Craig Steadman (born 14 July 1982) is an English 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 Ind ...

player.

Career

Early career

Steadman began his professional career by playing

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History ...

in 2001, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached the quarter final at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman,

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

, where he was eliminated by

Manan Chandra Manan Chandra (born 28 February 1981 in New Delhi) is an Indian amateur snooker and pool player. Chandra reached the semi-final at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman, Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), offici ...

6–3. He reached the final of the 2008 European Snooker Championships but was defeated 7–6 by

David Grace David Grace (born 1949 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England) is a British racing driver and businessman. He was the CEO at Rockingham Motor Speedway between 2000 and 2002, and oversaw the opening of the track and the return, after many years, of CART ...

. He first entered Main Tour for the 2009–10 season, after finishing the 2008/09 PIOS rankings on the rank 8. On 23 May 2009 he won the English Team Championship with Manchester.

2011/2012 season

He made it to the main draw of a ranking event for the first time in 2012, by beating Mike Dunn 5–3 in the wildcard round for the

German Masters The German Masters is a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is ...

. He played

Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

in the first round, but was comfortably beaten 5–1. Despite not being on the main snooker tour Steadman played in all 12 of the minor-ranking

Players Tour Championship The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Grand Final, where qualification ...

events throughout the season, reaching the last 32 on four occasions. These performances were enough to see him earn a place back on the tour for the 2012–13 season. Steadman decided to accept the invitation back on to the main tour only at the last minute, as he felt snooker was distracting him from his main career as a professional artist.

2012/2013 season

Steadman took advantage of a new flatter structure used in the qualifiers for the

2013 Welsh Open The 2013 Victor Chandler International, BetVictor Welsh Open (snooker), Welsh Open was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament that took place between 11 and 17 February 2013 at the Newport Centre (Wales), Newport Cent ...

, whereby he would only need to win two matches to reach the venue by defeating

Yu Delu Yu Delu (; born 11 October 1987) is a former professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China. He is currently serving a 10 years and 9 months ban for match-fixing from 25 May 2018 until 24 February 2029. The ban was announced on ...

and

Jamie Burnett Jamie Burnett (born 16 September 1975) is a Scottish former professional snooker player from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. A journeyman, Burnett was ranked within the world's top 64 players for 20 consecutive years between 1996 and 2016, reachi ...

with the loss of only one frame. However, in

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

he was whitewashed 0–4 by

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

. Steadman played in all ten PTC's this season, with his best results being three last 32 defeats to finish 65th on the Order of Merit. His season ended when he lost 6–10 to

Kurt Maflin Kurt Graham Maflin (born 8 August 1983) is an English-Norwegian former professional snooker player. A strong break-builder, Maflin has compiled more than 200 century breaks during his career and has made two 147 breaks in professional competiti ...

in the second round of World Championship Qualifying to finish the year ranked world number 83.

2013/2014 season

In his opening match, Steadman defeated

Marcus Campbell Marcus Campbell (born 22 September 1972) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He was ranked within the world's top 64 for 15 consecutive seasons. Career Campbell is most famous for whitewashing Stephen Hendry 9–0 in the 1998 ...

5–3 to qualify for the

2013 Wuxi Classic The 2013 Sports Lottery Cup Wuxi Classic was a professional ranking snooker tournament held between 17 and 23 June 2013 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. It was the first ranking event of the 2013/2014 season. The tournament ...

in China where he faced

Lü Haotian Lyu Haotian (, born 29 November 1997) is a snooker player from the People's Republic of China, notable for being one of the youngest snooker players to have played in professional tournaments, aged only 14. He reached the quarter-finals of the ...

in the first round and lost 5–3. He also qualified for the

International Championship The International Championship is a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Judd Trump. History The event was introduced in the 2012–13 snooker season, 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "f ...

and World Open, but lost in the opening round of each. At the China Open, Steadman beat Michael Holt and

Martin O'Donnell Martin O'Donnell (born May 1, 1955) is an American composer known for his work on video game developer Bungie's series, such as ''Myth'', '' Oni'', ''Halo'', and ''Destiny''. O'Donnell collaborated with his musical colleague Michael Salvatori ...

to advance to the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, where he was defeated 5–2 by Mike Dunn. In qualifying for the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, Steadman saw off

Jak Jones Jak Jones (born 29 July 1993) is a Welsh professional snooker player. Jones was born in Cwmbran, Wales. He became a professional in 2010 at the age of 16, by winning the 2010 European Under 19 Snooker Championship in Malta. Career Professi ...

