THE FIRST “WORLD AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP”

The idea of a World Championship for amateur players can be traced back to 1915, when the UK Championship changed its format to allow the entry of recognised champions from Commonwealth counties (which of course represented all the significant billiard playing nations of the world). This was grandly styled as "The Championship of English Billiards" However, with the strict regulations concerning amateur status requiring that a player met his own travel expenses, it is perhaps not surprising that very few overseas champions made their way to England to take advantage of this opportunity.

The Foundations

A separate competition confined exclusively to national champions was first proposed in 1922 by Arthur Walker, president of the South African Billiards Association, but it was not until 1925 that the concept began to take shape. The main problems up to this time had been, a) the cost of travel from countries as far apart as Canada, India, South Africa and Australia; and b) the use of the composition ball in all countries except England, which still used ivory for all championship matches. In 1925, The Billiards Association & Control Council (BA&CC) addressed this latter problem by stipulating that the composition ball would in future be used in all English Championship matches. Even though the majority of amateur players in the United Kingdom were by this time using composition, tradition is a difficult thing to overcome, and this particular change caused deep divisions throughout the game in England. Many of the top players refused to enter the 1926 event in protest, including the reigning Champion, Sidney Fry.

At the same time, the BA&CC decided to allow national associations to meet the travel expenses of competitors without compromising their amateur status, so removing both major obstacles. Under these conditions, the "Championship of English Billiards" was discontinued, and a contest to find an English representative was conducted under the title of "English Amateur Championship" The first such contest was to be decided in February 1926 and allowed entries only from English and also—somewhat incongruously—Welsh residents. Scotland and Ireland were now obliged to produce their own Amateur Champion and national competitions were organised to this effect.

The English Championship

This was an era when the legacy of George Gray, the Australian wonder boy, was engrained into amateur billiards all over the World. There being no restriction on red ball play, all amateurs were basing their game on this scoring technique.

Joe Earlam made a break of 618 at the age of nineteen.

The standard of play in the United Kingdom, and particularly England at this time, was possibly the highest in the World, but there was no doubt that Australia and New Zealand also had very capable players. The 1925 championship in England had seen the entry of the New Zealand and Australasian Champion J. R. Hooper, who, playing for the first time with the ivory ball, put up a valiant performance and demonstrated that he could well have taken the title had the event been played with more familiar “compositions”. Perhaps encouraged by this performance, the Australian National Champion, George Shailer made application to take part in the 1926 English championship, but with the change in structure of the competition, his entry was refused by the BA&CC.

During the summer of 1925, a 19 year-old player from Cheshire called Joe Earlam had made a break of 506 with ivory balls in practice at the Runcorn Liberal Club. He had also made a break of 618 with composition balls. It was little surprise then, that Earlam took the 1926 English Championship with some ease, after overcoming his only significant rival, Laurie Steeples, in the semi-finals.

The 1926 Empire Championship

A meeting of the BA&CC on 16th December 1925, formally ratified that an Amateur Championship of the British Empire would be held, involving the national champions of all eligible countries. The event was to be staged at Thurston's in Leicester Square, London, commencing April 1926. All players would meet each other in heats of 2,000 up, involving four sessions played over two days on a single match table. The Champion would be decided on aggregate points over his four matches. Thurston's donated a silver trophy and each competitor would receive a gold medal to commemorate his participation. All games were played with "Crystalate" composition balls.

Entries were now received and accepted from the following national champions : Joe Earlam (England); Malcolm Smith (Scotland); George Shailer (Australia); Percy Rutledge (South Africa); Tom McCluney (Nth. Ireland)

Earlam was immediately installed as firm favourite. However, a huge controversy was aroused when he publicly declared his intention to turn professional after the event. Voices were raised in the establishment of billiards, insisting that he be disqualified from the competition on these grounds. Despite the protests, Earlam was allowed to compete.

Champions of five countries ( L-R) : P. Rutledge, M. Smith, G. Shailer, J. Earlam, T. McCluney.

