Douglas French (born 26 January 1935) is an English former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player.

Career

French was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, on 26 January 1935. He started playing snooker aged 15, at the Wavertree Labour Club. As an amateur, he won numerous titles, including the

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large Seaside resort, seaside resorts in the United Kingdom, incorporated as Butlins Skyline Limited. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1 ...

National Championship in 1965 and the

Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It was acquired by Britannia Hotels in 2011. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment at reso ...

National championship in 1970. When he reached the final of the

English Amateur Championship The English Amateur Championship is an annual snooker competition, the highest-ranking and most prestigious amateur event in England. It is also the oldest and longest-running snooker tournament in the world, having been established in 1916, th ...

in 1971, the

Billiards and Snooker Control Council The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) (formerly called the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC)) was the governing body of the games of English billiards and snooker and organised professional and amateur championship ...

's magazine ''Billiards and Snooker'' described him as "a prolific break builder with a reputation for consistent long potting." He lost that final 9–11 to Jonathan Barron. Later in 1971, he reached the final of the Granada Television Trophy tournament, where he was defeated by

John Virgo John Trevor Virgo (born 4 March 1946) is an English snooker commentator and former professional snooker player. After turning professional in 1976, Virgo won four professional titles, including the 1979 UK Championship, the 1980 Bombay Int ...

. With Des Myler, he reached the final of the inaugural national pairs snooker championship in 1975 where they lost to John Prosser and Des May. He was accepted as a professional by the

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards. It is headquartered in Bristol, England. Founded as the Professional Billiard Players Association (PBPA) in ...

(WPBSA) in 1981, and in his first professional event, the

1981 International Open The 1981 International Open (officially the 1981 Jameson International Open) was the first staging of the professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 14 and 20 September 1981 at the Assembly Rooms in Derby, England. Televi ...

, eliminated

Geoff Foulds Geoffrey Foulds (born 20 November 1939) is an English former professional snooker player. He is the father of fellow professional snooker player Neal Foulds. Career Born in 1939, Foulds turned professional in 1981 after a successful amateur ca ...

5–3 and

Pat Houlihan Patrick Houlihan (7 November 1929 – 8 November 2006) was an English snooker player. He was born in Deptford, London. Houlihan turned professional in 1971 at the age of 42 after many years as an amateur including beating future world champion ...

5–2 before bring knocked out 0–5 by

Rex Williams Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is an English retired professional billiards and snooker player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break in snooker, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams ...

in the third qualifying round. Williams also defeated him 3–9 in the first qualifying round of the

1981 UK Championship The 1981 UK Championship (officially the 1981 Coral UK Championship) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England, between 22 November and 5 December 1981. This was the fifth e ...

. At the

1982 Bass and Golden Leisure Classic __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 fo ...

he won 2–1 against

Kingsley Kennerley Kingsley Kennerley (27 December 1913 – 26 June 1982) was an English billiards and snooker player. From 1937 to 1940, he appeared in each English Amateur Snooker Championship and English Amateur Billiards Championship final. He won the Bill ...

before a 1–3 defeat by

Paul Medati Paul Medati (14 November 1943 – 29 November 2008) was an English professional snooker and pool player. Career Medati was born in Ordsall, Salford, Lancashire to Maltese parents, and attended St. Joseph's Primary School. After playing snoo ...

. In the concluding event of his debut season, the

1982 World Snooker Championship The 1982 World Snooker Championship (officially the 1982 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 30 April and 16 May 1982 at the Crucible Theatre, in Sheffield, England. It wa ...

he defeated 9–3

Bernard Bennett Bernard Bennett (31 August 1931 – 12 January 2002) was an English player of snooker and English billiards, whose professional career spanned from 1969 to 1995, during which he experienced limited success as a player. He owned the Castle ...

and then lost 6–9 to

Patsy Fagan Patsy Fagan (born 15 January 1951) is an Irish former professional snooker player. Having been runner-up in the 1974 English Amateur Championship, he turned professional in October 1976. He experienced early success with victories at the 1977 ...

in the second qualifying round. During the

1982–83 snooker season The 1982–83 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 7 July 1982 and 27 May 1983. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events. __TOC__ New professional players ...

, French entered four tournaments but won only one match. In 1983–84 he reached the semi-final group stage of the 1984 International Masters, but otherwise made little progress in tournaments. After another season without notable success in 1984–85, he resigned from the WPBSA and was re-instated as an amateur. After the WPBSA opened membership for events to anyone over the age of 16 that paid the relevant fee, French played professionally in 1991–92 without progressing beyond the second qualifying round of any event, and in one event in 1992–93. French was one of 76 players to either resign their WPBSA membership, or have their professional status removed due to non-payment of the £100 membership fee, in 1993.

Career highlights

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Doug 1935 births English snooker players Snooker players from Liverpool Living people