UK PROFESSIONAL BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP
Final - Wednesday 29th November 2000
BIC, Bournemouth
The United Kingdom Professional Billiards Championship was established as a direct response to Walter Lindrum who took the World Championship Trophy back to Australia in 1933 and refused to return it to the BA&CC for further competition. The first UK Championship was won by Joe Davis who defeated Tom Newman 18,745-18,301 after two weeks play at Thurston's Grand Hall on Saturday 28th April 1934.
On Wednesday 29th November 2000, David Causier became UK Professional Champion in just 78 minutes when he defeated Robby Foldvari by five games to one under the new 50-up format. The Championship had started at the North Ormesby Institute in Middlesbrough on 7th November and over two days a field of just 18 WBA members had played down to find the finalists who would compete as sideshow to the UK Professional Snooker Championship at Bournemouth. This compares to an entry of 27 last year when the event was played under the traditional time-limit format at Harrogate. The reason for breaking the Championship and taking the final to this remote venue, with all the difficulties that entailed for the players, was to take advantage of the television coverage and display the new format to a hopefully enthralled TV audience. It was even decided to produce some striped balls especially for the occasion, intended to show the delicate use of side to those who were not yet initiated into the mysteries of the game.
The plan was clear enough, but it's application became somewhat less certain when by Tuesday afternoon, the new set balls had still failed to put in an appearance. Even worse, it was discovered that the BBC Producer was blissfully unaware that he was supposed to be providing television coverage for the match which was due to start at 9.30am the following morning. Although the new balls were still not forthcoming for the start, at least they managed to find a camera crew to record the proceedings. However, the BBC could not be persuaded to include the event in their televised schedule. Although time could be found to feature Women's snooker, wheelchair snooker, and even a skit on the game show "The Weakest Link", the new form of billiards was not considered worthy entertainment for television viewers.
Not surprisingly, considering the early morning start, and a total lack of advertising at the venue, the match itself was played to a virtually empty arena. However, this did not seem to deter David Causier who put in an unfinished break of 50 to take the first game 50-0. Apart from this, the contest was not of particularly high quality although Foldvari managed a run of 51 in his solitary success, making the score 4-1. This only temporarily delayed the conclusion, as Causier then rounded off the match by taking the next game. Causier, who earned £4,000 for this victory, is planning to get married to his fiancee, Susan, in July, and said that he intends to spend the cash on his honeymoon arrangements. After the Teesside professional's biggest ever pay-day he confirmed his new-found approval of the short game, saying "I like the 50 up format, it's good. I think it gives everyone a chance. People don't find billiards that interesting to watch if the same players win all the time and make huge breaks."