Silvino Francisco (born 3 May 1946) is a South African former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

player, most notable for winning the 1985 British Open.

Snooker career

Francisco comes from a snooker-playing family. His brother Manuel and nephew Peter both played at a high level, Manuel having been a runner-up in the World Amateur Billiards Championship on several occasions, and Peter having risen to the world ranking of number 14. Francisco won the 1985 British Open, beating

Kirk Stevens Kirk Stevens (born August 17, 1958) is a Canadian former professional snooker player. Career Stevens started playing young, achieving his first aged just 12. He turned professional aged 20, and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship ...

12–9. Prior to the start of the Final match, Francisco accused Stevens of playing under the influence of drugs. Francisco was subsequently fined for the comments. The world governing body of snooker, the WPBSA, accepted that the accusation was false and it is on record that Kirk Stevens has never failed a drugs test in the history of his career.Gordon Burn, Pocket Money. Stevens later admitted to have an addiction to cocaine. He was involved in another scandal after the 1989 Masters. After losing 5–1 to

Terry Griffiths Terence Martin Griffiths (born 16 October 1947) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. In his second professional tournament, he became world champion when he won the 1979 World Snooker Champions ...

in the last-16, it was discovered that there had been heavy betting on that exact score. Francisco was arrested, but later released without charge.

Personal life

Francisco suffered with gambling problems towards the end of his professional career, to the extent of being declared bankrupt in 1996 due to income tax arrears, having split up from his second wife who claimed his £350,000 house, and having to pay maintenance for his four children. He later took to working evenings in a friend's fish and chip shop for extra cash. In 1997, he was arrested for smuggling

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

, and served three years in prison.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

Non-ranking finals: 3 (1 title)

Team finals: 1

Amateur finals: 4 (4 titles)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francisco, Silvino 1946 births Living people South African snooker players South African people of Hispanic descent Sportspeople from Cape Town