The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) (formerly called the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC)) was the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

of the games of

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the UK and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team uses a diffe ...

and

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 ...

and organised professional and amateur championships in both sports. It was formed in 1919 by the union of the Billiards Association (founded in 1885) and the Billiards Control Club (founded in 1908). The B&SCC lost control of both the amateur and professional games in the early 1970s, following a dispute with professional players over challenge matches for the World Billiards Championship, and dissatisfaction from snooker associations outside the UK about the balance of voting power in the organisation, with a large proportion of votes being held in a small number of English areas. Following the loss of its government funding, the B&SCC went into

voluntary liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

in 1992 and its assets were later acquired 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 ...

The Billiard Association

On 31 January 1885, a meeting took place at ''The Sportsman's'' offices to consider revising the rules of billiards, chaired by a Mr. A. H. Collins-Orme and attended by the majority of the prominent professional billiards players. This followed an article written by journalist Alf Burnett criticising the existing rules. Burnett and Peter Jennings contacted the players with a view to getting together to rewrite the rules. Collins-Orme proposed that an association be created. This was agreed, and "The Billiard Association of Great Britain and Ireland, India and the Colonies" (known as the Billiard Association) was formed. Ten players were tasked with authoring a new set of rules for

. They were John Roberts Jr. (Chairman), Joseph Bennett, Fred Bennett, George Collins,

William Cook William, Will, Willie, Bill or Billy Cook may refer to: Sportsmen Association football (soccer) * William Cook (footballer) (1907–1968), English footballer who played for Darlington and Gateshead * Willie Cook (footballer) (1906–1981), Sc ...

, John Roberts Sr., Billy Mitchell, John North, W. J. Peall, Joe Sala and Tom Taylor. The group met weekly in a dining area at the

Royal Aquarium The Royal Aquarium and Winter Garden was a place of amusement in Westminster, London. It opened in 1876, and the building was demolished in 1903. The attraction was located northwest of Westminster Abbey on Tothill Street. The building was design ...

, and finished writing the rules on 21 September 1886. The rules were published soon after that. Sydenham Dixon, a staff member at ''The Sportsman'' was the driving force behind the formation of the Billiards Association, and the newspaper retained a strong influence over the association's affairs. The influence of the paper over the Association later led to prominent player John Roberts Jr. (who became the Billiards Champion in February 1885 when Cook failed to respond to Roberts' challenge for the title) refusing to recognise the Association's authority. The Association came to be recognised as the governing body for billiards, and organised amateur and professional championships. They also produced templates for standard sizes, which tables had to conform to if made on them were to be recognised in official records. The March 1885 match between John Roberts Jr. and Cook, which Roberts won 3,000–2,980 was the first to be held under the rules of the Association. An amateur championship under the "all in" rules, with no restrictions on the number of consecutive scoring shots that could be played, was organised by the Association in 1892, when Sam Christey beat Sidney Fry 1,500–928. The competition was restricted to players from Great Britain before 1917, which was the first year that champions from other

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

countries were allowed to enter. From 1926, only English and Welsh players were allowed to participate, and the event was renamed the English Amateur Championship. The first snooker competition organised by the Billiard Association was 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 ...

of 1916, which was played to benefit the British Sportsmen's Motor Ambulance Fund.

Billiards Control Council and amalgamation

The Billiards Association's control over the professional game of billiards was challenged by the Billiards Control Council (BCC), formed in 1908, which issued a different set of rules. The key differences in the BCC's version were that a player could not make more than two miss shots successively, and a simpler explanation of penalties. The professional players changed their allegiance to the newer Control Council, and the professional championships were played under BCC rules, whilst most amateurs continued to play under Billiards Association rules. The two organisations decided that it was in their mutual interest to amalgamate, and formed the Billiards Association and Control Club, later renamed the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC), in 1919. Willie Smith defeated Claude Falkiner 16,000–14,500 to win the first BA&CC title, in May 1920. There were many variations of the rules of snooker at the time, and the new Association codified the rules of snooker in 1919. The new rules included the concept of a in the event of points being level at the end of a frame, and having a instead of playing from when there was no clear shot at the after a . Professional billiard player and

billiard hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ha ...

manager

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is ...

had noticed the increasing popularity of

in the mid-1920s, and Davis and Birmingham billiard equipment manager

Bill Camkin William Alexander Camkin (1894 – 26 April 1956) was an English billiard hall owner who came to prominence in the early years of the World Snooker Championship, when many of the tournament's matches were held at his clubs. He was involved in ...

persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season. The final of the first snooker world championship in 1927 was held at Camkin's Hall, and Davis won the tournament by beating Tom Dennis 20–11 (although Davis had reached the winning margin at 16–7 before "dead frames" were played to take the total to the agreed 31 frames) in the final. In 1935, the

Women's Billiards Association The Women's Billiards Association (WBA), founded in 1931 and based in London, United Kingdom, was the governing body for women's English billiards and snooker, and organised the Women's Professional Billiards Championship and Women's Professi ...

