Brief History of QUB Snooker, Billiards and Pool Club (update 14/10/10)

It was formed as QUB Billiards and Snooker Club in 1966-67, when the new union building opened. Before then, billiards (and some snooker) was played in the old students' union (now the School of Music at the bottom of University Square). There is evidence that billiards was played there in the late-1920s, and probably earlier.

The two people who established the Club were Colin Latimer (now Prof. Colin Latimer of Physics) and Mickey Hannon, now a management consultant. The cross-community flavour of the club was therefore evident from its earliest days and is our greatest strength.

The snooker room was purpose built as part of the original plan for the union. Alex Higgins and Colin Latimer used to play billiards in the club on Sunday nights and Higgins, at an exhibition in 1990, fondly remembered his formative years and his former sparring partner.

Up to 1988, two of the eight tables were reserved for the playing of billiards only, but the game gradually fell out of favour as snooker grew. Queen's had a billiards team in the Belfast and District League (the “B&D”) until c. 1992. In the mid-90s, one table was removed to cater for recreational pool and games machines.

In 1997-98, as the B&D declined, the Club moved allegiance to the Belfast District & Provincial League. We have played in its Premier division on and off and always enter teams in Divisions I and II on a Thursday night, continuing the tradition of there always being a match at Queen’s on a Thursday night.

During the late 1980s, club membership reached 180+ and has not gone nearly as high since. However, we always attract at least 100 members and have only fallen a little short of this figure in recent times, due to relative uncertainty over the future of the club and its facilities.

The Club name changed to Snooker and Billiards in 1993-94 to reflect the change in playing preferences and changed again in 2001-02 to encompass the growth of pool and overlap of competitive players who are good at snooker and pool. The official title of the Club is "QUB Snooker, Billiards and Pool Club" and our working name is the "Snooker and Pool Club".

The Club is undoubtedly the best-known higher education cue-sports club in these islands (and indeed worldwide) and the fulcrum of all competitive intervarsity snooker and pool championships in this part of the world. It is probably the most recognised snooker club in N. Ireland.

Stars who have been at Queen's: Alex Higgins (on numerous occasions), Jimmy White, Joe Swail (3 times), Peter Ebdon (who visited the clubrooms while World Champion: see here for MPEG video).

Since British university snooker rankings were adopted in 1994, Queen’s have been the top-rated institution across “A” and “B” teams on all but two occasions. Its nine “A” wins (in 20 years) and nine “B” victories, including six in a row, are both records.

The Club has also supplied the bulk of the N. Ireland Universities team since its creation in 1996. N. Ireland has lifted the home international title on five occasions, including most recently in Belfast in April 2008.

In 2004, the snooker room in Queen’s Students’ Union closed, leaving its members with the prospect of having no cue sports facilities at all, a far cry from the 8 snooker tables that made Queen’s famous. However, thanks to an energetic campaign to “Save Snooker at Queen’s”, three snooker and four pool tables were relocated to the middle floor area of the Union (‘Q’ Club), thereby guaranteeing the survival of the Club.

In October 2007, the Club held a wonderful 40th birthday reunion dinner in the Great Hall at Queen’s. Almost 100 past and present members, from all eras of the Club’s existence, attended what was a memorable night. See the Club’s home page for pics from the occasion.

In 2010-11, the general manager of the Students Union’ decided, inexplicably, that the Snooker Room wasn’t making enough money and closed it for recreational play. The Club survived and was strong enough to retain an intervarsity title. But patrons were mightily relieved when the place re-opened for general play in September 2011, albeit with only two snooker tables. Still, with excellent pool tables, the Club’s future looks secure – for now.

Club Colours

Main: navy with bottle-green collar and trim; alternative: red with black trim.

Greatest Players

Billiards: Paddy Donnelly, 12 times N. Ireland champion; John McIntyre, twice N. Ireland champion.

Snooker: Patrick Wallace (NI Champion in early 90s, World Amateur C'ship s-finalist, Embassy World Professional quarter-finalist); Michael Connolly, N. Ireland International and first player to win Irish and British University Individual Championship, first player to make a century break at the British Universities Championships, a record that stood for nine years; Gary Menary, Irish and British Individual Champion and winner of a record four British team gold medals

Club Honours

Queen's University Belfast Sports Individual Achievement Award: Cathy Gallagher (1995-96), Martin Quigg (2010-11). Martin was a member of the N. Ireland U-21 Pool Team that won the World Championships.

Queen's University Belfast overall teamof the year, 2004 (pool team)

A list of all University Blues (Colours) recipients since 1991 is available from the main Club History page.

Domestic Snooker and Billiards

Belfast & District "A" Division winners 1993, 1995

Belfast & District League Individual Champion: Michael Agnew (twice); 1985, Sean Kealey; 1991, P. Wallace

Belfast & District League Individual Billiards Champion (J. McIntyre, late 70s)

Belfast & District Snooker Cup Winners (late 70s and 1984)

Belfast & District League Billiards Pairs, 1990 (F. Trainor/F. Magee)

Belfast & District League Snooker Pairs, 1993 (M.Connolly/B. Kerlin)

Belfast & District League Junior Individual Champion, twice (G. McIntyre, F. Magee)

Belfast & District League “A” Division player-of-the-year twice (F. Magee, G. Johnston)

Belfast & District “B” Cup winners, 1994

Belfast, District & Provincial League Division I, 2004

Belfast, District & Provincial League Junior Cup, 2004, 2005

Intervarsity Snooker

British Universities Senior Champions nine times (all-time record), most recent (2010); runners-up four times

British Universities Junior Champions nine times (inc.six in a row) – an all-time record, runners-up three times
”Double Winners” (British Senior and Junior) twice (1995 and 2005)

British Universities Senior Individual titles: four, runner-up three times

British Universities Junior Individual titles: five, runner-up seven times

British Universities High Break winner: five times (jnc. first century)

Irish HE Champions 11 times, including five in a roww

Irish HE Individual titles: 11, including seven in a row; runner-up six times

Irish HE record break: 99, Gary Menary (2000)

Record Breaks

Practice match: John Leonard (138), 1998

League: Gary Menary (103), 2001

Intervarsity: Michael Connolly (101), 1994

Intervarsity Pool

Queen’s teams have competed in the Irish intervarsities since the late 1990s and have improved steadily.

Irish HE Champions 2004 (first victory), 2010 and 2011
Irish HE Individual titles: 3 (Sholto Carnew 2 (1997-98, Robert Fleck 2004)
Irish HE Runners-Up 2005, 2008.

British Universities Champions 2004 (inaugural year) and 2009.

British Universities Junior Champions 2006

British Universities Junior Indiv. Champion 2006 (Martin Anderson)
British Universities Indiv. Runner-Up 2008 (Raymond Todd)