Jonathan Barron (born 2 March 1937) is a retired English

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. He won the 1970 World Amateur Snooker Championship and was the first player to win 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 three consecutive years.

Career

Barron was born on 2 March 1937. He started playing snooker when he was about 10, on a three-quarter size table above his father's shop in the village of

Mevagissey Mevagissey (; ) is a village, fishing port and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.< ...

. He first reached the final of the

in 1962, where he was defeated 9–11 by

Ron Gross Ronald Gross (1932 – 25 December 2005) was an English professional snooker player. He won the English Amateur Championship three times before turning professional Career Gross was born in 1932. When he was seven, he was partially paralysed ...

. He won the 1962–63 Television Tournament, a

pro–am Pro–am (or pro/am, pro am, ProAm; a contraction of professional–amateur) refers to a sporting event where both professional career athletes and amateurs compete. It could also refer to a collaboration between professionals and amateu ...

event, and also a televised amateur tournament the following season. He was runner-up again in 1969, 9–11 to

Ray Edmonds Earnest Raymond Edmonds (born 25 April 1936 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire), better known as Ray Edmonds, is a former English professional player of English billiards and snooker. He twice won the World Amateur Snooker title, and won the World Profe ...

. He gained the title in 1970 by defeating Sid Hood 11–10 in the final, and retained it in 1971 with an 11–7 defeat of Doug French. In 1972, he was again the champion, prevailing 11–9 against Edmonds, thereby becoming the first player to win the title in three consecutive years. He was the first English Amateur champion since 1961 not to turn professional. Barron travelled with

Ray Reardon Raymond Reardon (8 October 1932 – 19 July 2024) was a Welsh professional snooker player who dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning the World Snooker Championship six times and claiming more than a dozen other professional titles. Due to h ...

to South Africa in 1967. Reardon played

Jimmy van Rensberg Jimmy van Rensberg (born 24 October 1931) is a South African people, South African former professional snooker player. He won the South African Professional Championship in 1984. He was a record 12-time winner of the South African Amateur Champi ...

in the South African Challenge. Reardon beat van Rensberg winning by two matches to one. Barron represented England at the 1970 World Amateur Snooker Championship, winning five of his six group matches to reach the final, where he defeated Hood 11–7 to win the title. Attempting to defend his title at the 1972 World Amateur Snooker Championship, he won all three of his group matches, but then lost 6–8 to Edmonds in the semi-finals. According to Barron, he retired from most competitive snooker after the 1972 World Amateur Championship (held in January 1973) to allow more time to focus on his family and business, although he did continue to play in local league games until 2000. He ran a curio shop in Mevagissey.

Career highlights

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Jonathan Sportspeople from Cornwall 1937 births Living people English snooker players People from Mevagissey