BA&CC Television Tournament
Tournament information
VenueNational Liberal Club
CountryUnited Kingdom
OrganisationBilliards Association & Control Council
FormatSingle elimination
Final
Champion Pat Houlihan (ENG)
Runner-up Eric Stickler (ENG)
Score4–1
← 1964

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]

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

The 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

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) [lower-alpha 1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Score unknown

References

  1. ↑ "Telesport". Daily Mirror. 20 March 1965. p. 13.
  2. 1 2 "The 1964–65 season". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. May 1965. pp. 3–5.
  3. ↑ "Snooker: Barron has revenge in ITV final". Cornish Guardian. 28 February 1963. p. 11.
  4. ↑ "Snooker: ITV title retained by Barron". Cornish Guardian. 28 May 1964. p. 11.
  5. ↑ Williams 2023, 1142.
  6. ↑ "Pat Houlihan's TV victory". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. February 1965. p. 10.
  7. 1 2 "On going to press". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. February 1965. p. 11.
  8. ↑ "BA&CC Television (ITV)". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. February 1965. p. 9.
  9. 1 2 "Televised knock-out amateur invitation comp. ITV". The Billiard Player. Billiards Association and Control Council. April 1965. p. 8.
  10. 1 2 3 "BA&CC Television (ITV): Pat Houlihan's comfortable win over Mario Berni". Billiards and Snooker. Billiards Association and Control Council. March 1965. p. 12.
  11. ↑ Williams 2023, 1352, 1403.
  12. ↑ Williams 2023, 1366.
  13. 1 2 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.


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