David Lilley (born 19 October 1975) is an English 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. He turned professional in 2019, after 30 years as an amateur. Lilley is from

Washington, Tyne and Wear Washington is a town in the City of Sunderland, Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England. Historically part of County Durham, it is the ancestral settlement of the local Washington family, from which the first President of the United Stat ...

, and is a supporter of

Newcastle United F.C. Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Since the formation of the club in 1881 ...

Career

Lilley began playing snooker at the age of 13. His first big success was his victory at the (amateur)

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in 1995, defeating his compatriot David Gray 8–7. In the same year, he lost to

Paul Hunter Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters (snooker), Masters champion, winning the event in 2001 Masters (snooker), 2001, 2002 Masters (snooker), 2002, a ...

in the final of the Northern Amateur championship. In 1997, 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 ...

for the first time and won it with a score of 8–7 against Robert Marshall. However, unable to find sponsorship in the wake of the sport's ban on tobacco advertising, and with only around six tournaments a year at that point, he felt he could not afford to turn professional and so remained an amateur. In 1999, he won by an 8–5 victory in the final against

Andrew Norman Andrew Norman (born October 31, 1979) is an American composer of contemporary classical music whose texturally complex music is influenced by architecture and the visual arts. His string trio '' The Companion Guide to Rome'' (2010), was a runn ...

.. In the same year, he reached the semifinals of the Amateur European Championships and the final of the World Amateur Snooker Championship, in which he was defeated by

Ian Preece Ian Preece (born 23 June 1982) is a Welsh former professional snooker player, from the city of Newport. Preece first appeared on the main tour in 2003, after a successful career as a junior; he held the record as the youngest winner of the ...

11–8. In 2000, he lost the final of the English Amateur Championship, 5–8 against

Nick Marsh Nicholas Marsh (born January 31, 1986, Palo Alto, California, United States) (also known as "Public") is an American Grammy Award nominated record producer and songwriter, and 2012 ASCAP "most performed songs of the year" award winner. He has wo ...

. In February 2002, he participated for the first time in qualifying for the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including ...

, but lost in the second qualifying round against Timothy Paling. In 2004, Lilley won the English Amateur Championship for a third time, with an 8–6 victory over Wayne Cooper in the final. In the 2004 World Amateur Snooker Championship, he was narrowly defeated in the semi-finals 6–8 by the eventual champion

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

. In qualifying for the 2005 World Snooker Championship, he retired in the third round against Stuart Mann. In the

2007, he lost in the of the final against

Martin Gould Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English former professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He has appeared in four ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Career Gould began ...

by 7–8. He participated in the Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 2 in August 2012 and lost in the first qualifying round against Ben Harrison. Lilley tried to qualify for the main tour via the 2016 Q School. In the first tournament he reached the final of his group but then lost against Chen Zhe; in the second tournament he retired in the second round. Although he missed the qualification for the Main Tour, as 17th on the Q-School Order of Merit he could participate as a substitute for tournaments of the

2016–17 snooker season The 2016–17 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 5 May 2016 and 1 May 2017. The number of ranking events was increased in 2016/17, with a target of 20 ranking events for 2017/18. A ...

. At the

2016 Indian Open The 2016 Indian Open (snooker), Indian Open was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament that took place between 5–9 July 2016 at the Hyderabad International Convention Center (HICC), HICC Novotel Hotel in Hyderabad, ...

, the second world ranking tournament of the season, he qualified for a ranking tournament for the first time. After defeating

Tian Pengfei Tian Pengfei (; born 16 August 1987) is a Chinese former professional snooker player. He began his career by playing the Challenge Tour in 2004, at the time the second-level professional tour. Tian played on the Main Tour in 2006 and competed o ...

4–3 in qualifying, he eliminated Mike Dunn, Mark Williams and

Robert Milkins Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player known for quick play. Milkins has been a member of snooker's main tour since regaining a tour card in 1998. Milkins reached a career high rank of 12 in 2014 and 2023, ...

in the main round to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to England's

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...

2–4. He was first on the

2018 Q School The 2018 Q School was a series of three snooker tournaments held at the start of the 2018–19 snooker season. An event for amateur players, it served as a qualification event for a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the following ...

Order of Merit. In the 18/19 season, he just missed out on gaining a tour card for the 19/20 season numerous times; he was 4th on the challenge tour list, and lost 5–4 to Kacper Filipiak in the 2019

EBSA European Snooker Championship The EBSA European Snooker Championship is the premier amateur snooker tournament in Europe. The event series is sanctioned by the European Billiards and Snooker Association. It first took place in 1988 and has been held annually since 1993. In most ...

, where a win would have granted him a place on the tour. He appeared in Snooker 19, making him the only player in the game who has never turned pro (the other amateurs in the game are former pros). Lilley beat Sean Maddocks 4–0 in the final qualifying round of the first event of the

2019 Q School The 2019 Q School was a series of three snooker tournaments held during the 2019–20 snooker season. An event for amateur players, it served as a qualification event for a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the following two seas ...

, finally becoming a professional after 30 years as an amateur. While an amateur, he had worked in the insurance industry. Lilley later remarked that his timing was bad, as no sooner had he joined the professional tour then the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

led to the mass cancellation of tournaments. On 9 May 2021, Lilley overcame

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

5–3 to become the World Seniors Champion, entitling him to play in the

2021 Champion of Champions 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

tournament. On 7 January 2022, Lilley was runner up to

Peter Lines Peter Lines (born 11 December 1969) is an English former professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the ...

in the 2022 UK Seniors Championship, losing 4–1 in the final. After a successful 2023-2024 season - the best of his career in terms of ranking points - David finished the season ranked 64th, reaching the top 64 for the first time at the age of 48.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

Amateur finals: 13 (6 titles)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lilley, David 1975 births Living people English snooker players Sportspeople from Washington, Tyne and Wear World Seniors Championship champions