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History of Snooker
Pre 1900
Snooker was first played in its modern form as an adaptation of Billiards, at Jubbulpore, India, in 1875. Officers in the British Army, serving with the Devonshire Regiment used to play Black Pool, with fifteen reds, a black ball, and a cue ball.
They introduced five other coloured balls (yellow, green, and pink at first, brown and blue later), to make the games more interesting. It was only a potting game at the time, as the colours at first had no particular scoring difference.
One of the officers, Neville Bowes Chamberlain (later Sir Neville Chamberlain - not the British Prime Minister of the same name) called his playing partner a 'snooker' after his partner had missed an easy shot. 'Snooker' was the slang term for a first-year cadet at the Woolwich Academy.
The game became known as 'snooker' from that point onwards.
The first governing body, the Billiards Association, was formed in 1885, and in 1908 the
Billiards Control Club was set up to control and regulate the rules of the game.
20th century
In 1919, the two bodies merged to become the Billiards Association and Control Club, and was renamed the Billiards and Snooker Control Council in 1971.
In 1973, the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) was formed to stage non-professional world championships for both billiards and snooker, and in 1985 it became the world governing body, replacing the Billiards and Snooker Control Council, which remains responsible for the games in England.
In May 1968, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) was formed to regulate the professional game.
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