The 1927 World Amateur Championship
The first Championship of the British Empire, which concluded in May 1926 was hailed as a great success with regard to the standard of play, but was nothing short of a disaster in financial terms, with rows of empty seats at Thurston's match-room for any game not involving the eventual winner, Joe Earlam. It was confidently predicted that this would be the last we would see of the World Championship for at least several years, and with it's lack of patronage, it was unlikely that London would be the venue should the contest be resurrected in the future.
However, shortly after the conclusion of the Championship, Arthur Walker, President of the South African Billiards Association, made his second visit to London. The first had been in 1922, when he presented the concept of a World Amateur Championship to a full meeting of the Billiards Association & Control Council (BA&CC). His eloquent arguments persuaded the council to lay the foundations for the inaugural Championship, which were realised four years later. Now he travelled half-way around the World once more to see John C. Bisset, Chairman of the BA&CC and ensure that his concept of an Amateur Championship did not die.
Shortly after that meeting the BA&CC surprised everyone by announcing that far from shelving the event it would be held again the following year at Burroughes & Watts´ Hall, in London. Additional conditions confirming the continuation of the Championship were also announced. These stated that after this competition, the event would be held every two years in the country of the Holder and a new "perpetual" trophy would be made. This trophy was to become the most tangible link with Arthur Walker, as he commissioned it's design and manufacture at a personal cost of 100 guineas.
The task was now to find competitors for the Championship, and as predicted, this proved to be difficult for those countries any distance from England. Arthur Walker, who was a great supporter of Amateur ideals and "a firm believer in the value of billiards as an influence in social life" immediately pledged that the South African Association would send a representative, but it was a different story from the other remote outposts of the Empire.
In Australia, George Shalier, last year's representative, had been eliminated at an early stage of the New South Wales Championship, with Les Hayes becoming the Australian Champion. However, Hayes, a schoolteacher by profession, was unable to obtain a sufficiently long leave of absence and therefore could not take part. It was a similar story in India where their National Champion, R. M. Geyer, could not make the trip due to "a domestic bereavement."
The New Zealand Champion, E. V. Roberts, may well have taken part, but a public subscription failed to raise sufficient funds to finance the journey.
In Ireland, Tom McCluney, who had represented the country last year, had taken a job as manager of a billiard room. This act classified him as professional and ineligible to enter the Irish Amateur Championship.
The Irish Association did not offer a substitute.
The competition was therefore reduced to the National Champions of England, Scotland and South Africa, with contests taking place just before the scheduled start of the Empire Championship to find the names of the players to be involved.
Rule Change
In advance of all these National Championships the BA&CC had introduced a important change to the rules of the game which limited consecutive hazards to a maximum of 25. This action had been widely predicted and so came as no surprise. The restriction had first been considered when Australian Professional, George Gray, was displaying the possibilities of red-ball play when he toured England between 1910- 14. His displays were initially hugely popular, but by the end of his visit it was clear that the public would not pay to watch big breaks from the red ball. The professionals therefore, in their own commercial interests, refrained from exploiting the stroke again. However, such commercial considerations did not apply to the Amateur players in England, who readily adopted Gray's method of scoring.
The red-ball game was significantly easier to play with composition balls than it was with ivories, due in no small measure to the wider throw of compositions bringing more shots within range. When this medium was introduced for the English Championship of 1926, the best players were only too keen to demonstrate what this difference meant in practical terms. The proliferation of red-ball breaks in the Championship made it apparent to the BA&CC that the game was in danger of stagnating by it's overuse. The new rule was therefore the first instance in billiards history where amateur proficiency had directly resulted in the official limitation of a stroke.
The South African Championship
The South African Championship was the first to be decided and it came as something of a surprise to observers in England when the news came through that Percy Rutledge, who had represented South Africa in the previous Empire Championship, had lost his title to former South African champion, Allen Prior. Despite being behind for most of their match, Prior finished strongly to regain the title by the narrow margin of 13 points in their match of 600-up.
The Scottish Championship
The Scottish Amateur Billiard Association had held out against the introduction of the composition ball when England made the switch in 1926, but this year decided by a narrow majority to discard ivories. The fact that the Empire Championship would be played with Crystalate balls was the deciding factor in this decision. Played at the North British Station Hotel, Edinburgh, there was a record entry of 19 players. From these, Malcolm Smith emerged victorious, taking his third title on 5th March 1927, by defeating W. J. Cairns 2000-1577 in the final.
English Championship
The new hazard limit was seen as a significant handicap to the best red-ball exponents, but in the absence of the 1926 Champion, Joe Earlam, who had now turned professional, it was another red ball player William McLeod, winner in 1923 and 1924, who was generally regarded as favourite to carry off the English title. However, this prediction proved inaccurate, as McLeod was defeated by Horace Coles in the quarterfinals. Coles, who had been the only entry from the Cardiff qualifying area, went on to contest the final where he was to meet Laurie Steeples. On the way he made a break of 233, which was the highest of the Championship and an Amateur record under the new rules. Laurie Steeples, from Dalton Brook, near Rotherham, had won the UK Boys' Championship in 1923 and 1924 and having just passed his eighteenth birthday, was playing in only his second English Championship. Even though defeated in 1926, he had shown his potential with a break of 377, which was an Amateur record for red-ball play. Now, in sight of his greatest achievement, Steeples retained his composure to win the final match 3000-2449 on 19th February, becoming the youngest holder of the English Championship.