George Shailer was 45 years-old and came with the track-record of having won the championship of Australia five times since 1913. He had been given six months unpaid leave from his job as a police officer and sailed from Sydney on Boxing Day, arriving in England on 6th February 1926, giving himself plenty of time to become acclimatised. There were no great expectations from the other players, with the left-handed Malcolm Smith being regarded as the most likely to upset Earlam and Shailer.

The competition began on Monday 12th April with the heat between Shailer and Smith, in which the Australian demonstrated his class by making a break of 203 in a comfortable victory. Earlam matched this with a break of 205 in his first game, and by the end of the week it already was apparent that the English and Australian champions were in a class of their own. This was fortunate perhaps, as the draw had been arranged so that they would meet in the last heat, and expectations were high that this would provide the decisive climax to the Championship.

Earlam completed the second week with a comprehensive victory over the South African Champion who was completely overwhelmed as the young Runcorn player made breaks of 241, 213 and three other centuries to win by 1,242 points. On 21st April, in the second session of his game against Rutledge, Earlam made a sessional average of 83, scoring his required 500 points in six visits to the table. For the full match his average was 35.1 Both of these statistics established new records for an amateur player. His achievements were recognised with a certificate issued by BA&CC.

With the favourites both registering comfortable victories, the highlight of the third week's play was a break of 184 by Earlam, made against Scottish Champion Malcolm Smith. This could have been much more, but resuming after the interval on 175 unfinished, with just the red ball on the table, he mistakenly picked his opponent's ball from the pocket, scoring another 9 points before he was stopped by the referee.

Thurston's match rooms in London, Venue for the Championship.

As expected, the final heat between Earlam and Shailer, both undefeated to this point, would decide the destination of the championship trophy. The first session of this contest would prove decisive, as everything seemed to go wrong for Shailer. The interval was reached with the Australian trailing 69-500. From there he played an uphill game, and although improving significantly as the match went on, he was never able to redress this initial deficit. In the final session, while Earlam was completing the 500 points he required for victory, Shailer averaged 32.5 over an aggregate of 654 points, making breaks of 107, 129, 145 and 96. By doing this, Shailer had the consolation of setting a new record for the most centuries made in a session of an amateur championship game. Even so, Earlam made a total of six centuries in the match, with a highest break of 282, to claim victory by 606 points on Tuesday 4th May. This gave him an unbeatable aggregate of 8,000 points for the competition, and secured for him a unique place in history of the game.

In addition to his gold medal, Shailer received a certificate from the BA&CC in recognition of his record achievement and also an special prize of an inscribed silver teapot, awarded by the Composition Ball Co.

Earlam's break of 282 proved to be the highest of the competition and his average of 25.6 for his 8,000 points would have done credit to a good class professional of his time. Earlam, received the Thurston's trophy and a replica which became his personal property.

Although the standard of play exhibited both by the winner and runner- up attained a standard of excellence that had never previously been approached in any amateur contest, there was much speculation that this first championship would also be the last. Public patronage had been very disappointing for all matches except those involving Earlam, making it a questionable proposition from the promoters' point of view. Interviewed on his return to Edinburgh by The Edinburgh Evening News, Malcolm Smith, the Scottish champion, was of the opinion that the Commonwealth champions were unlikely to be enticed to visit England again. "It is a long and costly journey for these business lads" he said. Despite this, the BA&CC lost no time in announcing that the competition would be held in London the following year.

However, Joe Earlam would not defend his title. He made good his promise to turn professional and, switching back to ivory balls, made his debut in September 1926. Although he subsequently won the 1930 Junior Professional Championship (open to all professionals under 25 years of age) he never managed to establish himself in the top rank of the professional game, and retired from competitive play in 1931.

Shailer, having returned to Australia, would also not compete in the second Empire Championship, being unexpectedly defeated in an early round of his State championships, and thereby failing to qualify.

So, the stage was set for a new Champion to emerge in 1927. But that is another story ...