(WBA) affiliated to the BA&CC and on 10 June 1936, the Billiards Association and Control Council agreed to take over management of the WBA. Lord Lonsdale, president of the BA&CC, also became president of the WBA.

Loss of control of the professional game

Leslie Driffield Leslie Driffield (1912–1988) was an English world champion player of English billiards. He won the World Amateur Billiards Championship title twice, in 1952 and 1967; and the Billiards and Snooker Control Council version of the world prof ...

, a member of the BA&CC Council, was present at a meeting where the Council nominated him as the challenger to

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 ...

for the professional Billiards Championship. Williams declined to play Driffield within the five months time limit that the BA&CC Council had set, which expired on 7 July 1970, and forfeited the title, which was then contested between Driffield and

Jack Karnehm Jack Richard Horace Karnehm (18 June 1917 – 28 July 2002) was a British snooker commentator, who was regularly heard on BBC television from 1978 until 1994, and a former amateur world champion at the game of English billiards. Karnehm was al ...

in June 1971. On 1 October 1970, the Professional Billiard Players Association, which had been reestablished in 1968 Williams and seven other players, disaffiliated from the BA&CC. The Professional Billiard Players Association changed its name to the

on 12 December 1970, and declared itself the governing body for the professional game, recognising Williams as champion. Driffield and Karnehm were, at first, the only two professionals to recognise the BA&CC as continuing to have authority over the game. From 1972, the WPBSA organised the World Snooker Championship. The BA&CC had its own premises for the first time in 1970, when it opened offices and a match room, based in

Haringey The London Borough of Haringey ( , same as Harringay) is a London borough in north London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three forme ...

Vera Selby Vera Selby (; 13 March 1930 – 13 March 2023) was an English snooker and billiards player who won multiple women's world titles in both sports. She won the inaugural World Women's Snooker Championship in 1976 and won the title for a second ti ...

and Alf Nolan were among the players who took part in exhibition matches at the official opening. On 21 January 1971 the Billiards Association and Control Council changed its name to the Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC).

Loss of control of the international amateur game

The B&SCC had a proportional representation system of delegate voting that meant that the representatives from just two English counties,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, could outvote the rest of the world. A World Billiards and Snooker Council (WB&SC) was established in 1971, following a meeting of a number of national associations at a hotel in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

during the

IBSF World Billiards Championship The IBSF World Billiards Championship (previously known as the World Amateur Billiards Championship) is the premier, international, non-professional tournament for the game of English billiards. Dating to some form to 1951, the event has been san ...

. The associations were dissatisfied that the B&SCC was controlling both the UK and international games. Player and journalist

Clive Everton Clive Harold Everton (7 September 1937 – 27 September 2024) was an English sports commentator, journalist, author and professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded '' Snooker Scene'' magazine, which was first published (as ...

served as the first secretary, and his office served as the first office of the WB&SC. In 1973, the WB&SC renamed itself as the

International Billiards and Snooker Federation The International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) is an organisation that governs non-professional snooker and English billiards around the world. As of January 2020, the organisation is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. History The World Bil ...

(IBSF) and began to control non-professional billiards and snooker championships.

Decline

From 1967 to 1989 the B&SCC had received

Sports Council Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

grants, but this was, according to Everton, stopped "on the grounds of limited efficiency", and at the beginning of the 1990s, the B&SCC was struggling financially as a result of the removal of this funding. The London and Home Counties Billiards and Snooker Association cut links with the B&SCC in 1990, to start a new English Billiards and Snooker Federation. In 1992, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) was expected to take over the B&SCC, but following a vote of the B&SCC members approving this, the WPBSA discovered that the B&SCC had undeclared

contingent liabilities In accounting, contingent liabilities are liabilities that may be incurred by an entity depending on the outcome of an uncertain future event such as the outcome of a pending lawsuit. These liabilities are not recorded in a company's accounts ...

of £100,000 and cancelled the planned takeover. The B&SCC then went into

. The WPBSA took over the running of tournaments that had been organised by the B&SCC, and paid the prize money originally announced. It also bought the B&SCC's trophies and other assets from the liquidator and ran the amateur game whilst looking to support the establishment of successor bodies to the B&SCC.

Successor organisations

International

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association is responsible for governing professional billiards and snooker, whilst the International Billiards and Snooker Federation governs the amateur game.

England

The English Partnership for Snooker and Billiards has been the governing body for non-professional snooker in England since June 2019, when a resolution was passed by the English Association of Snooker and Billiards, the previous governing body, to transfer its assets and operations to the EPSB. The English Amateur Billiards Association governs amateur billiards.

References

External links

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) official website

International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) official website

English Partnership for Snooker and Billiards (EPSB) official website

English Amateur Billiards Association (EABA) official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billiards and Snooker Control Council Snooker governing bodies Sports organizations established in 1919 Snooker in the United Kingdom