TV table to give the women’s game much-needed publicity in her first visit to China, but unfortunately, she was drawn against wildcard Zhu Yinghui, losing 5-2. She criticised the nomination, as China was powerful enough to not offer wildcards even then, and that it threatened her breakthrough. [7]
Statistically, Evans stands well ahead of all the current players. At that stage, no-one was abel to stand close to her and even her closest rival Catalano. That was when out of a blue, a player from Hong Kong who only came into snooker because she liked how players dressed came along……
2015-present: The Evans/Ng Rivalry
It is from the land of Hong Kong, which is Hong Kong, Ng On-Yee decided to take up snooker after watching his father play snooker in a local tournament, having been more fascinated by the uniform rather than his wonderful skills, as I’m sure his skills was. Her father ended being Ng’s “guardian angel” to her. [8] She started playing in overseas tournaments at the age of 16 and it was since then she got the ball rolling. She became the IBSF World Champion in 2009 and in 2010 and won a Bronze and Gold medal in the Asian Games. Not a bad start, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Then she made a breakthrough in 2015 by toppling Evans off her pedestal in the semi-finals of the Ladies World Snooker Championship, beating her 4-2 and became the first Asian winner by defeating Emma Bonney 6-2 in the final. Beforehand, Ng says that the sport changed her life because it improved her self-confidence and snooker tested her persistence, concentration and patience. [8] This led to a funny extract between the new champion and her father:
“Dad, I won the tournament, I did it!” an excited On-yee squealed down the line from Leeds, England. “Oh, that’s great. I’m very happy,” her father replied rather groggily. “Errr, what tournament was this?” [9]
As she remarked many times and perhaps admirably, Ng said that it is not a life-changing moment, since she has a long way to go, a lot of improve and most importantly, more tournaments to be won This is despite being heaped with praise from one of the best modern coaches in the game, Terry Griffiths [9]. At the same time, she became one of the pioneers of women’s snooker and even changing perceptions of snooker itself, believing that her successes proved that snooker is a healthy sport for ladies and not areas where bad people hang out [10]. Since then, she is one of the country’s icons, even representing Hong Kong while attending BBC Sports Personality of the Year in Belfast, which she remarks as a great honour [11], as well as being named ‘Best of the Best’ at the prestigious Hong Kong Sports Star Awards and was invited to exhibitions with Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White in the recent Hong Kong Masters, attracting record crowds. [12]
Of course, now I need to explain what this makes this rivalry a rivalry. Well, it didn’t take long for the Ng to admire the trophy as Reanne Evans gained revenge the year after, with Evans being the 6-4 victor in the 2016 World Ladies Snooker Championship. The year after that, Ng turned the tables again by beating Evans in Toa Payoh, Malaysia in the semi-finals in 2017 by winning 5-4, before lifting the trophy for the second time by winning the decider 6-5 against Indian Vidya Pallai. Just in the current 2017/2018 season alone, Evans and Ng met in three finals out of three events so far, with Ng winning the UK Championship and the Eden Masters while Reanne won the Paul Hunter Classic.
So is this dominance and struggle for power between two people really healthy for Women’s Snooker? Fellow professional Suzie Opacic explains:
“Seeing Reanne and On Yee increasing the profile of the women’s game is a real boost and it gets more girls playing – we need more of this to raise the publicity of women’s snooker and encourage girls to take up the game. Women’s snooker, and any sport, needs that rivalry to increase standards and push players to strive to be the best. Everyone wants to be challenged and it was clear in Singapore there are some real contenders pushing forward in the women’s game, which is great to see.” [13]
2015-present: Evans and Ng in the Men’s Circuit
As mentioned before, Reanne failed to make an impact when she was professional on the men’s circuit. As mentioned before, Ng wants to break the glass ceiling to close the gap of the number of opportunities women have in comparison to men. [9] Well, this is were Barry Hearn stopped selling ice to eskimos, cheese to tp French or something like that, and granted them places to qualify for the Men’s World Snooker Championship.
Evans was awarded a place in the 2015 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds and was drawn against Ken Doherty. Despite being 3-1 ahead of the 1997 World Champion, it turned into a very gritty affair, with no more than two frames between them and eventually Ken came out the victor by clinching the match 10-8.
