Catching the snooker bug

Windsor Park

Westwood

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/05/2023 (968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anyone interested in finding out more about snooker in the province is right on cue.

That’s according to Darcy Michael, an avid player of the sport and a key figure in the snooker community in Manitoba.

The 2023 Manitoba Snooker Championship will be held on Saturday May 13 and Sunday May 14 at Bourbon Street Billiards, located at 241 Vaughan St.

Michael was integral in helping revive the event last year — “snooker in the province has been in a dormant type of state for the few years” — and he’s hoping to continue to build on that momentum moving forward.

“It’s taken off again and is slowly building,” said Michael, who lives in Westwood. “It’s great to see the game here get going again.”

Historically, Canada has produced some top-class professional snooker talent, including 1980 world champion Cliff Thorburn, and Winnipeg’s very own maverick hero of the green baize, the late Bill Werbeniuk, himself a four-time quarter finalist at the world championships. Werbeniuk’s father owned Pop’s Billiards on Logan Avenue, which is where he began playing snooker as a child.

Michael’s own passion for the sport also began when he was a child.

“I first played when I was 12 years old at a snooker club a couple of blocks from my home, Nordic’s Billiards, which was at Main Street and Atlantic Avenue,” he said. “Back then, there were a dozen different snooker halls in the city.”

He said the popularity of the sport, locally, eventually started to wane as pool gained more traction, but he’s hoping snooker in the city will witness a renaissance.

“I think snooker is one of those things that’s either in your blood or not. It’s funny, because my brother didn’t catch the snooker bug, but I did,” Michael said.

“Also, it didn’t matter what your physical abilities were, or your height. As a young kid, I was a fairly decent player and could compete with my peers.”

Michael’s snooker resumé includes a semifinal appearance at the 1991 Manitoba Snooker Championship, and he was also the 2022 Manitoba Snooker Series event winner. His highest break in practice is 133, and his highest break in competition is 119. The maximum break in a frame of snooker is 147.

“ Snooker is … either in your blood or it isn’t

In short, snooker — which is played on a six-by-12-foot rectangular table — involves potting 15 red balls with a white cue ball, before potting six other-coloured balls order — yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black — to finish the frame. Before that happens, the player must pot one of the other-coloured balls of their choosing after potting each red ball. The player with the most points wins the frame. To snooker their opponent, a player will make a shot that in some way impedes their opponent by blocking the direct path between the cue ball and object ball.

Windsor Park resident Cathy Miller recently discovered the joys of watching snooker after attending a tournament. Her husband, Murray, attended St. John’s High School with Michael.

“It’s quite an amazing sport. You really get to be crafty, if you want to be. I think this is such a cool sport, but a lot of people don’t know about it,” Miller said.

“I wish Darcy well, and I hope the sport becomes really popular again. I just think it’s really good thing.”

For more information, call Michael at 204-995-8559, email him at dmr0321@hotmail.com, or visit Manitoba Snooker Scene on Facebook.