Wales had traditionally played as a qualifying section of the English Championship, but Horace Coles also held the title of Welsh Amateur Champion at this time, and now his name was put forward as an entry to the Empire Championship as the representative of that Principality. His admission brought the number of contestants to up to four.
The 1927 British Empire Amateur Championship
Played at the Burroughes Hall, Soho Square, London, the competition was again contested on the "American", or League system. Each match was 2,000-up played in four sessions over two days. The “Crystalate” brand of composition balls was used and the newly introduced 25 hazard limitation was applied.
The first match on the Burroughes & Watts match table commenced on Monday 7th March 1927 and brought into action the South African Champion, Allen Prior, and the Welshman, Horace Coles. Allen Prior had arrived in London on 28th February and was assiduously practising within an hour of his arrival. Modest and unassuming, he gave no clue to his abilities and he was certainly not considered to be in with a chance before the start of the competition. However, this was to change in the very first match when he provided the first upset of the competition by defeating Horace Coles. Prior's great height (he was about 6ft 5in) gave him the appearance of having a rather cramped style. He was also a slow, extremely careful player, but a very accurate potter, seldom missing a chance which could be said to be reasonably on. This combination was too much for the Welsh representative who went down to a 467 points defeat.
| Allen Prior (South Africa) 133, 101, 92, 88, 84, 81, 80, 72, 71, 56, 54 | 2,000 | (13.98) | Horace Coles (Wales) 77, 72, 68, 61, 58 | 1,533 | (10.72) |
Laurie Steeples staked his claim as tournament favourite by making a break of 236 against the Scottish Champion, which established a new Amateur record under the 25-hazard rule. Malcolm Smith was the sole survivor from the inaugural Empire Championship and hung on well to the English Champion, a break of 158 being the highlight of his match. However, the English youth was too strong and won by a margin of 562 points. In this match Steeples also made record averages of 38 and 45 in two of the four sessions
.| Laurie Steeples (England) 236, 180, 138, 103, 99, 79, 78, 77, 61, 58, 50 | 2,000 | (20.40) | Malcolm Smith (Scotland) 158, 61, 60, 56, 52, 51 | 1,438 | (14.67) |
In the third heat, Horace Coles put his earlier defeat behind him to overcome Smith who nevertheless received praise for his tenacity, earning him the sobriquet of "the plucky wee Scot."
| Horace Coles (Wales) 164, 89, 88, 72, 68, 64, 58, 58, 50 | 2,000 | (15.03) | Malcolm Smith (Scotland) 85, 82, 80, 70, 58, 51 | 1,445 | (10.86) |
At the start of the second week of competition, Horace Coles who had been involved in the first upset of the tournament, was now instrumental in providing the second, as he narrowly overcame the challenge of Laurie Steeples. Considering that Steeples had comfortably defeated Coles only a few weeks previously in the English Championship, this loss came as a major surprise.
| Horace Coles (Wales) 124, 79, 72, 69, 68, 66, 63, 56, 53, 53, 53, 52, 52 | 2,000 | (11.17) | Laurie Steeples (England) 156, 106, 86, 84, 79, 70, 63, 59, 54, 52, 51 | 1,943 | (10.85) |
During the course of the Coles v. Steeples match, the new Amateur Championship trophy was exhibited for the first time at a luncheon given in honour of the four contestants at Frascati's Restaurant, Oxford Street, and it brought forth unqualified admiration. Numerous designs had been submitted by several of the leading firms of silversmiths, but the final selection went to the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co, Regent Street which was declared at the time to be "the finest ever awarded in connection with billiards".
Malcolm Smith, looking for his first win in the tournament, again struggled to keep up in his match against Allen Prior. The South African made four century breaks with a best of 184 to hold off the determined Scotsman and win by 384 points.
| Allen Prior (South Africa) 184, 116, 110, 101, 73, 72, 69, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54, 51 | 2,000 | (16.00) | Malcolm Smith (Scotland) 90 75, 68, 53, 51 | 1,616 | (12.92) |
A win for Steeples from the final match against Prior would have resulted in a three-way tie and the need for a play-off to decide the Champion. This complication was avoided when Prior produced his best game of the tournament to defeat Steeples, taking the title in convincing fashion on Saturday 19th February. Although Steeples was not in the best of health during the closing stages of the competition, there was a feeling that it was entirely appropriate for the new Championship Trophy to return to South Africa, the home of it's donor, Arthur Walker.
| Allen Prior (South Africa) 168, 147, 131, 87, 83, 82, 71, 69, 67, 66, 63, 54, 54, 53, 52 | 2,000 | (21.27) | Laurie Steeples (England) 164, 153, 139, 79, 72, 68, 61, 56 | 1,563 | (16.62) |
Horace Coles was runner-up and received an elegant silver rose-bowl which was presented by the Composition Billiard Ball Supply Co; who were manufacturers of the Crystalate ball.
Prior left for South Africa the following week, on Friday 25th March. Two days earlier, he had been entertained to dinner at the Café Royal, with many distinguished guests which included Professional Champion, Tom Newman. A photograph of this dinner party, showing the trophy at the centre of the table, appeared in Friday's Daily Mirror. An enterprising newspaper-boy, recognising Prior on Waterloo Railway Station drew his attention to the article and was rewarded by a large number of sales to the Champion and those assembled to bid him farewell.
Two years would pass before the best amateur players would again gather to contest the British Empire Amateur Championship in Johannesburg and for the first time, a World Billiards Championship would be decided outside England.