However, Reanne received a lot of plaudits, especially from Ken on her performance. Reanne admitted that she was ‘gutted‘ to lose but saw this as a breakthrough for women’s sport and hoped that “ladies will get this sort of opportunity more in the future … to push snooker further and further and it’ll only be good for the whole sport.” [14]
Delighted to get thru ,that was one of the toughest matches I've played in this World Championships,@evans_reanne deserved it more than me
— Ken Doherty Official (@kendoherty1997) April 9, 2015
In 2016, Ng was given the same honour, this time drawing against Peter Lines. However, she was soundly beaten 10-1. Both Ng and Evans were invited to the 2017 edition, with the Hong Kong ace losing 10-1 again, this time to Nigel Bond. However, Reanne made it one step further by beating former Shoot-Out champion and a talented player who reached the Crucible three times Robin Hull 10-8, before being beaten by Lee Walker 10-4 in the second round of the World Championship qualifying competition.
Well done @evans_reanne tough match but a well deserved win in the end,good luck next round
— Robin Hull (@robinhull_) April 5, 2017
Is this the only time women competed with men in a professional event? No my pretty, that is not the case! Snooker professional Anita Maflin teamed up with her husband and snooker professional Kurt Maflin to represent Norway in the 2015 World Cup, while Latvian Tatjana Vasilijeva, who is ranked No. 9 in the WLBS ranking list as of January this year, was given a wildcard in the 2016 Riga Masters to face Marco Fu in the first round and ended up losing 4-1.
2013-present: Who Can Break Up This Rivalry?
So who can break up the dominance between these too players? How long will it last?Considering Reanne Evans is 31 years-old and Ng On Yee is 26, they should be in the game for a very long time because ranking tournaments, prize money and longevity in the game has increased. The last time a woman other than Evans or Ng to win a ranking tournament is when 4-time finalist Maria Catalano beat Rebecca Kenna (who beat Evans on the way) 4-2 in the 2017 Connie Gough Trophy. Many others, including Bonney, Vasilijeva and So Man Yan reached finals only to be beaten by one of the twosome, so there are clearly a good number of woman knocking on the door to pose a consistent threat and break up the monopoly we currently have.
Another contender who has been around for a while is Belgian Wendy Jans. Though as of January she is No. 57 in the rankings, she is a prolific winner. Last November, she won her 7th IBSF World Women Snooker Title, which is her 6th in a row by beating Waratthanun Sukritthanes 5-2 in the final. We also have to look further down the field for some tough players too. India’s Vidya Pillai wasn’t a seeded player in the 2017 Eden World Women’s Championship but beat four of the world’s Top 8 players to reach the final, only to lose the decider to Ng On-Yee in an amazingly intense safety-laden frame, particularly in the final pink and black.
I think she thought it may drop in the way she tried to nudge it, so did I to be honest. She had a great event this girl, very tough player! https://t.co/sXw2ZGe3kk
— jason ferguson (@jasonferguson5) March 20, 2017
What about the Other Players?
Just looking at the list of many players on the women’s circuit, it’s surprising how much diversity there actually is. There are professional players from Hong Kong, Belarus, South Korea, Latvia, Singapore, Romania, Netherlands, Israel, Brazil and ten from Germany. The Men’s circuit have yet to have a professional from most of these countries (of course they have from Hong Kong, Brazil and Germany, for example). Even back in the 2016 World Championships, there were players from 13 different countries across 3 different continents. [15]
What’s great is the accessibility women to snooker and practising with the men. It’s been well documented that top players from Ng On-Yee to other professionals such as Heidi De Gruchy, Aimee Benn and Lily Dobson are practising with male players and hone their craft under male coaches. Even U21 UK Champion Emma Parker is managed under Django Fung, owner of Grove Leisure and whose client list includes Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Oliver Lines, Luca Brecel and of course has helped Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Of course, there will be another article on where the future of snooker will be after Evans and Ng will be, but there are much younger hot prospects who look to take up the mantle. Teenagers Benn and Dobson started playing in 2015 via the Paul Hunter Foundation and have quickly risen up the rankings, with Benn winning the Connie Gough Under 21 Champion in 2017 under the watchful eyes of David Horrix. [16] More on that in another article, I think!
Ending
So far, we can tell that there is a lot of depth in the women’s circuit and more importantly, the ranking list is growing in numbers. However, they are still far behind the men based on results and firepower and I think Reanne Evans beating a man of Robin Hull’s calibre is the perfect response to that and hopefully, a watershed moment – snooker is a technical where it is accessible for both sexes to play, after all. Ng On-Yee has been a breath of fresh air since she arrived into the snooker world as she transformed a one-lady dominant tour in something more fortified, competitive and therefore, a lot more appealing. The next step is for it to be more competitive and to find an encourage players to threaten both Ng and Evans. Easier said than done, I know.