10–7 to play

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

in the second round. He led 9–5 before Davis won three frames in a row but Steadman then took a 46-minute 18th frame on the colours to win 10–8, in a result that relegated six-time world champion Davis from the main tour. Steadman himself lost his place on the tour in the next round when he was defeated 10–6 by

Dechawat Poomjaeng Dechawat Poomjaeng ( ''Dechāwạt Phùmcæ̂ng'', born July 11, 1978) is a Thai professional snooker player. Career Early career He won the 2010 IBSF World Snooker Championship in Damascus, Syria, defeating India's Pankaj Advani 10–7 in the ...

as he was ranked world number 78, outside of the top 64. He entered Q School and dropped just two frames in his five matches of the first event to earn a new two-year tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons.

2014/2015 season

Steadman began the 2014–15 season by qualifying for the

Wuxi Classic The Wuxi Classic was a professional snooker tournament held from 2008 to 2014 in the city of Wuxi, China. It was a ranking event from 2012 through 2014. For the 2015/16 season, World Snooker reduced the number of ranking events held in China, whi ...

for the second year in a row and was beaten 5–2 by

Marco Fu Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP (, born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player. He is a three-time ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open and the 2016 Scottish Open. He ...

in the first round. He also qualified for the

by defeating

Cao Yupeng Cao Yupeng (; born 27 October 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional main tour for the 2011–12 season. In his first season on the circuit, he reached ...

6–4 and he saw off

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship an ...

6–1 in the first round, before losing 6–3 to

Ian Burns Ian Burns may refer to: * Ian Burns (snooker player) Ian Burns (born 11 March 1985) is an English professional snooker player. Burns turned professional in 2012 after qualifying in his first attempt of the Q School and gained a two-year tour ...

. Despite Anthony Hamilton being docked a frame for arriving late to their first round

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sulliva ...

meeting, Steadman was edged out 6–5 in a scrappy six-and-a-half-hour match. Steadman described his performance as pathetic afterwards, but responded in his very next event the

Lisbon Open The Lisbon Open, also known by its sponsorship name Lights Cup, is a defunct men's tennis tournament. It was held for one year, in 1983, in Lisbon, Portugal and was played on outdoor clay courts. It was a Super Series category tournament and was ...

. He began the tournament with a 4–1 win over

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight cue action and his long potting. Born in Harlow, Essex and ra ...

, a player who had won the last two

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fif ...

events, and then earned a pair of deciding frame victories against

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 M ...

(came back from 3–0 down to win 4–3) and

Joe Swail Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Cham ...

(came back from 3–1 down to win 4–3). Steadman then whitewashed

4–0 to reach his first quarter-final in a professional event, where he lost 4–3 to

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

. In April, Steadman qualified for the televised stages of the

for the first time, courtesy of wins over Rhys Clark, Michael White and

. He described playing five-time winner of the event

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

in the first round an honour and was defeated 10–3.

2015/2016 season

A 6–2 triumph over Li Hang saw Steadman qualify for the

for the third successive year, but he lost 6–2 to

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

in the opening round. He also lost in the first round of both the

(6–3 to

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 20 ...

) and Welsh Open (4–1 to

). Steadman was knocked out in the fifth round of Q School 1 and the final round of the second event. This meant he earned a new two-year tour card by ending in first place on the Q School Order of Merit.

2016/2017 season

Steadman lost in the second round of three events in the first half of the 2016–17 season and also let 3–0 and 5–3 leads slip against

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He wo ...

in the first round of the

to be defeated 6–5. His best form of the year came at the Welsh Open, where he reached the last 16 of an event for the second time in his career after eliminating

4–2,

Sam Baird Sam Baird (born 17 June 1988) is an English former professional snooker player. He first entered the professional tour for the 2009/10 season, by winning the EBSA Pro-Ticket Tour Play-offs. Career 2011/2012 season Baird reached the main draw o ...

4–1 and Anthony Hamilton 4–2. However, he was then whitewashed 4–0 by

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season, when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championsh ...

2017/2018 season

Steadman reached the third round of three ranking events throughout the 2017–18 season. However, he wasn't able to accumulate enough ranking points by the end of the season and was thus relegated from the tour. In May 2018 he entered Q School in a bid to re-enter the professional snooker tour. He did so defeating

Adam Duffy Adam Duffy (born 30 March 1989) is an English professional snooker player. Duffy qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the third and final Q School event. Career Debut season As a new player on ...

4–0 in the final round of the second event.

2020/2021 season

Steadman this season competed as an amateur and in the

Shoot Out A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only inv ...

he made it to the semi-finals. His previous best in a ranking event was the last 16. He did not participate in qualifying for the World Championships.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Pro-am finals: 6 (1 title)

Amateur finals: 4 (1 title)

References

External links

*
Craig Steadman
at ''worldsnooker.com''
Profile on Global Snooker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steadman, Craig Living people 1982 births English snooker players People from Farnworth