The fact that Reanne Evans is still winning tournaments and World Championships against revitalised and stronger competition, such as the 2016 World Championships and the recent Paul Hunter Classic is even more impressive on top of the many World Championships she won, including one where she was seven-and-a-half months pregnant, a moment she ranks as the best in her career. She is looked upon by fans, current players and girls as an inspiration that what she has achieved can be done because she overcame so many obstacles to get to where she is today. You can argue that Ng is one too because she proved that such a player can be beaten. It gets people talking, gets people playing and hopefully, there will be more champions on the way.
Who knows – the Women’s World Championships will take place in Malta between 14-24 March this year so we must stay tuned! Here are the videos talking about motivations of female snooker players and a compilation of snooker shots from women – enjoy! 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wcWPkKndFk
[1] Buckley, W., “Allison Fisher beat the men at snooker, now she earns more than them playing pool.” The Guardian. (8th November 2009). Accessed on: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/nov/08/allison-fisher-pool-interview
[2] Allison Fisher., “Career.” (No date). Accessed on: http://www.allisonfisher.com/career/
[3] BBC News., “Fisher prepares for take-off.” (12th April 2000). Accessed on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/710732.stm
[4] Snooker.org., “Snooker World Records.” (No date). Accessed on: http://www.snooker.org/Plr/records.shtml
[5] Chowdhury, S., “Women’s game under threat.” BBC Sport. (10th July 2003). Accessed on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/3056307.stm
[6] Hart, S., “Reanne Evans hopes to build profile of women’s snooker ahead of Wixu Classic match against Neil Robertson.” The Telegraph. (29th March 2013). Accessed on: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/snooker/10087259/Reanne-Evans-hopes-to-build-profile-of-womens-snooker-ahead-of-Wixu-Classic-match-against-Neil-Robertson.html
[7] Nunns, H., “Evans hits out at snooker’s wildcard system as it threatens her breakthrough.” Mail Online. (11th June 2013). Accessed on: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2339924/Reanne-Evans-hits-snookers-wild-card-system.html
[8] Kung, K., “Snooker world champion Hong Kong’s Ng On-yee on how it all got started.” South China Morning Post. (24th March 2016). Accessed on: https://www.scmp.com/video/sport/1791706/snooker-world-champion-hong-kongs-ng-yee-how-it-all-got-started
[9] Kin-wa, C., “I want to break the glass ceiling: Hong Kong snooker queen Ng On-yee determined to compete with the men.” South China Morning Post. (15th July 2015). Accessed on: http://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2102680/i-want-break-glass-ceiling-hong-kong-snooker-queen-ng-yee-determined
[10] Careem, N., “Why becoming world champion won’t change Hong Kong’s newest golden girl Ng On-yee.” South China Morning Post. (9th May 2015; (updated 24th March 2016)). Accessed on: http://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/1791065/hong-kongs-new-golden-girl-ng-yee-makes-her-mark-snooker
[11] South China Morning Post., “Hong Kong’s world snooker champion Ng On-yee on cue to storm male bastion.” (13th February 2016; (updated 24th March 2016)). Accessed on: http://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/1912462/hong-kongs-world-snooker-champion-ng-yee-cue-storm-male-bastion
[12] WPSBA., “Record Year for Ng On Yee.” (24th January 2018). Accessed on: https://www.wpbsa.com/five-star-year-ng-yee/
[13] WPSBA., “Opacic Plans Flying Start at UK Women’s Championship.” (27th September 2017). Accessed on: thttp://www.wpbsa.com/opacic-plans-flying-start-uk-championship/
[14] BBC Sport., “Evans ‘gutted’ after Doherty defeat.” (11th April 2015). Accessed on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/32266554
[15] Day, M., “ON YEE PREPARES FOR HER TITLE DEFENCE.” The Cue View. (30th March 2016). Accessed on: http://www.thecueview.com/2016-wlbs-world-ladies-snooker-championships—the-preview.html
[16] McIntyre, A., “Aimee and Lily are blazing a trail in the world of snooker.” Ilkley Gazette. (
This is the second article in the “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” series. The published articles so far are:
THE REFEREES: https://clusterofredssnookerblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/25/sisters-are-doin-it-for-themselves-the-referees/
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